The Shrink Program

Part Three

The Rehabilitation Facility itself really was only a small part of the Shrink Program building. A single room, in fact.

But built into the four walls of this room was a complicated network of rooms, ranging in size and purpose.

No sooner had I looked out the window, a shadow fell over our small office, the outside light blocked as a pair of giant ice blue eyes bent to peer in.

"If I don't think about it too hard, it's kinda cool... like I'm playing some sort of sci-fi horror game." I murmured half to myself, not looking away from the giant eyes still watching us from the other side of the glass.

"You know those ones where you're trapped in one of those science-lab looking places and monsters come and kill everyone? Alex would have loved it. "

A passion for creepy games was Alex's darkest secret, something he had made me swear not to tell his brother when I caught him playing Slender Man on his phone.

... Technology and horror. Not a combination I could handle

From the corner of my eye, I saw my Supervisor's give me a confused look, opening his mouth to speak.... only to be interrupted by the intercom blaring to life.

"Mr Green, I'm afraid you've run out of time. Please say your goodbyes and make your way to the Exit room."

It had been explained to me when I first got here that supervisors were able to connect to individual rooms. They could talk to us using speakers in the room, and hearing us through the headset they wore.

I knew it wasn't really as simple as that but went along with it... Just like all the other weird technical stuff I saw going on here...

My Supervisor sent a glance towards the eyes, giving the gaze a relaxed smile.

"I'll be right out Mattie."

The giant eyes twitched in obvious irritation and pulled away from the glass.

"Don't call me Mattie." The voice muttered through the speaker, dropping all pretence of formality.

The words felt automatic like the man had said it many times before."It's Matthew. Better yet, be professional for once and call me Mr Folics, you incomprehensible moron."

"I don't know Mattie... Mr Folics You Incomprehensible Moron seems like a bit of a mouthful to me."

"Get. Out. Here." Mr Folics growled, pulling away from the window completely and retreating towards a door on the other side of the giant room.

Now that he wasn't so close, I could see that Mr Folics was a tall, lean man, whose white-blond hair and neat grey suit radiated sensibility and professionalism.

It was only when I saw his clothes that I realised that he wasn't one of the Facility's regular Supervisors.

Those guys all dressed in white lab coats.

"Who is he?" I asked curiously, sending my own Supervisor a questioning look.

"Mattie? He's an old friend of mine. Was my roommate at Uni and everything." My Supervisor gave an almost bashful smile. "He's a legal representative for the Shrink program, and is pretty high up in the system, so I got him to pull a few strings so that I could come to visit you... as brief as that visit was."

I bit my lip guilty. It hadn't really occurred to me that My Supervisor wasn't allowed to visit whenever he wanted.

Still focused on his friend, My Supervisor grinned proudly. "He's a good guy... Though he does come across as a stuck up, cold-hearted, unfeeling rock sometimes... Most times..."

"If you're going to gossip about me Green, kindly give me a chance to disconnect my audio before you do so." A pissed off voice hissed from the speaker.

"Whoops. Sorry, Mattie.

"It's Matthew!"

Blaming others when he's the one eavesdropping....impressive.

With an actual snicker, My Supervisor stood, smiling down at me.

"Sorry Maddison, I'm afraid that that's my cue to leave." He reached down, his face turning serious as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Just hang on for a little while longer, I promise that we'll figure this out soon."

I stared down at the hand on my shoulder.

It felt like it had been a long time...

My chest tightened, but all I did was give a small shrug.

"Sure, what's the worst that can happen?"