No Mr. Mumbles I said catch!" Dan said jokingly, continuing to throw the ball of yarn around the apartment's small fenced in back yard. The little kitten chased around the ball and brought it back to her master's side. The cat, warm heartedly named Mr. Mumbles by her easily angered master, Dan, dropped the ball at his feet. She was a small gray and white kitten who lived very happily with Dan. She was happy to be included in the play times he had with her and even his schemes for vengeance when he didn't feel they were too dangerous for her. She lived as happy as a kitten could. Dan, a man around the age of 20 to 30 years old once again tossed the ball of yarn for her to retrieve. He lived in an apartment building and had some pretty extreme anger problems, though he would never admit it. Though he was angered by almost everything, it was simple moments like these that he shared with Mr. Mumbles that helped subdue him for a while. He could easily admit that his life got a little better once he took Mr. Mumbles from the animal shelter across the street (right before blowing it up.) She once again dropped the ball at his feet and gave him a happy and scratchy "Meeeew"
Dan gave her a look of pure bliss before scooping her up into his arms and hugging her. She happily purred and licked his nose. The way the little kitten could keep him so happy was something even his best friend Chris couldn't explain. But he was happy for him none the less. Dan put the kitten down and threw the yarn once more. The ball hoped overhead and hit a tree before flying over the fence. Mr. Mumbles paused a moment before squeezing in between the planks of the fence and running after the yarn. Dan laughed to himself before hopping over the fence and chasing after the cat. Mr. Mumbles chased the yarn into one of the roads and picked it up into her mouth. She mewed to Dan who was just in sight before starting to walk back over to him. Dan waited at the side walk for her. Yes these moments calmed him down like nothing else. Anything could be bothering him but this sweet little cat could calm him down better than anything else. She walked toward him, one little foot at a time. a ball of yarn in her mouth and the brightest eyes he had ever seen on a living creature. He stood and smiled at her as time seemed to slow down. His smiled faded as a car horn interrupted his bliss, yet it also seemed slow. He looked right at the car and back to Mr. Mumbles. The car horn wailed before the moment of slowness ended in a flash. The car sped past and stuck the spry young kitten. Dan shook his head to regain himself, hoping to the higher power that what he had seen did not actually happen. The car pulled over and a young woman came out. She quickly ran over to the kitten as the ball of yarn rolled past Dan's feet. His eyes widened as he screamed the small cat's name "MR. MUMBLES!" he took no time to sprint over to the feline, pushing the woman out of the way as he did so. Multiple cars and trucks honked in anger as their path was interrupted. But everything seemed silent to him. The kitten lay motionless on the ground, the same silly smile on her face and eyes closed. There was no breath. There was no pulse. Just a still shell of what she used to be. Dan stayed motionless, everything around him was silent to him even the woman next to him who was repeatedly asking "sir? Are you okay? Sir? Sir? Hello? Sir?" he kept his stance. On his knees in the middle of the road with wide eyes and an open mouth. The woman poked Dan a few times hoping to get him out of whatever trance he was in but to no avail. She began to get worried beyond the cat; she didn't remember hitting this guy. And he seemed to be fine physically. She looked around before telling him that she would pay for whatever costs it would be to cremate the animal or to bury it and slipping a $100 bill in his hand. His barley grasped it, but the fact that he had both hands planted on the road helped keep it there.
The woman gave Dan a final concerned look before apologizing once more and driving away. The early dawn turned to late dusk, though none of this affected Dan. He did not move from his spot next to Mr. Mumbles. He did not plan to either. The trance he was in had gone interrupted for well over 12 hours and after a while the traffic on that street subsided and the sun set allowing the moon to illuminate the sky in its place. His dark green eyes stayed firmly on his once furry friend even as the darkness turned it into nothing more than a dark silhouette. The moon and stars casted a white glow onto the man and cat, the night was going to be long for him.

Elsewhere~
Chris stared at his phone confused. It was strange. Dan hadn't called for help in a plan for vengeance all day. This was incredibly rare for him. He was actually beginning to get worried.
Chris owned the title of Dan's best friend. He was often called about Dan's plans for vengeance every day. And if not, even twice a day. He was a tall blond male with lanky arms and legs. He checked the phone once more. "No new messages."
