Talk To Me

• Thompson Thurnwald, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2019

Germ twisted his beanie nervously, fear making the young reptile's mind mind numb. He didn't like leaving his older brother at home, no matter how many times the doctors had told him the pills he had to take left him 'completely harmless'. Just thinking about the words made Germ sick to the stomach. How could they blame his brother for what the pills they had previously prescribed had made him do,how they had made him feel? Anger began to mix with the fear in his mind, his beanie becoming an angry ball in his hand.
"Jeremy, did you hear me?"
Germ looked at the councillor in front of him. They had asked him a question, right? One of those stupid questions they always asked. He shook his head a little "I'm fine." His voice was shakier then he wanted it to be. The cat in front of him furrowed her brow, adjusting the glasses on her nose.
"So Jeremy, who-"
"Germ, Miss."
"I'm sorry?" The woman looked up from her notes.
"I prefer Germ."
He knew from the weird look he was now receiving that the councillor didn't quite agree with this.
"Well....Germ." It seemed hard for her to get the word out. "Who told you to come see me?"
"Well, Karen, obviously the kids who beat the snot out of me." Germ grumbled his words. Karen sighed softly, taking off her glasses. "Germ, listen to me. You need to tell me why you're here."
Germ paused. Now all his thoughts were on his brother again. He pulled the beanie onto his head again, tugging as much as he could over his eyes. He could feel Karen's eyes still on him, tears filling his baby blues. The sound of guns. That's all he heard outside. "The police must be after another one..."
Another one. The words made his chest tighten. The whole world had made this seem normal now. Kaz taking pills that made him crazy, People being killed because they wont. He covered his ears, curling into a ball now. He couldn't take the sounds in his head. Kaz's screams of agony as the doctor poked needle after needle into his body, the sobbing that came from his room at night, the gunshots and shouting the kept both of them up at night.He felt Karen gently pull the beanie up from over his eyes, but he didn't look at her. He let the tears run down his face. He needed this moment, and Karen knew that. She let him have it.
She let him cry.
He let her watch.
It felt better. It felt nice.

And, if only for a moment, the gunshots were gone, and the world seemed quite to Germ.