Lost Horizons

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

“This love’s too good to last and I’m too old to dream”-Muse

 

Dr. Lucian watched through the Institute’s window as the orange sun set over the horizon. ‘Another day gone,’ he thought to himself. When the display was over, he focused his attention back on his papers and glanced at his schedule. A small smile appeared on his face. It was a rare action for the stressed doctor these days. The cause of his content had to do with the weekly meeting that was scheduled for today with Breen. He looked forward to those. It was the only real way he got to hear an honest review of how the patients were doing. Dr. Lucian found himself feeling occasionally jealous over Breen’s job. He got to interact with the patients personally on a daily basis. That was something Dr. Lucian was never allowed to do. It wasn’t part of his job description and he had to stick to his field of work. Any disruption and he’d hear it from the boss. She enjoyed keeping things in perfect order after all.

The doctor’s secretary announced Breen’s arrival and he told her to let him in to his office. When he came in, Lucian noticed Breen had a big stack of papers under his arm and his briefcase in the other. He was also wearing his dark blue ty. Dr. Lucian had known the man that stood before him long enough to know that that specific ty and the briefcase meant business.

“What’s on your mind, Breen?” Lucian asked as he watched him take a seat.

“Lots of things, Lucian. But that’s not what I came to discus. The patients. That’s our topic for the meeting. I’m sure you’re very eager to know the latest on them. Well I’m here to report. They’ve all been doing rather well. You’ll be happy to hear that we tried something new with them the other day. Some of the patients were let out of their controlled environment and the experiment had very successful results. I think a little fresh air once in a while goes a long way with them. It took a while to convince the boss but she agreed after extensive persuasion,” Breen explained. The news did make the doctor quite happy. He had been trying to convince the Institute to try something new with the patients for a while now but they never cracked. He wondered what exactly Breen had said to the boss to make her agree.

“Ah yes. You always were a charmer, Breen,” Lucian commented with amusement.

“Not as good as you were. Tell me Lucian have you thought about dating again?” Breen pried.  

“Not this again. Stay out of my personal life Breen. Our relationship is strictly business. We are co-workers,” Lucian reminded him.

“I’m hurt you think so little of me, doctor. All this time I had been fooled into thinking we were friends,” Breen faked hurt as he placed a hand over his heart.

“Enough with the games. Continue with your update,”

“Alright, alright. So as I said the results were very positive in almost every patient,” Breen said.

“Good. That’s very good news. Do you think they’ll consider making this a regular thing now that they had the chance to see for themselves how much good it does to the patients?”

“I don’t think so, Lucian. It was an experiment that went well but that was all it was,” Breen replied grimly.

“I see,” said the doctor, not being able to hide his disappointment.

“Cheer up old pal. The good news is that your precious patients are doing fine,” Breen tried to lift the doctor’s spirits up. But he suspected the man’s mood had more to do with his unhappiness of being stuck at the Institute rather than his concern over the patients. After all, the doctor didn’t know any of them personally, he was simply the man who instructed the people below him to conduct the tests and experiments on them. He was the man who had to make sure the dosages were right and safe to be administrated to the patients. Breen on the other hand actually dealt with them personally and he didn’t feel that attached to them. But then again he and the doctor were two different people and Breen had lost his capability to feel strongly for anyone. He was eternally saddened and depressed, sometimes he just hid it well.