"That's it." he told his wife Elise. "I'm checking on him." Elise sighed yet accepted, she too knew how out of character it was for Dan to not have a violent plan for vengeance by now, even if it wasn't a new one, she had seen the list and it had plenty of things to spare. "Just be careful. Its already dark outside." she warned before stepping into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She wasn't incredibly fond of Dan but she knew how much the little man meant to her spouse and would be willing to help if he had gotten himself into some sort of major trouble.

Chris climbed up the stairs to Dan's apartment. The whole place seemed oddly quiet to him which added a bit to the worries. He finally stopped at one of the door and knocked firmly on it. "Dan? You in there?" he asked. No response. This could mean one of a few things, he was asleep or going out to buy dynamite... or the worst case scenario had finally happened. Chris knocked once more before trying the door. He was relieved to find it open and took a few timid steps into the filthy apartment. He looked around the room and a few others, finding them all empty. Chris scratched the back of his head in confusion, if anything this worried him even more. Dan was usually asleep by now if he wasn't including Chris in some diabolical scheme for revenge on something ridiculous. Chris took a moment to try to think where he could possibly be. He looked around once more, noticing Dan's kitten Mr. Mumbles was also absent. That was a bit of a clue. He paced around the room a little also noticing an opened carton of milk on the floor. He picked it up and shook it pushdown. It was empty alright. "Why would there be an empty carton of milk here?! Is he on a death wish or something?!" Chris yelped to himself. Dan having the worst case of lactose intolerance that he had ever seen made the simple carton seem deadly. Even as careless Dan had been in the past with the intolerance, he would never have anything lactose related in his tiny apartment home. After giving the place a final look through, Chris headed outside on his worrisome search for his irresponsible best friend. "I really need to re-think my friend choices..." he muttered to himself as he walked down the stairs of the apartment complex.
Chris scanned the dark area, void of life at such a late hour. "Dan?" he called out, hoping the owner of said name would present himself. But as opposite as he hopped, he didn't even get a response. He headed down to the bottom of the apartment, where Dan usually kept his rickety old car. And low and behold, there it was. Untouched and turned off. "Well... His car is still here. He couldn't have gone far." Chris said to himself, looking around and pondering where he could be. It was rare he would walk anywhere, as much as he loved his car he would use it every chance he got. Chris continued to walk around the block, perhaps he just passed out on the sidewalk again.

Elsewhere~ again~

Dan continued staring at the small corpse in front of him. He did this interrupted for 12 hours before he was finally brought out of it by a 14 wheeled truck gave him a loud "HOOOOOOOONK"
He looked at the truck, quickly grabbing Mr. Mumbles and just barley dodging it.
He sat on the pavement a moment, catching his breath before looking down to the limp animal in his arms.
He stroked her head and scratched under her chin, just how she used to like it. "y-you're okay Mr. Mumbles..." he said quietly with a slight giggle. "C-come on... L-let's get out of the street... all of the streets... yeah let's just go camping... like last time... all by ourselves..." he continued stroking her head and walked out of the street. He continued to the nearest forest which a while away for walking distance, about an hour driving, 2 or 3 for walking.

Elsewhere~ again again~
Chris headed back home after an hour of no luck. Elise attempted to comfort him on their bed. "I'm sure he's just out doing some crazy scheming like usual." she coaxed him to lie down as she continued speaking in the most calming way she could.
"But he always calls me before he does that! Always, I-if he doesn't show up by tomorrow I'm filing a police report!" he said, refusing to lie down. "That's a good idea, maybe he got arrested again." Elise joked, getting herself ready to sleep. Chris stayed sitting up and looking at the ground.
"Well you're not going to find him at all if you don't get any sleep. Tell you what; I'll help you look for him tomorrow if you get some rest tonight."
Chris sighed and nodded "okay... thanks." he said before finally laying down and turning off the light.

Elsewhere~

Dan set the little cat down on a pile of leaves and covered her up with some more up to her head. "There... aw don't you just look so cozy?" he cooed while stroking her ears. He looked up to the sky and smiled before lying down in the leaves next to her. "Goodnight Mr. Mumbles..."

