Chapter 11

The walls of Adrian’s reality collapsed. Flashes of cold hospital rooms, restraints, doctors’ voices—it all made sense now. Adrian had created Simon in his mind, a projection of his fractured psyche. He had been talking to himself all along. The therapy sessions? A desperate attempt to heal. The missing time? A mind breaking apart under the weight of truth. As Adrian sat in his office, the walls flickered, revealing the padded walls of a psychiatric ward. A doctor stood before him, clipboard in hand. “Dr. Voss,” the real doctor said. “Are you ready to talk about Simon?”