Nephilim: Children of Angels

11: Seeing Demons

"Group time." Janine announces, appearing from nowhere once again, with way too much energy. When will this day end?

"I thought we had the rest of the day off?" Kali demands, tossing her tray into the bin.

"You did. Now it's night, time for group. Now pipe down or I'll have your release delayed and you can spend your birthday here, with us." Janine threatens, with a gleam in her eye.

Kali glares viciously at her, then slumps down in her chair resigned.

"This group, we'll each talk about how we wound up at this beautiful center." Janine explains, sitting at the head of the table.

"Not again." Miguel groans.

"Even I've done this one." Kali complains.

Janine shoots her a look. "This is group therapy, nothing is more therapeutic then talking. This exercise is good for you. You all have had similar experiences that have led you here. Hearing one another's experiences makes you feel less alone. Now, one of you volunteer, or I will choose." She scans us all threateningly.

I do not want to talk about the events leading up to me being sent here.

"I'll go." Sasuke volunteers and I feel eternally grateful. "I am from Seattle, as you all know. I went to school not far from here. I started having trouble in school. I guess because when I got stressed, my sympathetic nervous system would be activated, resulting in my supernaturally heightened senses kicking into overdrive. At least that's how Dr. Hemsworth explained the blaring voices I thought were me, losing my mind. I was stressed a lot back then." Sasuke laughs, but an unmistakable sadness wrinkles the corners of his eyes and flattens his brilliant smile. It's hard to imagine Sasuke overwhelmed with life, as he appears to be a slick pristine surface that everything rolls right off of.

"I told my mom and she made me a doctor's appointment for the next day. They ran all kinds of tests. Hearing tests and MRIs but found nothing." A weird feeling comes over me at this detail. He told his mom. I am jealous, but not just jealous, I'm resentful. I resent that he could go to his parents. That they could help him. Did they look at him like my dad looked at me? We couldn't afford all those tests.

"My mom was determined to figure out what was going on. She was constantly on the phone with a doctor or hospital administrator, berating them, although she can barely speak English." He chuckles fondly, speaking of his mother. "That's how she found this place. She called and called and called until Dr. Hemsworth agreed to see me." Sasuke finishes with a shrug. Janine was wrong. Hearing Sasuke's story makes me feel even more alone.

"Thank you Sasuke. Thomas?" Janine says.

Thomas snaps to attention, quickly bringing his hands from under the table and placing them in front of him, while looking very guilty.

"Okay." He clears his throat. "I started having trouble in school too. Only college. I wasn't the best at school, but I did okay. Good enough to get into a decent university on a football scholarship. I started doing really bad, especially on tests. I just couldn't focus. I wasn't hearing voices though, just like everything was dialed up. Pens tapping and breathing, even heart beats. The real problem came with football, though. I hurt someone, bad. My angel strength. That's part of football though, but it messed me up. The guy was paralyzed. I got down. It wasn't just that. I was breaking stuff all over the place. I was working on the truck with my dad and bent the axel with my bare hands. He was pissed. Less so when I bent it back. Then he was stoked, like I was a superhero. It didn't sit right with me, though. My mom saw the change in me. I was becoming more withdrawn, I guess. She took me to see a psychiatrist without my dad knowing. He wouldn't have understood."