The sun was just coming over the horizon, though the police station was already in a frenzy. "Are you SURE you haven't seen him?!" Chris pleaded the officer at the desk. "No sir, we haven't seen your friend in a while." he answered with an annoyed tone. "Then I'd like to file a missing person's report!" he said quickly in response.
"Chris, it's only been one day. I don't think they accept missing person reports until it's been a week or at least 5 days."
Chris exchanged glances between Elise and the officer at the desk. "I will be back in 5 days..." he said uneasily before leaving the office.
"Well that did nothing..." Chris said sadly, stepping into the car. Elise sat in the driver's seat and turned the car on. "I'm sure you'll find him. Watch him be right at our house when we get there, he always appears at the weirdest times." she said, driving away from the police station. Chris nodded, this was true. If there was something Dan did most, it was appearing in their house, angry about something else.
Dan lay awake on the floor of the forest. There was no sleeping for him that night. He stayed on the ground, eyes wide open, unable to take them off of the cat in front of him. He sat up and brought the animal into his arms. "Did you sleep well Mr. Mumbles?" he asked.

"Me too"

"Oh, of course!" He mused. He stood up and walked to the nearest lake, scanning the water before spying a sharp stick. He picked it up and waited at the water. The water ran fast and the fish ran faster. He threw the stick at the water, impaling a fish on it. He picked up the small trout, still wiggling to get free. He dropped it in front of the kitten and smiled. "There's breakfast Mr. Mumbles." he said, standing in front of them both.
"Today is going to be a good day" he said, still smiling.

3 DAYS LATER~

"It has been 4 days! I am filing a missing person report Elise!" Chris stammered, getting into the car. Elise frowned and got into the car with him. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was worried too. Dan didn't have enough of a life to have someplace to go unannounced for this long. And if he wasn't destroying something, he was annoying the both of them.

The ride to the police station was silent. There wasn't much to talk about. Whenever Elise tried to make conversation Chris just checked his phone or politely declined the offer of talking of anything other than his missing friend. The car stopped and both spouses got out of the car, speeding into the office.
"Oh- you're back." The officer at the desk observed. "And... I'm assuming you're friend's still missing. Alright you get your wish, follow me to file the report. We have a printer and a copier if you want to post them around town too."
Chris and Elise followed closely behind the man and answered all questions necessary to make the report. After giving the phone number, they received 250 copies in flyer form to start posting around their town.

"You're right Chris." Elise broke the silence of the car ride back to the town. "Huh? Right about what?" he asked
"About Dan. I used to just think he was an annoyance, just somebody who got in the way of us. But I never really knew how much he impacted my life too."
"Yeah... I just hope he didn't do something stupid. Like drink that carton of milk I saw in his room."
Elise paused.
"Carton of milk? Did you check the hospital?"
Chris paused this time and they face palmed. Why that wasn't the first place he checked was beyond him now, it was so obvious. Elise seemed to read his face and prepared for him to bolt out of the parking lot.

~~~~
Dan looked around the forest. There was something up. He heard footsteps, and they weren't animal steps either, they sounded human. He scoped out the area. "What do you make of it Mr. Mumbles?" he asked the limp cat in his arms. He held the cat up and spoke for it in a higher pitched voice. "I think they're people coming to join the camping drip, Dan!"
"Aw you really think they'd do that?" "Of course they would! Why you're the best camper human guy out there! I love you Dan. meow." "I love you too Mr. Mumbles. ... HEHEHAHAHA" Dan quickly ducked to his knees and dove into a nearby bush as soon as figures were in sight.
"Yeah man I heard it too. It sounded like some maniac laughter. You really think we should even be doing this?" a man asked his partner. The two men stood around the same height, each seemed to be 20 or so years old and even seemed related. "Dude we got to, dad said he don't want anybody on his land. And clearly there's somebody here." the other answered. "So uh... whoever's here, could yall show yourself and possibly leave?"
"Wait I think they're in this here bush... it's moving."
One of the men walked over to the bush that Dan was in and rustled it. Dan rolled out of the bush and put Mr. Mumbles on his head. "I can't believe it Mr. Mumbles! We really DO have visitors!"
"Dude is that cat dead?"
