Keeping It Together

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Joseph steered Cam into a larger room down the hall from the common room where they’d been. There were a half-dozen other people there in light blue jumpsuits, Eddie among them.

As Cam sat down on an empty chair in the circle, a woman who was obviously not a patient here spoke. “Well,” she began, “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. Does anyone have anything they want to start with?”

Eddie raised his hand, excitedly. “I do, I do!” he crowed.

Cam looked around the room as Eddie started his excited explanation. There were three women and two other men there, all of different ages and colors. The gray-haired woman across the circle from her looked extremely sad. The black man to her left looked aggressive and the young girl to her right seemed impatient.

What am I doing here? Cam’s mind wandered away from the group. She couldn’t understand what had happened. Weren’t she and Maggie happy together? Didn’t they have a wonderful relationship? Wasn’t she happy and secure?

Cam kept looking around the circle until she heard her name called.

“Are you okay, Cameron?” the group leader asked.

Cam blinked. Every eye in the room was focused on her.

“Uh…” she started. “I’m confused.”

“You’re always confused,” growled the man to her left. “It’s getting old.”

“Jacob!” the leader of the group reprimanded him. “We’re all confused from time to time.”

“But not like she is!” he answered back.

Cam frowned at him.

“Don’t make her mad, Jacob!” Eddie told him. “You know what happened last week.”

“If she hits me again, I’ll slug her!”

Cam looked at him. Had she really hit him?

“How do you feel about that, Cameron?” the leader asked.

Cam didn’t know what to say. She frowned and shook her head.

“I’m sorry if I hit you,” she told the man next to her.

“How do you feel about Cameron’s apology?” the leader asked Jacob.

“We’ll see. She’s crazy. No tellin’ what she gonna do.” He growled at Cam. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Anyone else have something to say about that?”

Eddie raised his hand, enthusiastically.

“Eddie?”

Eddie sat up straight with a smile on his face. “She’s really nice, most of the time. She can’t control getting angry!”

Cam smiled a thank you at him.

“You two always stand up for each other,” the older woman groused.

“Eddie likes anyone who’s nice to him,” someone else said.

The leader held her hands up. “We’re getting off topic here. We can’t accuse each other. We’re here to take care of ourselves.” She looked around the circle. “Now we’ll go around the circle and each of you can tell all of us something you want to brag about.”

“Cameron? Do you want to start?”

Cam looked down at the floor. “I don’t remember anything,” she frowned.

“Does anyone want to help her?”

A young girl at the other side of the circle raised her hand.

“Cameron hasn’t sworn at anyone this week.”

Everyone, including Jacob, applauded,