we really do try

"At this point I start to wonder if my roommate is still alive cause she hasn’t been sleeping in our room for the past four days."

"Maybe they just moved her.."

"Oh. I don’t have that, exactly. It’s basically just panic attacks from my anxious thoughts, not really one thing…Sucks, dude." 

     "Nice to meet you too, kid. If you don’t mind.. why are you here? You seem pretty normal, just a little edgy."

"I--Well I get panic attacks. And I have PTSD. My head messes with me more than it should."

"Really? Guess it’s…cool to meet someone like myself."

"Yeah...I have PTSD, too.

     "Right, maybe that’s the next course of action for you then –– learning how to control them properly."

"I try to learn that on my own."

     "You should be fine, then, kid."

"Nice to meet you Jack. I'm Landon."

"You’ve got time, man, you’ve got time." 

"I'd like to think so."

"I do know that. But you’ve learned how to control your panic attacks, or at least how to stifle them until one of the staff comes to help, don’t you?"

"I have. I try to be able to control them when it happens. It's too hard, though."

"Maybe you need to leave your comfort zone. Do something you wouldn’t normally do –– start a conversation, maybe. We just need to know that you are trying, Landon.”

"I start to freak out though. You know that."

"Supposed to, that’s the key. We’re supposed to know what we want to do, and who even knows? Our brains don’t develop until we’re 25, and at eighteen, we’re expected to get our shit together. I’m 23 and on the fence, don’t worry about it.” 

"You're right. I should listen to you with that. I'm only nineteen."

     "Well, there you go. There’s a few hundred people here, I’m sure you’ll find someone. May have to talk about yourself a bit, so they’ll trust you, you know?"

"I don't like to talk about myself, but I will if I have to."

Doing my job, you mean. “You need to stop putting yourself down, Landon. It’s only going to stunt your progress here, and we can’t actually accomplish anything unless you’re willing to comply.”

"I always listen. I always do what I'm told. I just would rather be on my own."

"Yeah. Pretty much. Horror is my game, dude. — — Nobody knows for sure. Ten years from now, I’m probably going to end up a fireman." 

"Well, we all are suppose to figure out what we want at sometime. I'm still young, though."

"Probably. They need to teach me their ways since I mean, I’m a writer, I have to know how to string words together." 

"You're a writer? I don't really know what I'm doing with my life."

     "Could go to therapy 24/7, but I don’t think that would be fun. There’s also eating your feelings, if that’s your thing, but you’d only be able to do that at mealtimes. Why not try making some friends, or something close to that sort of thing?"

"I don't really like to talk about my feelings. Only to myself. I do like making friends."