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| I end up standing in front of the main building and the auxiliary building, although to my eyes, they still look one and the same.
| | autismo[[Category:Transcripts]] |
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| It's the first real look I get at the other students, so I watch people coming out of the school, going towards the gate or the dorms.
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| Everyone seems to know where they are going.
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| And I still keep thinking that most of them don't look too special for being students at a special school. Then again, neither do I.
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| Does that make me one of them? One of us?
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| ...
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| I should go somewhere too, to prevent me from getting lost.
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| It's around dinnertime, but I feel tired instead of hungry.
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| The weariness in me only grows as I trudge towards the dorms, set a little way apart from the main building complex.
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| There is a garden of sorts between the school and the dorms; shrubbery, flowers, and that overbearing smell of fresh cut grass that fills the atmosphere.
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| It dawns on my tired mind that the smell feels novel because I haven't been outside at all for so long.
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| The dorm building is big and made of red brick. Like the others, it feels way too pompous for what it is, so I push forward, going inside.
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| It takes more time than necessary to fish out the key I was given from my pocket.
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| Hisao
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| "Room one-one-nine..."
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| Despite the ornate exterior, the inside of the dorm is fairly new, functional, and boring.
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| Just like in the main building, the halls and doors are wide to accommodate wheelchairs. The same goes for the elevators and the ends of the hallways.
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| I poke my head around the corner of the common room door.
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| Inside a few students are watching the television.
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| One nods and gives a quick "hello" before turning back to the TV.
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| Seems that only the girls around here are sociable. I suppose that's perfectly fine with me.
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| I climb the stairs to the upper floor.
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| Here, small corridors branch off from the main hallway.
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| Each of these minor halls seems to have a toilet and shower, as well as four rooms.
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| About halfway down the hall, I spy room 119.
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| The name plates on the rooms adjacent to mine are blank. I guess there are just two of us here.
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| Light shines from below the door of room 117, so I knock lightly.
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| Hisao
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| "Hello, is anyone home?"
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| From inside, I hear a few movements, then the clicking of way more locks than I thought these doors had. After a moment the door squeaks open.
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| A bespectacled boy is standing in the doorway. He is looking at me very intently through his extremely thick eyeglasses.
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| Bespectacled hallmate
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| "Who is it?"
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| Blind? No, at least not completely, why would he have eyeglasses if he was?
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| He leans closer to me until our noses are almost touching. His breath stinks of garlic.
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| Hisao
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| "Hisao Nakai... I'm moving into the next room. I thought I should introduce my..."
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| His face suddenly brightens in realization, and he stands back upright, thrusting his hand out in a smiling greeting, almost straight to my diaphragm.
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| Bespectacled hallmate
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| "Oh, 'sup dude? The name's Kenji."
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| Hisao
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| "Ah, hi."
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| I take Kenji's sweaty hand and shake it, still a little rattled by the sudden change of attitude and vehement welcome.
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| Kenji
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| "There were some suspicious-looking people going in and out of your room earlier."
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| Hisao
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| "It was probably my parents."
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| Kenji
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| "Your parents? You sure? 'Cause they could've been some other people, too. You can't judge a book by its cover."
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| His out-of-place proverb is left hanging between us awkwardly as I try to think of some way to respond.
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| Hisao
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| "I'd say the chances are high enough."
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| He shudders and makes some exaggerated hand gestures.
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| Kenji
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| "You're a brave man, Hisao."
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| Kenji
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| "Me, I don't think I could trust the chances."
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| Kenji
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| "The only one I trust is myself."
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| Hisao
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| "Does that mean I shouldn't get to know you, either?"
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| He thinks about this for a while.
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| Kenji
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| "A wise decision."
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| Kenji
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| "Damn, you are smarter than you look."
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| Kenji
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| "Probably."
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| Kenji
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| "What do you look like? I hope not smart."
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| He squints his eyes and leans closer again, but I lean backwards to dodge it.
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| Kenji
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| "Never mind, it doesn't matter."
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| With that, he turns, fumbles around for a moment in search of the door handle, and shuts the door behind him.
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| I slide the key into the lock of the door marked 119.
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| Bleak beige walls, white linen, a desk made of some type of light wood. Ugly curtains.
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| It's no one's room; impersonal, like my hospital room was.
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| My bags are sitting at the foot of my bed, looking a lot emptier than they did this morning.
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| The closet is sitting open, stocked with my clothes.
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| Also, it seems that there are a number of school uniforms hanging there as well.
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| A note is pinned to the sleeve of one of the shirts.
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| Note
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| "Hi Hicchan. We've unpacked your things and made your bed. They said that if these don't fit then you should go to the office tomorow.
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| If you have any problems, you can always call us.
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| Love, Mom and Dad"
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| Well, at least I don't have to worry about unpacking.
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| I kind of hoped I would have, then there would be something to do.
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| It's still too early.
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| I put the note down on the desktop and lie down on the bed, feeling drained.
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| Lying there makes me want to read something, but I have nothing with me.
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| I wonder if the hospital conditioned me for wanting to read whenever I have nothing to do.
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| The restless urge just keeps growing until I have to stand up.
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| Maybe it's stress or something.
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| I was pretty nervous about it before coming and for the entire day today too. I still am, I think.
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| Damn, I have to distract myself somehow, so I won't be this unnatural all the time.
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| Tomorrow, I'll go borrow some books from the library.
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| Yeah, I'll do that.
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| But for now...
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| The bottles of medications neatly arranged on my night table catch my eye.
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| I pick up one and shake it just to hear the contents rattle inside, and then read the glued-on pharmacy label.
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| Label
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| "Hisao Nakai
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| Two tablets daily to stay alive"
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| It doesn't really say that, but it could just as well.
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| It's kinda twisted, having your life depend on chemicals like this. I resent it a little, but what choice do I have?
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| With a sigh, I begin my new daily ritual of taking the right number of pills from each bottle, being careful to check the correct dosages.
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| ...
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| I lie down again, feeling hollow and uncertain, and after that I keep staring at the blank, unfamiliar ceiling for a long time.
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| It doesn't start looking any more familiar, not even after darkness falls and long shadows draw across my room like fingers.
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| The sheets feel slightly more comfortable, warm and nest-like against the chill that passes for room temperature here.
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| Soon the lighter shade of darkness that is the ceiling looks like every ceiling does at night, and it becomes the only thing I recognize any more.
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| The night beckons me to sleep, and I feel the coldness of unfamiliarity and fear creeping up my spine once again.
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| I keep drifting further away from the world I knew.
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| [[Category:Transcripts]] | |
| [[Category:Act 1 Transcripts]] | | [[Category:Act 1 Transcripts]] |