by Flame » 12/18/2013 2:06 AM
Half an hour later, the patient’s time was up, and as Lily wrapped things up, he stood to leave. By this point though, she was more than just a little concerned – she was legitimately worried that there was something wrong with this man. In the entire time she’d known him, and in the hours that she’d spent speaking to him, she’d never once seen him so calm. It was almost disconcerting, just how blank his gaze was compared to how it had been when he’d walked in. “How are you feeling, James?” she asked, a little apprehensive of the answer she was going to receive, if any. After all, as the session had progressed, the man had grown steadily and steadily quieter, until she was doing most of the talking, and he was almost taciturn. Her headache had been forgotten as she tried to get to the root of exactly what was happening here.
“I’m fine, Ms. Winifred,” James replied evenly, his gaze slowly moving to hers. “Good…that’s very good, James,” she responded, frowning almost imperceptibly. “Same time, same place next week then?” She studied him closely, wondering if it was safe to allow him to wander out onto the streets alone in this state of mind. “Sure…sure….” She stood, leading him cautiously to the door, watching him carefully every step of the way. Function-wise, he seemed like he had perfect motor control over his own body. It was just as if all of the emotions had simply been wiped out of his mind, and she worried that maybe they wouldn’t come back. Sure, it was good that he was no longer feeling the pain and turmoil he had been dealing with when he’d walked in, but at the same time, not having any emotions was arguably even worse.
Opening the door, she walked him out, but instead of retreating again, made her way over to her secretary’s desk, intending to ask her to call a cab for the gentleman. However, when she got there, she realized that the woman was wearing the same expression as her previous patient. Her mind was just as emotionally blank as James’ was, and at this point, Lily was legitimately alarmed. Glancing around the room, as if she hoped to find the agent that was causing it sitting there, her gaze lit upon the man huddled alone in one of the seats – the only person still remaining in the room that wasn’t ‘brainwashed’ aside from herself. Delving experimentally into his emotions, she was puzzled to find something akin to satisfaction there. As odd as that seemed, she was running out of ideas, and she had no choice but to explore her options. Taking a chance, she sent her assistant off with James, as he was her last patient for the day, and once they were gone, turned back to the stranger in her waiting area.
His eyes were closed, his posture and expression entirely unchanged from how she’d last seen him. She hesitated for a moment, then finally plucked up her courage and walked over to him. “Excuse me, sir, can I help you in any way?” She had no idea what he was doing here in her office, nor did she know what affliction had struck her patient and employee. There couldn't be any way those things could be related, could they? All-in-all, this was adding up to be a very strange day indeed.