"No of course not! Look, say hi Mr. Mumbles."
"Hello everybody, pretty swell weather we're having huh? I'm so glad you came to visit me and Dan. we just love visitors! GAHAHAHAHAHA!" He smiled with teeth showing and gripped his own face.
"Dude, I'll distract him, you call the cops..." one of the men whispered to the other. The other nodded and turned around while taking his cell phone out. "W-well... uh. hi Mr. mumbles and, Dan y-yeah the weather is nice, perfect for camping. Where is your tent?"
"Oh we don't need a tent, the leaves are good enough aren't they Mr. Mumbles?" "Oh yes mhm... then how about showing me your campsite?" the man was clearly forcing a smile. "Of course! Follow me" Dan mused, heading toward the area where he had been staying. The other man continued the call to the police. "yes uh... there's an insane guy here in camp lake-pretty pond... no I don't know him... he has a dead cat that he uses as a puppet... dear go-... please come get him I'm scared..."

"What- are you sure he's not here? This is the only place I haven't checked..." Chris asked the nurse at the front desk pathetically. "No I'm sorry sir, but nobody by that name or description has checked in here any time recently." Chris sighed and banged his head on the desk. "...tell you what... I can go through all the online records for each hospital in this area. Main hospital, children's hospital, even the mental hospital. But it will take a few hours, have you got time to wait?" she asked. Chris picked his head up. "Y-yes yes! I've got all the time in the world! Please!" he begged. "You must be his very good friend." she said starting to type on the computer "I really hope I can help you out by doing this." she said with a warm smile. Elise patted Chris's back "really, everything helps at this point." "I promise it's just a short ride to the doctors! I-I mean just look how skinny you are!" the man pleaded trying to get Dan into the ambulance. "YOU SOLD ME OUT! AND NOW THEY'RE GONNA TAKE MR. MUMBLES AWAY!" "No! C-calm down! Y-you can keep Mr. Mumbles! Just try to calm down!"
"Oh- why didn't you just say so? Come on Mr. Mumbles, and we can get you more milk." Dan mused, hopping into the back of the ambulance. The man looked confused before closing the doors to the ambulance. "Thanks for catching this guy for us, he might have killed somebody out there." one of the paramedics said to the men before hopping into the ambulance themselves and driving away.
"Is it just me or did that guy look like he hadn't slept in a week?"

The ambulance doors opened at St. Insanity's mental hospital. One of the paramedics tightly grasped Dan's hand leading him into the hospital. He leaned to a nurse that worked there "think you can get us a stuffed toy cat? Don't think we can get that one away from him without a replacement." the nurse nodded and quickly ran into the office. This wasn't an uncommon need, as many cat hoarders that came in here and just needed a cat look-alike to get by were happy to accept a toy. "Hey there mister..." The doctor glanced at a clipboard he held "Dan. do you think we could take a look at uhh... Mr... Mumbles for you?"
"I'm afraid i can't let you do that. She's very finicky about who touches her." Dan answered, still smiling. The doctors exchanged glances before one of them simply snatched the dead cat from his arms. He looked at the doctor dumbfounded before slugging him in the face. "GIVE BACK MR. MUMBLES! SHE DOESN'T LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TOUCHING HER!" by the time he even finished that sentence he was already pure red in the face. The doctor quickly recovered from Dan's blow to the face and ran away like hell. "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING ON THE LIST! ALL OF YOU!" He screamed, chasing after the doctor who took Mr. Mumbles. "Somebody back me up here!" he yelled, still running down the hallway. Dan saw two doctors already closing in on him. He ducked their arms and dashed into the cafeteria, snagging two handfuls of forks. The two doctors rain into the cafeteria after him, blocking the exit. Dan growled, growing even redder in the face. The doctors both took out syringes. Dan stood as tall as he could and ran toward them, throwing each handful of forks at their faces. They both revolted but one of them grabbed Dan and pinned him to the ground, implanting the syringe in the back of his neck. His struggling only lasted a few more moments before he was just left panting on the floor. The doctor released him to help the other get forks out of his eyes. After a while of such action being taken, the less fork-full doctor slung the now exhausted Dan over his shoulder.
