The Renfield Syndrome by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 25

Picking up the new medication the next day, Reuben watched as Caspian took the first dose. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, but he wanted to be certain that he took it. A week later, he was still taking the small dose Doctor Sinclaire had instructed, and there seemed to be no problems regarding side effects. At least, none that Caspian was letting on to. However, he did seem a bit tired and sullen. Reuben couldn’t tell if this was the effect of the medication or if it was something he had just never noticed before—part of his personality. But Reuben couldn’t monitor him every waking minute of every day and concluded that regarding any medication Caspian ended up on, it was time that would make the decisions. And aside from the skill and knowledge of the doctor, time seemed to be the only thing they had. Dorothy, however, did what she had been doing from the beginning. Not knowing what she could do to help, she remained in the background. It wasn’t that she didn’t care. On the contrary, she cared for Caspian as if he were her own son. It’s just that she was unfamiliar with situations like this, and when things became chaotic, she slipped away, lost as to what to do.

Finally, graduation lay on the horizon, and most of Caspian’s fellow students began busying themselves preparing for college. Those bound for higher education studied for the SAT exam and worked to bring up their GPA. Caspian, however, didn’t seem to care for the idea of attending college, and once again Reuben and Dorothy brought it up during dinner one night. “Yeah,” Caspian said. “I was thinking about that.”

His response took them by surprise, given that his previous reason for not wanting to attend college was that he would be amongst people. “Instead of going to a campus, I was thinking of taking some online classes.”

Reuben was stunned that he would even consider higher education given the situation he was caught up in. Maybe the medication was, in fact, doing its job.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Reuben said. “Sometimes it’s best to start out small, and if you take enough classes, you might want to see what it’s like to sit in a classroom.”

Caspian’s response was silence, but seeing the direction his eyes were moving in, he could tell that he was thinking more than he was willing to let on. Yet, Reuben wanted to know more. What did he want to study? Would he need books? How does one get connected to online classes? “So,” Reuben began. “What were you thinking of studying?”

Before he had relapsed, Caspian had given a bit of thought to the matter and decided on Eastern European history. His interest had been fueled by the movies he had seen of vampires and folklore, stories of the undead wandering the wilderness near mountain villages, digging themselves out of their graves. But it was more than that. Eastern Europe was filled with ancient history, having spent years at war with the Persian Empire. Then there was art, music, and literature. That part of the world was as rich in history as any other, but Caspian saw something more and readied himself for a journey that would change his life.