Visions from Beyond

Chapter 6: A Reunion

Peter retrieved three water glasses from the cupboard. Neal was due to arrive shortly. Would he call at the last minute with an excuse? That would be disappointing but not a surprise.

El paused tearing lettuce into a salad bowl. "Do you think he suspects?"

"That I invited him over so you could evaluate him? I'm sure he's concerned about it. He knows you're a neurologist. This morning when I showed up at June's, he was worried I'd bail on him. The events of the past day have done a number on his self-confidence. On the walk home last night, he attempted to joke about losing his mind, but his worry was real."

"It's only natural," El said. "His dreams, the hallucinations, and the attack in the bookstore are all troubling. After your call, I went to the medical center to review his chart. As he told Cyrus, in July he'd gone through the standard tests for a new employee and was in excellent health. I'm tempted to believe that he simply overworked himself to the state where his brain is playing tricks on him. Did he experience any more hallucinations today?"

"Not to my knowledge, and although he had a physical reaction to the starfish, he didn't experience any visions from it."

She rinsed her hands and dried them on a towel. "That's a positive sign. Schizophrenia is a difficult diagnosis to make and requires lengthy observations. What Neal is exhibiting may simply be a psychosomatic reaction to stress. Anyone who graduated high school at the age of sixteen and powered through to get his doctorate in six years has been putting immense pressure on himself."

Peter placed the glasses on the dining table. "Still, I wish you'd been in the lab. I'm at a loss to explain how he knew the location of the starfish."

"You're sure he didn't notice where Cyrus placed it?"

"I don't see how. His back was turned to Cyrus. The kid scared the hell out of me, El. For a few moments, he appeared catatonic."

She shook her head as she reached for the olive oil. "I wish we didn't have to deceive him, but under the circumstances, I believe this is the kindest way. The carving is in the lead-shielded pouch in the briefcase which, according to what you've observed, protects Neal from its effects. I hypothesize that on a subconscious level, Neal's brain is tricking him into a psychosomatic reaction and that the starfish is not responsible. I admit the possible discovery of a new element is mind-boggling. But that only Neal is affected by it?" She paused measuring out the olive oil to ponder for a moment. "He could have an extreme sensitivity to something within the stone, but the odds are against it."

"You mentioned the Superman complex. Now that Neal knows about the anomaly he may project the qualities of kryptonite onto the artifact, aggravating his condition."

She nodded. "That's my fear. I predict that when you leave the room and remove the stone from the pouch, he'll experience no reaction."

"And what then? How do we explain our actions to him? On the other hand, if he's affected by it, won't he resent us for the deception?"

She shrugged. "It's a risk we need to take. If I subject him to unnecessary tests, won't that be worse? And prolonging his belief that he's being affected by something in the artifact could further damage an already fragile mental state."

The doorbell rang, answering one question. Peter resolved to cast aside his doubts about the experiment they were about to conduct and went to the door to welcome Neal to their home.

Neal was a congenial guest. In addition to wine, he'd brought over the promised dog biscuits, which immediately resulted in Satchmo becoming his new best friend. Over dinner, Peter got him to open up about his studies in Oxford. El was interested in the paintings Peter had seen in the coffeehouse and tried to engage him in a discussion of them. Neal shied away from talking about his art but diverted the conversation to the latest exhibit at the university art museum.