The last moments of consciousness only lasted long enough for him to hear a little bit of the conversation between the doctors holding him. "Patient 72 this year... major bipolar... schizophrenia...unconscious..." the doctor laid Dan down on a bed in a small white room void of pretty much anything. Even the window had bars over it, making it almost impossible to see out of. The other doctor set down a bag that had plenty of medical items in it. After giving the one who brought Dan in the room the bag, he left to actually take care of the fork wounds. The doctor sighed as the door shut, he was left alone with this insane guy. But he had a job to do. He put the stethoscope scope on his ears and tried his best to get a heart rate from passed out Dan. Of course.
He had a high heart rate, even while unconscious. Right, next to measure blood pressure...
What.
He skipped the next few procedures; just getting this one problem treated might save this guy on its own. The doctor shut the door behind himself (and locked it) before rushing over to the office. "Nurse, you may want to see this..." he said, setting the clipboard in front of her. She gave a confused look before reading it and giving a worried and shocked face. "It's for the new patient." he said looking down. "But... that's fatal, how could he possibly have a 180/110 blood pressure and still manage to do that entire chase?!" she asked glancing to the direction where the doctor came from. "i have no idea... but we might want to find this guy's family... put him into the system."
"But we don't have a name"
"How many people in this place do you think have blue jeans, scruffy hair and a black shirt that says JERK on it?"
"Good point... alright I'll get right to it..."
"Until somebody claims him, he probably needs that cat toy."
The nurse nodded and handed him said cat toy.
"This should probably keep him calm enough to keep him from having a heart attack on the spot."

"Chris, Elise, please come to the front desk." the nurse at the hospital paged the two.
"Did you find him? Oh PLEASE tell me you found him!" Chris begged her. "It did not find anybody with the name you gave me-"
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Chris interrupted her. "... as I was saying, I did find a nameless patient who fit your description almost perfectly."
"Almost? Did we leave something out?" Elise questioned.
"Well, it says that said nameless patient has an extreme case of bi-polar, a slight case of schizophrenia and they plan on keeping him for a possible organ transfer for fatal high blood pressure. It says possible because they're unsure if that's the cause of it."
"... What hospital does it say he's at exactly?"
"St. Insanity."
"Oh. Come on Chris stop blubbering at the desk, we really need to help him. He's in way worse condition than we thought." Elise coaxed, dragging her husband out of the hospital. "Thank you so much ma'am!" Elise praised, before getting in the car and driving out to the mental hospital known as St. Insanity. The car stopped in the parking lot of the mental hospital and the two stepped out. Elise started walking to the door while Chris barged in. "Dan?!" were the first words out of his mouth after entering the building. The receptionist looked at him. "Hello there. How can I help you?"
"Hey uh... we're here because you put on your website that you found our friend? do you have him?" "Hmm is the shorter one with the black t shirt that says 'JERK' and blu-"
"Yes! Yes that's him! Where is he?!" the receptionist smiled and paged a doctor by the name of "Ryan". Shortly a muscular man came out of the door to the actual hospital. He had what looked like stab wounds all over his face. "So you're here looking for the new guy eh? I was starting to get worried he had no living relations or friends. Say, what exactly was he doing out in the forest with a dead cat?"
"Out in the forest with a dead cat? What? Oh geese Dan what have you done this time?" the doctor made note of the name he was given and lead the two to Dan's room. He slid a little metal bar which leads to an even smaller window just to see if he hadn't already died of a heart attack or stroke. He stayed motionless on his bed, the stuffed cat he was given was tightly gripped in his arms and his whole body was tensed up. "Oh no..." the doctor muttered glumly. "Oh no? Why oh no? What's wrong?" the doctor disregarded Chris's questions and barged into the room. He grabbed Dan's shoulders and turned on onto his back. "I'm fine..." he muttered through clenched teeth and tightly closed eyes. "No you aren't! You're entire body is stiff! This is exactly what I was trying to prevent! Damn it!" Dr. Ryan blocked the views of Chris and Elise, he knew how much they must have been worried, and seeing their friend like this would probably only make it worse. "Alright alright... you two should probably leave for now."
