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Tales from the Flipside (1: Proxy)
((Author’s note:
>To all readers who have never read my previous series (Tales from the Cribt), I believe Tales from the Flipside will be understandable as a series on its own and doesn’t require any back-reading.
>To all readers of Tales from the Cribt, Tales from the Flipside reveals what is/was happening in the Simanski family, from an entirely different angle, the adult angle. If you consider this a spoiler, feel free to ignore this series until Jules’ return. But if you are even remotely curious, you might want to give the Flipside a try))
((Author’s note:
>To all readers who have never read my previous series (Tales from the Cribt), I believe Tales from the Flipside will be understandable as a series on its own and doesn’t require any back-reading.
>To all readers of Tales from the Cribt, Tales from the Flipside reveals what is/was happening in the Simanski family, from an entirely different angle, the adult angle. If you consider this a spoiler, feel free to ignore this series until Jules’ return. But if you are even remotely curious, you might want to give the Flipside a try))
The Pennylane Institution of Psychiatric Services (PIPS) Patient Name: Simanski, Jonothan J.
Patient Nickname(s): Jono, Jon
Patient Age: 25
Primary Psychiatrist: Dr. Evelyn Elfman
It is time for today’s therapy session with this patient. Dr. Elfman begins the long walk from her office to the patient’s room in the locked ward, contemplating the case file that she herself has so far compiled. Primary Diagnosis… Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)… initial assessment concludes that the majority if not entirety of the patient’s present state of mental illness relates to the trauma of witnessing his parents’ deaths at the age of 16… Secondary Diagnoses… (1) Agoraphobia, Level III… the patient is fearful of leaving the safety of his own home… symptoms of intense anxiety lessened to somewhat manageable in other locations provided the patient is indoors… given the circumstances of parents’ deaths, this seems entirely related to that event… (2) Neurotic Disorder, sub-classed as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)… the patient displays numerous neurotic symptoms (nail biting, headaches, hair twisting) under stress, and utilizes various compulsive behaviors to distract himself from obsessive thoughts… also very likely related (possibly subconsciously) to the event of parents’ deaths… Arriving at her destination, Dr. Elfman unlocks and enters the patient’s room, bringing the chair from the hall with her. “Jonothan?” He doesn’t respond. This entire week since his admission, he has rarely responded the first time addressed. Dr. Elfman wonders if this is in part due to the fact that she uses his given name and not one of the nicknames in his file. Though that may be, he has yet to correct her or give his permission for her to call him ‘Jono’ or ‘Jon,’ and until he does, she will not use the more familiar names. Dr. Elfman waits ten seconds and calmly tries again. “Jonothan?” “What?” Sitting, Dr. Elfman chooses her words carefully. “Have you given any more thought to taking the medication prescribed for you?” “There’s nothing to think about. I’m not taking it. I have enough problems without adding drug addiction to the list.” “We’ve talked about this, Jonothan. The medication is part of the treatment plan to make you well. Not make you a drug addict.” “Make me ‘well’ without it.” “That’s going to be pretty difficult while you refuse to participate in therapy of any kind.” “If you start participating, you’ll start earning privileges. Such as use of the phone? Visitors? Personal clothing and items?” No response. Dr. Elfman rephrases. “Would you like to see your family, Jonothan?” This turns him, finally, to face her. “Yes.” “Start participating in these sessions and you can start receiving visitors. Is there something on your mind in particular you’d like to discuss today? Perhaps we can we talk about your parents?” “NO.” His neurotic reaction is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Dr. Elfman is quite sure that witnessing the deaths of his parents is the root cause of this patient’s illness, untreated for nine years and now affecting every aspect of his life. But it is obviously far too soon to lead him in that direction. She will need to distract him from the subject quickly or he may cease speaking to her altogether. “It’s alright, Jonothan. We don’t have to start there. How about we begin today with how you met your wife?” “My wife? We went to high school together. So what.” “You and your wife dated in high school?” “No. We didn’t. We never even spoke to each other in high school. I just knew who she was, and she knew who I was.” “Alright. How did the two of you--” “Hook up?” “Er… yes. How and when did that happen?” He doesn’t want to