OFF

Luke

The medication they'd been giving him made him feel weird.

Luke never knew how to felt, these days. It felt like someone was telling him how to feel, and a million different emotions at once. He didn't like it much.

The door opened, and Luke looked up at Dr. Brooke. "Hello, Luke."

Luke frowned. "Hi," he said.

Dr. Brooke pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and set it on the table. "Here's your medication."

Luke looked at it with distaste. "I don't like it."

Dr. Brooke was surprised. "But it's a pill. You can't taste it."

Luke shook his head and said, "No, what it does to me. I don't like it. It makes me feel..." he trailed off, uneasy. "Off."

"Off?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, but sometimes I feel anxious for no reason, or I feel really upset. Or sometimes I feel like someone is watching me. But I don't actually feel like it. It's like someone's telling me to feel on edge. I know there's no reason. I just..." Luke waved his hands around in frustration, trying to convey what he couldn't put into words. "I hate it."

Dr. Brooke pursed his lips. "Let's try something." He pulled a metal fountain pen out of his pocket and placed it on the table, where it glinted.

Luke stared at it. "Try what?" he asked.

"The medication?" Dr. Brooke asked.

Luke looked up from the pen. "I hate it. It makes me feel not like me," he said, frowning.

Luke couldn't understand why Dr. Brooke was smiling. "Are all the emotions bad?" he asked.

Luke struggled silently, biting his lip and fiddling with his fingers. "Not entirely. I just... don't like it," he repeated.

Dr. Brooke casually slid the pen across the surface of the table, the light reflecting off of it into Luke's eye, making him flinch. "I think we should be able to make some adjustments to your medication," he said.

Luke frowned at the pen, the reflected light winking up at him. "Could you put the pen away? It's hurting my eyes."

Dr. Brooke grinned. "You did it."

Luke looked up at Dr. Brooke, confused. "Did what?"

"You didn't reach for it. You didn't want it."

Luke sat in a stunned silence. "I didn't-"

"Your medication was making you feel weird. Thus far, your mental capacities have been focused on the desire to steal, however irrational. Now that it's been overcome, you're starting to realize other priorities," Dr. Brooke explained.

Luke frowned. "Priorities?"

"You're in an unfamiliar environment. You're naturally going to feel anxious. We've been checking up on you, tracking your progress, and now you're registering it, which accounts for the paranoia," he said.

Luke ran his hands through his hair. "I... this is weird."

"You've never been a really emotional person, have you?" Dr. Brooke asked.

Luke shook his head. "Unless I wanted something- no, unless I needed something. I'm kind of... detached." He wrinkled his nose. "And now I'm not?"

"Not anymore," the doctor confirmed.

Luke blew out a long, slow breath.

"This should be interesting."