"What? Why? What's going on? Dan?" Dr. Ryan tried to cut Chris off but he continued to call out his friend's name. "Chris?" Dan sputtered, somehow managing to sit up. "ohmygosh are you okay?!" Chris couldn't help but ignore what dr. ryan had told him and ran up to hug his missing friend. "Damn it! Dan did you even take your medicine?!" Ryan seemed at his wits end with all of this. "p-pills are for pussies." he sputtered once again, tossing a handfull of white pills at the doctor. Ryan shook a little before calming himself down in attempts to explain what was happening to this insane guy. "Look Dan I gave you those pills so that you WOULDN'T have a heart attack. And look where you are now."
"Wait, you're having a HEART ATTACK?!"
"n-n-yeah."
"DAN!"
"Surprise!"
"No Dan, this is not a joke! wh-what is wrong with you? "W-well first off I can't feel most of my upper body. Second I-"
"When was the last time you've even seen food? I shouldn't be able to feel your ribs like this. And wow you're probably the only person i know who can just sit through a heart attack like this." Dan kept Chris's hug intact, tightly gripping his back and beginning to dig his fingernails into it. "wh-what are you doing-" Dan interrupted Chris with a loud and sharp scream before letting his head fall limply onto Chris's shoulder and letting go of his back. Elise stared at both of them with a rather disturbed face; Chris continued facing the opposite direction of all of them with a horrified expression. "D-Dan?" he questioned, gently lifting the other male off of him. "c-come on buddy, say something..." he pleaded, looking the other in his now closed eyes. Dr. Ryan came back over and picked the once again unconscious Dan. he picked up a small radio from his pocket and lifted it to his mouth. "15543 requesting a transfer to St. Medication."

"Yeah you two can ride in the back with him." the paramedic led Elise and Chris to the back of the ambulance. They both climbed in, greeted by their friend who looked worse than they had ever seen him. How they managed to let this happen was chewing at them from the inside. As if there were hundreds of signs telling them that this was leading up to happen. but of course whatever sign there was flew right over their heads, and now this was the situation they were all in. not that getting Dan to go to the doctors was an easy task, and neither was getting him to take whatever medication they were libel to give him. Followed by any anger management classes they would probably put him on to keep the major amount of stress he put on himself down. But when it came down to it, it would probably be an easier task than seeing him in the condition he was in now.
Elise and Chris thought most of this out in unison as the ambulance sped to the hospital.
Elise tried her best to comfort her husband, clearly scared out of his mind by all this.
"Is he dead? Or dying?" he continued to ask over and over. Elise could do nothing but shrug but usually pick the second option. The ambulance was quiet; it had no machines to be hooked up to anybody. No heart monitors or IVs or anything. It felt more like a ride to the morgue than a ride to the hospital. The ride seemed to take hours longer than the mere 12 minutes it actually took. The paramedics quickly wheeled their newest patient into the ER, allowing his two closest friends to follow them. They felt useless with their lack of medical knowledge, especially when the doctors told them the best they could do at that point was just monitor him. They waited in the room, every time Elise tried to coax Chris to leave even just for a short walk, he refused. The only way she got him to budge at all was when the doctors warned that visiting hours were over. Chris was incredibly reluctant to leave the room, though Elise did get him to leave by mentioning all the "get well soon" shopping he could do if he did. Putting aside how often Dan tended to waste things, it just seemed like the right thing to do. He did almost die after all. He probably wouldn't waste food, putting into account that he looked like he dropped 30 pounds. This probably meant the 5 days he was gone had no food included. "The forest thing the doctor mentioned though..." Chris stated while getting ready for bed. "Huh?" Elise asked, taking off her shoes and putting her night gown on. "The doctor, he said that they found Dan in the middle of a forest carrying a dead cat around."
"Geese... I mean I knew he had anger problems, but that just sounds insane. Like more insane than usual."
"And at St. Insanity's, he wasn't acting like himself at all. He was just... weird. Like he wasn't just okay with what was going on, he seemed happy about it."
"That does seem strange. Well, maybe he'll be awake again in the morning and we can see if it wasn't just some medication they had him on. I'm almost 100% sure they had to sedate him at some point."
Chris nodded, that did make sense. Elise lay down and turned off the lights, and Chris did the same.

