colorful

prologue

"How many times has he done it before?" Dr. Maxwell asks as he takes out a pen and folder with the patient's name on it.

The woman looks down at the patient then her baggy eyes look up at her husband. "Can't you just give him those special pills?"

"Antidepressants?" The mother nodded with a sincere smile on her face. "I can't answer that question until you answer mine, Mrs. Hart - is this his second time or what?" The woman's head hangs low then her husband comes closer and wraps his arm around her. Water builds up in her eyes while Mr. Hart looks into them, waiting to see how long it could build up until an avalanche of tears falls down for her reddened cheeks to be soaked in. The small room was only filled with hiccups of sobs and beeps of the medical equipment. Dr. Maxwell still awaits for her answer while he stands beside the hospital bed and checks for the patient's pulse.

"Thi...," Mrs. Hart started, "this was his... his se...," her voice faded out.

"Sorry, I didn't get that, can you repeat it again?" The doctor gives an awkward smile. She says the number again, but her voice faded out again and ended with a whimper. "Um..." The doctor hesitated, "Wh... What did you-"

The wife escaped her husband's loving arms and marched up to the doctor's face. "SEVEN!" Maxwell's eyes widened. She bursts into tears. "This... this was his seventh time..." Every sound escapes the room except the taunting beeps.

"Will he be okay?" Mr. Hart finally speaks, breaking the silence.

The doctor smiled, "It'll take him a day or two to wake up. In the meantime, he's in good hands."

"Are you sure he's in good hands?" The wife asks. Maxwell looks down at his uniform then up to her. "Oh, I apologize. It's just that, we've been to five hospitals already and none of them could help...," Mrs. Hart sighs.

"We can try something else," the doctor walks over to the metal closet and unlocks the door on it. He takes out two gloves from his lab coat pocket and carefully takes out a beaker filled with a reddish liquid. "Have you ever heard of the truth serum?" The concerned couple nods. "Well, I've been working on a euphoric serum." He raises the beaker a little higher. "Although, there are some side-effects to it that I am unaware of, but I'm sure it's safe." The couple exchange looks. "I can pour the serum into a syringe and give him a shot with it," Dr. Maxwell suggests.

"I-I don't know. Maybe drugs never really worked out for him, he was still... like this," Mrs. Hart explains as her eyes gaze towards the occupied bed in front of her. "I feel it's better he experience true and natural happiness."

"But the serum will stop him from doing this ever again," the husband insists.

"That isn't necessarily true and the real issue here is that he isn't truly content so he does these... these attempts... Isn't there another way that doesn't involve drugs or shots, doctor?"

"Well, the only other option is the reality simulation. We could do it the old fashion way and put wires on his forehead and put these special goggles on his eyes. In the simulation, he will forget about everything, in order for this to work. We'll have to set this up soon before he awakens. I'll explain furthermore later. Do you want to do this?" Mrs. Hart looks at her husband for reassurance, then nods to Dr. Maxwell.

// eusthetic //