Intermission

“What do you mean, he’s unable to come home?”

Falun’s mother, Rebecca, bristled in her crisp white skirt and floaty pink top, professional and dignified and very angry. Elsie took a deep breath to steady herself.

“Mrs. Silver, I assure you that no harm will come to your son, he is perfectly safe—“

“To hell with harm! He does enough of that to himself,” the father, Allen, cut in, his voice scathing and rising in volume. “We’ve got a very important social event tonight and we need him to be there, it’ll be social suicide if he’s not!”

Elsie pursed her lips.

“What would be more social suicide is your son committing actual suicide and succeeding,” she clipped out. “Think of the talk then? The parents who couldn’t heal their son, who didn’t love him enough, who neglected him until he killed himself out of misery. If you’re going to put him through this, at least act like you care long enough to get him out of it.”

Falun’s parents fell silent, staring at the therapist with barely controlled annoyance. After a moment, Allen sighed.

“Fine. We’ll come up with something, but you had better get his mind in proper working condition, or more than your reputation will be ruined, do you hear me?” He growled. He was a very tall man, with carefully groomed hair and very nice clothes. He also held a lot of influence in business. Elsie nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Excellent. Now, concerning Falun’s state, the VRT seems to be working like it should. His vital signs are normal and his brain waves are responding with a wakefulness like they would were he not in a coma. I have a few doctors on stand-by to make sure nothing happens to his body while his mind is away,” she rattled off, ignoring the threat about her job and reading from a clipboard. “I’m not exactly sure where he’s at or what his body will do while he’s gone. The mind is very powerful and the body is very obedient. We’re monitoring him constantly. I recommend you visit at least once a week to keep up the pretenses that you actually care, crocodile tears work well too. If this case is successful, then it opens up a completely new field in which you and Falun will become very well known for.”

Rebecca clacked her fake manicured nails against a buckle on her expensive purse.

“I suppose I can pull something together,” she almost sneered. “I can’t believe he’d do such a selfish thing to us, the only two people who provide him with everything he could imagine. I’d have another one just to see if I could retry the whole business, but I’m afraid it’d wreck my image.”

“I do apologize for his actions and I assure you we are doing all we can to fix them,” Elsie responded. “The costs, though, are rather pricey…we don’t know how long this therapy will take, and it’s a costly upkeep…”

Allen drew himself up importantly.

“Whatever it takes,” he said. “I just want a properly functioning human being for a son when he gets out of this.”

Elsie smiled her candy sweet smile, glossed lips pinker than strawberry lemonade.

“That, sir, is guaranteed.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the lateness and the short nature of this chapter. It really is that: an intermission. Just an update of what’s going on outside of Falun’s mind. I hashed it out pretty quickly. I’m also working on the second actual chapter. Do enjoy.