Chris scanned the shelves at the mini mart next to the hospital, for anything his friend might eat. at this point he probably wouldn't be too picky, but it simply couldn't include milk. And he made sure anything he was to put in his basket was 100% lactose free. Unfortunately, the shop was pretty picked over and the best he could really find were crackers and chips.
After checking out, they walked over to the hospital seeing as it was right across the street. Elise offered to carry the food, she knew that was Chris's main weakness and didn't want to put any more stress on him than he already had from this whole thing happening.
The two entered the hospital, and were greeted by somebody with a white blanket covering all but their feet and two doctors wheeling them out of the hospital. Chris squeaked and grasped each of his arms with the opposite hand. "I think I'm going to be the next one who has a heart attack here..." he muttered. "Oh calm down. That was way too tall to be him" Elise joked before approaching the counter. The receptionist smiled and allowed them to go to whichever room they needed. Elise and Chris walked to Dan's room at a steady pace, not wanting to startle him if he was awake in there or look silly by running. Chris was the first to poke his head into the room, relieved to find the inhabitant of it awake. "Hey Dan, how you feeling?" he questioned with a smile, quickly entering the room fully, followed by Elise. Dan waved to them after successfully sitting himself up. Elise exchanged glances between the two before pulling Chris over for a moment. "Chris. I don't think that was a heart attack." she whispered Chris looked confused for a moment before glancing back over to Dan. he quickly turned back and gasped quietly. "Oh my gosh..." he quickly dismissed the whisper party and walked back over to his friend. "Yeah- hey we got you some snacks." Chris said with a happy tone and uneasy face. Dan looked at the bag Elise held up like it was gold. She smiled as well and handed it to him. He slowly grabbed it with his left hand and tossed it under his bed, letting out a nonchalant whistle immediately after. Chris let out a chuckle mixed with a sigh of relief; at least he was starting to act like himself again. "I'm assuming you aren't supposed to have that" he added, tried to ignore the fact that purposefully didn't use two hands to do so. Dan raised an eyebrow and smiled while shaking his head. "You know, never thought I'd be relieved to see you breaking rules. Any reason why you aren't talking?" Elise asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew why. "It's because he's afraid to word-salad on you." a doctor said with a bit of humor as he walked in the room. Dan gave him an un-amused face and pouted a bit. "Word-salad?" Chris asked the doctor, catching a glimpse of Dan's one again childish behavior. "Yeah, it's when a bunch of words are jumbled together that don't make any sense" he explained. "i thought so, that was a stroke wasn't it?" Elise chimed in. "Afraid so." he answered, handing Dan a glass of milk and a few pills. Dan took no action besides glaring at the doctor. "What? Don't think you're going to weasel out of taking you medicine again, you remembered what happened last time don't you?"
Dan rolled his eyes and pointed at the glass that was being handed to him. "water." he demanded. The doctor looked confused "again? Why do you hate milk so much?" Dan looked to Chris and motioned to the doctor. The doctor quickly caught on and held up a hand. "No Dan you have to try to talk by yourself. If you don't try you'll never get over it. And I'm sure your friends don't want to take you back as a mute." Dan glared at the doctor harder for a full minuet before giving up and accepting the milk and pills. Elise and Chris both gave him a shocked face and stepped closer to him. "You're not actually going to drink that are you?" Chris begged him. "Yeah come on Dan, give it back. You're making us paranoid." Elise added. Dan eyed both of them before throwing the glass at the doctor's face. "WATER!" he demanded once again. "Right... water..." the doctor gave Dan an annoyed face and walked out, returning shortly with a plastic cup of water. Dan downed his pills with the water before the doctor left (as he wasn't going to leave until he did)
Chris walked over and sat on the foot of the hospital bed. Of all the times this was probably the best time to try and get him to talk. "So how do you like it here?" he asked. Dan shrugged; it wasn't too great or too bad. "Do you want to try and get some fresh air?" he asked next, something he was sure to get a no for, so he could ask why not. Just to try to get him talking again. Dan thought for a moment, actually leaving this bland room would probably be some well needed stimulation. He nodded.
Chris looked a little confused but accepted it. Probably would be a good idea to get him some fresh air anyway. Chris helped him get out of his bed, only to conclude his thoughts.