cooperate. But he wants very much to see his family. Dr. Elfman watches him struggle with this internal conflict between what he wants and what he doesn’t want to do, until he decides which compels him more. “The night of our graduation, Jesse and I went to a graduation party…” The Simanski twins attended their high school graduation party together. It took Jesse all day to convince Jono to do so. Jono hadn’t wanted to go, not at all, but in the end he relented if for no other reason than to make Jesse happy, and to shut him up about it. The party was held at the home of Danielle Marquis, or more accurately, her extremely wealthy parents’ home. Their whole graduating class was there. There was food, music, and drink. A lot of drink. Within the first hour Jesse was the center of attention for numerous girls no longer concerned—at least for tonight—with the fact that he came from no money. That didn’t surprise Jono. In high school his brother was always a step over the line into popular; Jesse played sports, Jesse was funny, Jesse was confidant and comfortable in his own skin. Girls seemed to like that in spite of the low income factor. As for Jono, well. Let’s face it, he was a geek. And his cool points had dropped even further into the negatives about the time their parents died, when descriptives like ‘weirdo’ and ‘nutjob’ started getting thrown into his peer review. Jono and Jesse were born identical twins, but among their peers, personality (far more than different haircuts) had made them appear fraternal for years now. Not that Jesse tolerated anyone saying a word—not one single word—about his brother that was anything less than complimentary. This had been a well-known fact at school, and although Jesse Simanski had never achieved star player status at the sports he played (primarily because he ditched practices too often), he’d never lost a fight, and he’d been in several over trash talk about Jono. Consequently no one had made that mistake around Jesse for a long time. It had never really bothered Jono that girls considered his brother more attractive. Jono found talking to girls at their high school awkward and dull; they didn’t care to talk about anything he was interested in, and Jono didn’t care to talk about anything they were interested in. Not to mention he’d so far never met a female who was any good at chess, apart from his late mother. By the second hour of the party, Jono was well into regretting his attendance. He’d had more to drink in this one night than he’d had in his entire life. The party was being held on the back patio of the Marquis’ home, and although there was plenty of roof overhang, it was still outdoors. He’d been drinking to dull his awareness of that, subsequently he now felt thick-headed, slow-witted, and a little sick. A state no more enjoyable than the avoided panic attack at being outside in the first place. Jono wanted, badly, to go inside; wanted more to just go home altogether. But Jesse was having a good time, and Jono really didn’t want to ruin that by begging to go home like a child. “Hello there.”
Jono blinked. At some point Danielle “Dani” Marquis, the wealthiest and most popular girl in his former high school class, had come to be standing directly in front of him.
“Hi…?”
Dani’s lips formed a little pout. “Is that a question?”
“No…?”
Dani’s little pout became more of a little smirk. “You’re just too cute, aren’t you.” “I’m… what?” “You know, for someone who just graduated head of our class, you’re certainly having trouble forming complete sentences.” That did it. Jono didn’t like any insinuation that he was stupid, and so mild embarrassment (and confusion) quickly turned into major irritation (and confusion). “Why, exactly, are you talking to me? I thought you were into my brother. Not me.” “Well. Maybe I was and maybe I wasn’t. But since your brother seems to have no interest in me, why should I have any interest in him?” “Anyway, I meant what I said. You’re cute. And smart, if your smart mouth is any indication… so what do you think of me?” “I…” He stopped himself. He wasn’t going to do this, stand here and stammer at this girl. He was going to stand here and say nothing until she got bored and left him alone. He attempted a face meant to convey stony disinterest. It wasn’t like he had any idea what to say anyway. Dani moved closer into his personal space and reached out to casually play with the buttons mid-way down his shirt. “Look, I know we’ve never quite been friends… well, at all really. But we’ve just graduated. And this is my party. And I’ll be into whoever I want to be into. Right now, that’s you.” And then the palm of her very warm hand pressed against his chest as her very warm breath whispered in his ear: “I am really in the mood to mess around. How about you?”
A string of exclamation points went off in Jono’s head: !!!—Don’t respond don’t respond bishop rook knight pawn don’t respond—!!!
