La Riabilitazione

The drive to the rehabilitation center was much less awkward and slightly more notable than the initial car ride from Paul's home to the prison. Judge Virgil had actually turned on the radio in his 1985 Ford Mustang and played some music instead of allowing the pair to bask in deafening silence. The genre of choice happened to be classic rock, which Paul had grown to appreciate listening to it in the car with his father. Judge Virgil was starting to grow on Paul, whether he knew it consciously or not. They were quickly approaching the unimaginatively and aptly named rehabilitation center, called "Rehabilitation Center." The company that managed it was in rather poor financial standing, but it was the only available rehabilitation center near the city. This, however, did not mean it was a great one. In fact, it had the lowest Yelp ratings of any company in the area. This was likely due to the volume of people it served compared to its staffing. Judge Virgil explained that the center was a true "master of none," having no specialties or expertise in any way.

The unlikely pair approached Rehabilitation Center at 1:27 PM and promptly entered the building at 1:29 PM, a whole minute ahead of Judge Virgil's meticulously planned schedule for the day. They met a very nice woman at the front desk who had "KAREN" emblazoned onto her light blue blouse. The woman introduced herself as Melanie, which was unsurprising given the 0.2 Star Yelp rating. Unflinchingly, Judge Virgil continued to address Melanie without mentioning her wardrobe error. Paul was beginning to get very tired from the seemingly long day, as Paul had not woken up before 8:00 AM for as long as he could remember back in time. The voices of Judge Virgil and Karen, or was it Melanie?, starting slurring together and eventually resembled the sound of adults in the "Peanuts" cartoons, like brass horns that were unable to be distinguished any longer. Suddenly, however, there was a thunderous clap inches from Paul's closed eyes. After reorienting himself, Judge Virgil gruffly muttered "Welcome back."

Melanie, or possibly Karen, had given them full access to the facility and it was very interesting to see what Judge Virgil had described in the car earlier. People from all over the area had been admitted for a huge variety of issues, including addiction in all of its notorious forms, like drugs and alcohol, and its lesser known forms, like work and sex addiction. Rehabilitation Center was not equipped to handle the patients there or the complexities of some issues. Nonetheless, Judge Virgil and Paul began a similar process to the prison, meeting with addicts of more socially acceptable things, like work addiction and mental stress disorders, and working toward people with severe mental health issues, like sociopathy, psychopathy, alcohol and drug addictions, and anger disorders that had resulted in aggravated assaults. Paul felt a very similar disheartening feeling from these people and their situations as he had felt in his prison visit, but there was something just a little bit different. These people were less so imprisoned and focused on ridding themselves of their vices. These people wanted to be better and were bitter about their sentence, and many were here of their own volition. These people were seeking to become more pure versions of themselves before they would be accepted into society as a productive and healthy member themselves. They had something to work toward, and it showed Paul that no one was ever too far gone. Paul thought that maybe he was redeemable for the first time in a while. The unlikely pair thanked Karen, or maybe it was Melanie, and left Rehabilitation Center at 4:09 PM to make their 4:30 PM appointment at the charity.

Bibliography: Alighieri, Dante, and Mark Musa. Dante Alighieri's Divine comedy. Bloomington: Indiana U.P., 1996.

Author's Note: This portion of my story is designed to reflect and mirror the Purgatory section of Dante's Divine Comedy. In Catholicism, Purgatory is a place where believers go to rid themselves of their vices before they are able to transcend to Paradise, or heaven. I felt like the best human parallel in society today would be a rehabilitation center. Judge Virgil and Paul's trip into the rehabilitation center are meant to show Paul that as long as he has the heart to admit his wrongdoings and want to experience genuine change, then it is possible and attainable for him to do so! Redemption is a gift given to believers in the Catholic faith that you can accept at any time if you want to be changed. That is what I tried to convey happening in Paul's heart in this portion of the story.

Image Info: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/ecuphysicians/rehab/vidantRehabilitationCenter.cfm