Every Day Another Piece Can't Be Found

Life is a puzzle.
And every day another piece can't be found.

Looking at all the people in the 5 chairs around definitely drew no resemblance to high school. But the dead silence and coldness the shrouded the room was something no one in it could shake. Well if Madison aimed to turn me around, she's good at her job to say the least.

24 hours earlier...

It rained outside. The smell of fog and wet grass leaked through the slightly opened window and flooded my room. The smell of something beyond the clinic pricked my senses as I continued to stare lamely out the window. There was no noise other than the rain outside. I had made them take down the clock hanging on the west wall of my room. The last thing I needed to hear in a place like this was the ticking of a clock. Reminding me that time was slipping away.
For whatever reason, Madison had started to explore the clinic more. Since she was completely functional, it was hard to her to just sit around all day. She had always had a wanderlust and although technically I had the right to her freedom, I would never be the one to break her spirit.
It bothered me somewhat to have no idea what she was doing or who she was meeting out there but I had an undoubted trust in her. The people here were mostly 70% immobilized. And the cons had their own wing.
The cons were the patients at the clinic who had contagious illnesses. They were the darkest and most isolated of all of us. Although I had never meet one, it was hard not to pass judgment.
Madison came into the room and walked over to my bedside like she had something important to say. She looked at me as if I should know, but I had no idea what she was trying to say. At least with only the clue of her eyes.
"They say there's a program-" she started. I rolled my eyes. That program for the patients that sounded too much like Alcohol Anonymous.
"Who told you?"
"It doesn't matter. Why did you turn it down?" Madison was never a fan on my social path even when I still lived in New Jersey. Except Haven who was dubbed a bad influence and I was barred from speaking to.
"Madison-"
"I want you to go." she said. She raised her eyebrows and leaned on her right side. I knew she would. I had my reasons for not wanting to go. And it seemed sort of sudden for her to just drop this on me.
I laughed. Madison's eyes widened. She knew that I didn't laugh when I was happy, I laughed when I was mad or frustrated.
Part of me thought that I needed to give her something back for saving me. It was like she had responded to a sudden call from an angel. I just wasn't sure why my parents had to be killed to bring her back to me. I slightly smiled.
"I will not waver, Madison. I will go to one session of this lame ass program and if it's a complete waste, I will never go back."
You might think it would be out of my character to cave this easily. But it's hard to feel this enlightened until someone you love if taken away from you and you just recently have gotten them back.

I went to the meeting the next day.
Looking at all the people in the 5 chairs around definitely drew no resemblance to high school. But the dead silence and coldness the shrouded the room was something no one in it could shake. Well if Madison aimed to turn me around, she's good at her job to say the least.
Clearly tired of the silence, she spoke.
"This is our third meeting. Why are you just now joining us?"
She was blond and I could tell she was rather short even though she was sitting down. She had one stud in the right side of her lower lip. She looked mildly healthy, meaning she was probably beating whatever disease she was fighting.
"It wasn't my choice to be here." I replied. She clearly didn't like that answer.
"It's completely voluntary. You don't have to come." She nodded towards me. "So what's your name pout master?"
I was hesitant to give this stranger my name. "Jasper. Jasper Nixon." Through giving her my name she seemed to soften her gaze.
"I'm Hayden." she nodded to another girl who had dark hair and no piercings. The girl was also clearly taller than Hayden. She was very thin and looked weak. She was clearly still battling her disease. But you could see she was fight hard.
"This is-" Hayden was interrupted.
"Kiedis. Brooklyn Kiedis."
A girl with a softer face who actually wore a smile in contrast to the others in the room, waved slightly.
"I'm Evelyn."
A different girl who was thin like Brooklyn and had extremely dark eye make-up nodded. It was hard to guess what condition the girl was in my looking at her. But she looked like a fighter. And she had writing on her wrist. However the print was too small to read.
"Dia Reznor."
I nodded. And my eyes turned to the last person in the room. A boy around my age didn't say anything at first. She was also very very thin and his eyes were sunken a little. He had his lower lip pierced twice. He looked up.
"Maddox Gibbard." His voice sounded horse. And I could only think one thing. Lung cancer.
Hayden smiled. She rested her chin on her hands and her elbows on her knees.
"This is the place where death is destiny."
"Death is destined every where." Maddox's voice shook me a little. He sounded so much more pained than Madison who was the only company I had had.
Brooklyn looked over at me and smiled a little.
"So welcome to the black parade, Jasper Nixon."

Crippled By The Past, Blinded By The Future

Someone once told me that the more things change, the more things remain... insane. Well if my goal was to make that come true, I'm a star.

Madison had been staying with me for a couple of days. I can't imagine those last days had been easy for her. Adjusting to a whole new environment and coping with the death of our parents. I still think she was confused by my easy acceptance of their loss. But the truth was that it wasn't any easier on me, my heart was just... frozen. So frozen that not even the fire that burned both my parents alive could melt.
As was predicted, Madison had saved me. At least a little. My depression was getting better. At least a little. I started looking back over my shoulder in my dark state of mind. At least a little. Because everything was slow in this clinic. I hadn't even tried to imagine the day someone would come marching in to tell me that someone had marrow for me. I was on a long long list. And I had only been there for a month or two.
Just when I had started to, Madison sat up from laying on the couch in my room. She looked anxiously over, as if expecting some great event.
"Jas?"
"Huh?"
She shook her head and got up, walking over and sitting down on my bed. She pressed her hands slightly down on my chest. I was way more than confused wondering weather a nurse or a hooker had possessed her. She looked at me. Oh great, that's the "trust me, Jasper" face. I nodded. A silent code we had developed.
She sighed. She moved her hand to where the buttons were on the front of my shirt (I'm not kidding, I have to wear a modified version of those stupid hospital robes). She unbuttoned the first one but I instinctively grabbed her hand. Clearly thinking that I was hiding something she just used her other hand to reach the other buttons. Unbelievable. My sister is stripping me.
When she got to the last button, she pulled my shirt open.
And all I can say is... holy shit.
There were bruises all over my chest of varying sizes and colors. She leaned slightly forward and pushed my head back.
"Jasper!"
Then I remembered, leukemic people bruised like hell. The specific appalling bruise Madison must have been looking at was probably left from when I almost slit my throat.
"What happened to you?" She sounded really upset.
"... Acute myeloid leukemia."
"How bad is it Jas? How bad?"
"I dunno." I swallowed hard. I nudged her, then ran my hand down a small scar in the crook of my arm. If she didn't know about the bruising, I bet she didn't guess this.
"What's that from?"
"When they drew my bone marrow to test it." I said, slightly smiling. "It's a lot like on House."
She slightly smiled, too.
There was a lot she needed to know about my disease and treatment if she was going to be living with me. But the first step was jading her to the symptoms and scars left.
It wasn't easy for her, seeing her own brother like this. I could see it in her eyes.
But we're all a little dead inside. Just some more than others.
And I'm one of those.