Dani pulled back from his ear and the hand that had pressed against his chest slid down to rest against his gut just above the belt. Jono’s breath caught involuntarily and he was responding, oh yes, regardless of mental exclamation points and well-practiced Chess mantra. “Tell you what, Jono. Let’s go inside and discuss it. You’d like to go inside, wouldn’t you? My room is right through that door… right there behind you. Look and see.” He did look. And what he saw through the tinted glass door was a candlelit bedroom. Emphasis on ‘bed.’ He looked for what seemed a very long time. He’d never been in a situation like this. Nothing like it. Ever. Dani slid one arm around his waist, and in so doing, reached the door handle, turned it, and pushed the door open. “Come on inside with me, will you, Jono? Please?”
The front of her body was now pressed right up against the back of his. His physical reaction to that had him moving ahead of her through the door without another attempt at thought.
The fact that he was now indoors after several hours outside had him shaking with relief. Dani’s advances had him shaking with something else entirely. He stopped moving in the space between the bed and the dresser. Where else was there to go? She closed the short distance he’d put between them and tugged on his arm. He turned slowly to face her again. “So… do you want to?” Dani wanted an answer to her question, among obvious other things.
Jono hesitated. He still did not trust himself to speak and not sound like a complete fool. His gaze dropped down her body and slowly back up to her face. He may have spent puberty as an unpopular geek, but he was still male, and very keenly aware of it at the moment. So… why not? He swallowed. And then he nodded.
Dani leaned all the way in and kissed him on the mouth. This was far from her first kiss. But it was most definitely his. From that point on, he followed her every lead, from making out as they stood there… …to making out on the bed, and everything after. Everything.
In all fairness, it was…
“… amazing.”
He falls silent. Dr. Elfman doesn’t press him to speak further. He is obviously still elsewhen, and he has the closest thing to a smile on his face since his admission.
It is turning out to be a very good session. A breakthrough, considering this patient’s refusal to speak beyond one word answers over the week of previous sessions. Dr. Elfman glances at her watch. Their time is almost up. But if he wants to keep talking, she has no intention of interrupting. She will wait him out and see if he picks up where he’s trailed off.
This is far more important than lunch.
((Special thanks to…
* Desk and ceiling lighting by DOT at TSR
* Creeping Ivy (outdoor) by Lemoncandy at MTS
* Much thanks and more apologies to all those creators I may have failed to credit by name
> To all readers of this, my latest double-feature picture show, thank you for sticking with it to the credits. You are, ahem, amazing ;)
> To all previous readers of the Cribts, I do hope you are not too disappointed. There was just too much story that came before Jules to not give it a go. But my best intentions are for Jules to return to the screen(shots) in his own series… once the rest of his family have a bit of their say :) ))
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37 Comment(s) posted so far
#28 On Sep 17, 2010 Nygirl08 wrote:
Amazing story so far! I love your writing style in this one, the more i read the more i was hooked, great job can't wait to read more!
#29 On Sep 25, 2010 fabrizioammollo wrote:
It's fantastic!!! You made an amazing job! I would love read the story told from others point of view too!
#30 On Oct 1, 2010 wrote:
amaaaaaaazing
#31 On Oct 3, 2010 snowangel993 wrote:
Fantastic job I really love your style!!!!
#32 On Oct 5, 2010 catcher1312a wrote:
I'm not dissappointed!!!!! I love it! It feel so much like Tales from the Crib, and yet, not at the same time!!!! Keep writing!
#33 On Oct 19, 2010 jonial wrote:
Wow, such details. great job.
#34 On Oct 31, 2010 umbreons wrote:
I didn't even realize this was the sequel, d'oh! But this is brilliant, your writing is just gorgeous. Going off to read the rest, yay!
#35 On Dec 28, 2010 wrote:
thank you great story
#36 On Feb 21, 2011 emilymarie0201 wrote:
I wish I could write as well as you!
#37 On Apr 3, 2012 martoele wrote:
Oh... that's life! It never turns out the way you dreamed!
: I'm very pleased with the quick updates of this legacy, April... Thank you very much! 