After successfully removing the bed covered from himself (with the help of Chris) Dan managed to squirm himself into the bedside wheelchair. He attempted wheeling it himself, though only having the use of one arm made it a job for Chris. The two males said goodbye to Elise as if they were going on a long journey, unknown if they would return alive. Mostly because all three pondered Dan's survival rate, especially Dan himself. But as much as that bothered him, he really didn't have much to live for anyway. He didn't have his own family to worry about anymore. Mr. Mumbles was gone, and his mother and father barley had anything to do with his life. Really all he ever had anymore was Chris and Elise, and would they even care if he was gone? He allowed these thoughts to poison his brain, keeping him even more silent and dead eyed than he was before. Chris was quick to notice this and tried to cheer his friend up. "I think I saw that squirrel family outside. You know, now you have plenty of time to plot what you're going to do to them. A little too much time if you ask me."
Dan glanced back up to his friend, unintentionally making eye contact. Chris could see how sad he looked, just by glancing at his eyes. They had once held so much life, maybe full of determination and just flat out enjoyment of life no matter how much he tried to say otherwise. Dan was a very happy person when it came down to it. He was angry most of the time but he enjoyed being angry. It was pretty much his favorite thing to do. But now they just looked bland, dead and flat out un-happy. His entire face could be wrapped in whatever expression he wanted, but his eyes, his emerald eyes told whatever story was true. They didn't dare lie like the rest of his body would. Chris broke the eye contact to wheel his friend next to a bench, so they could both sit down and not be too far from each other. Chris could tell what Dan really needed right now, it wasn't any more medication or extensive brain surgery. He wasn't acting up from any sort of mental trauma anymore, that part was over. All he needed now was somebody to talk to, somebody that he trusted to talk to. Chris glanced back over to his silent friend after seating himself on the bench. The morning sun brightened both of their faces no mater what they felt inside, and Chris new he had a job to do. "Dan... I know you're scared, no matter what you're willing to admit." He started. This simple phrase full of truth sparked his friend's attention. "But you're strong enough to get through this. I know you are. I know you are because, you've beaten everything in your path up to this point. You've taken everything down with the fullest of your ability, you've even made yourself immune to mace! I have no doubt in my mind that you're gonna get through this." He finished. That was probably the most motivating thing he had ever said, it just the look on Dan's face proved it was the most motivating thing he had ever heard. He allowed his face to stay one of shock for a few moment before recollecting his thoughts. That was proof. All the proof he needed in fact. Somebody really did care about him. Even if it was one person, it was enough to get him to finally smile again, his dead eyes finally brought back to life. Chris couldn't help but smile back and give his friend a hug. For the first time in their lives, Dan returned the hug.

7 MONTHS LATER

Chris pulled up his car to the hospital, this was Dan's last day of physical therapy and as usual he was waiting outside. He walked over and got into the passenger seat next to Chris. "So how did it go?" Chris asked, pulling away from the hospital parking lot. "Same as usual, but at least its over." Dan admitted. After his 7 month weekly visits to physical therapy, he was glad to have it over. It took time but eventually he got the use of the left half of his body back, and his speech was back to normal but not perfected. There would still be some screw ups and mispronunciations here and there, but all together he was in much better shape than he was before. He sat back and stared out the windshield, keeping quiet for most of the ride back to his apartment. As Chris pulled up to the apartment, Dan hesitated, but didn't exit the car. He looked Chris in the eyes while turning to face him. As much as it pained him to do so, there was something that needed to be said. "Hey Chris. Remember what you said, back at the hospital before they let me out?" He asked, his anxiousness could be seen in his eyes. "Yeah?" Chris wondered where this was going, but allowed it to go there anyway. Dan hesitated some more. "Did you really meant what you said?" He asked. He was half expecting Chris to just flat out say no, but there was unnecessary hope. "Well- yeah of course I did. You're my best friend Dan, I couldn't just let you get gobbled up by your own depression back there." Chris said, allowing a smile to tug at his lips once again. Dan glanced to the floor of the car before smiling himself, and muttering a quiet "Thanks..." before getting out of the car and heading to his apartment.