“It was in A Dorm. I was beginnin to sharpen my senses to a very fine point. I taught myself to sleep soundly. But I can wake up totally alert if anyone comes within a metre of my bed. I can sense stares when my back is turned. And I know never to sleep with my bedding tucked in.”
Well, dis definitely sounds like JMac.
“So, dis all before you came to Townsend, right? In one o’dem SB facilities down south?”
“Yeah.”
“I think you should tell dis’hit to de committee when you meet wid’em, y’know? Jus’tell’em like it is. Don’t hold back.”
“When I went into highschool the fuckin guidance counselor steered me. He said,
‘You’re industrial arts.’ Y’know, latex shops, synthetic binding, makin boxes, glass, all o’that fuckin toxic shit.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“The whole point was you were assigned to that because you were disposable. Nobody cared what happened to me, like ever, man. So how am I s’posed to care? I don’t even need to be alive until twenty-five. What’s the point? All the good shit’s over by then, if there was ever any in the first place.”
“JMac, I can’t really give you a good reason to stay alive. In and of itself, that’s just the thing: there is no good reason to live. That’s the absurdity of it all. I do know that if you were to die, I would miss you -”
“Yeah, but you’re just a-”
“Shutup, man. I’m tryna tell you somethin. The only thing that makes life worth living is the people around you.”
“Yeah, but they’re all shit.”
“Who you callin shit?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Oh, so I ain’t a real person. Is dat it?”
“When the committee asks me about the riot, I say nothing. You say, ‘Why?’ I say, ‘Why bother?’”
Dis kid gettin as bad as Randt wid’e goddam movie quotes. I wonder if even he knows where he gets dem from.
“JMac dis’erious, man. Dis meetin can change yer life. Don’t you wanna go somewhere OUT of Townsend one day?”