Barter: Into the Mind

April 16, 2017

Location: Rosenfield, Illinois

Day 1: 6 am

The alarm begins to buzz as it does every morning. Gregory opens his eyes, shuts the alarm off, and sits up. It is still dark out, and it is raining. Greg gets out of bed, pulls on a pair of boxers, and hurries to iron his pants for work. He lays his warm, ironed pants on the bed, and quickly hops in the shower.

After finishing his shower and dressing, Greg makes his way downstairs, and is surprised to hear that none of his children (Sam, Phil, and Rose) are making any noise. He hurries to the kitchen, but doesn’t see them. He checks his watch: almost 7 and school starts in an hour.

“Kids, I’m leaving now,” he shouts. “I love you!”

No response from either child. He goes to the basement, thinking his wife Sarah will be doing her usual morning workout, but the treadmill is off, and the weights are still in their spot. Greg shrugs and leaves the house, taking his mug of coffee with him.

7:15 am

To Greg’s surprise, there aren’t any other cars on the street this morning; normally, he was in bumper-to-bumper traffic for at least twenty minutes, putting him at work at 7:35 am. This morning, however, he arrives at work at 7:25 am. He parks in his assigned spot, grabs his briefcase, and sets off towards the office.

Inside, he greets his secretary Susan as always. Susan smiles back at him, but she doesn’t speak. Greg sets down his briefcase down on his desk and goes to find a bite of breakfast. Ten minutes later, he returns with a bagel with cream cheese; he stashes the cheese sticks he had purchased in his small office fridge.

Noon

As usual, work for Greg is very boring; then again, selling TV packages over the phone could only be so entertaining. At lunchtime, Greg goes downstairs and purchases a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup and a ham and cheese sandwich, brings them upstairs, and eats quietly in his office.

The rest of the day proceeds as usual, quiet and dull. When Greg finally leaves at 5 pm, he is happy to be going home.

6 pm

By this point, Greg has been home for an hour, and hasn’t seen or heard any sign of his children or Sarah. However, something in him has made him stay put. They always went out on excursions, but he can’t remember this time where they had gone. At last, he gets himself a beer and watches The Godfather until he falls asleep. When he awakes, he is no longer hungry and goes to bed.

Day 2

At this point, I feel obligated to tell you that there is no point at writing the next sections as they proceeded in exactly the same as the first day. Now, back to your regularly scheduled story of Gregory Joseph Harmon…

12 am, beginning of Day 3

At this point, Greg is now beside himself with worry: he hasn’t seen Sarah or his children in three days. He has tried calling Sarah’s cell phone, but she won’t answer. All of the children’s lines claim to be disconnected. He should be asleep but cannot fall asleep; he is hungry and thirsty, but can’t bring himself to eat or drink.

Day 5

He has finally eaten, but he doubts that rotten ham or stale bread will hold him over for long. There’s a gun in his safe, a revolver. He just remembered it. Where are they? He begins to vomit.

Day 6

They are still gone, but a piece of paper has appeared on the kitchen table.

“They won’t be real. Do it.”

Day 10

At last, at last! They are home! By now, Greg hasn’t eaten since day 8, but more rotten ham is an awful meal. The garage door opens, and the car pulls in. Greg stands at the door, the revolver in his hand.

Day 11

Gregory Joseph Harmon sits in the Rosenfield Police Department Interrogation Room Number 6. Sarah Joan Harmon, Samuel Gregory Harmon, Phil Trevor Harmon, and Rose Mallory Harmon were found dead by gunshot wounds to the chest the previous day: Sam and Phil were each shot once, but Sarah and Rose were each shot twice. Their killer was their father, Gregory Harmon. Since his arrest, Greg has only said two words (“The paper!”) which he has only mumbled to himself.

Day 17

Gregory stands before the Honorable Judge Nick Costello, who sentences him to spend the rest of his life in the Rosenfield Institute for the Criminally Insane. Greg smiles: he did do it, and his soul is safe.

3 years later: 2020

Location: Barter Psychiatric Hospital

3:30 pm

Dr. Scott Matson awakens on a hospital bed, surrounded by his colleagues. Next to him, in a separate bed, lies Gregory Harmon, still heavily sedated and different wires connected to his head. Between them is a new, groundbreaking machine which Thad calls the Dream Machine.

“My god,” a man says, flabbergasted.

“He actually did it!” a woman exclaims. “I can’t believe it!”

Dr. Matson gets to his feet, and his colleagues return to their seats; they are in an operating theater, and Dr. Matson has just finished demonstrating how the Dream Machine works. Matson approaches the podium in the middle of the room.

“My friends,” he says, “you have just witnessed the maiden voyage of my Dream Machine. As you saw on this screen…”

He indicates a television screen, which is hooked up to the Dream Machine.

 “I was able to physically infiltrate Mr. Harmon’s mind,” Matson says. “By doing so, I was able to see firsthand the events that brought him to Rosenfield in the first place.”

“What are your conclusions then, doctor?” a man asks.

“My conclusion, Dr. Hexa,” Matson says, “is that Mr. Harmon simply suffered a complete mental breakdown that led to the gruesome murders of his wife and children.”

“What of the paper?” a woman asks. “Were you able to find the paper that he always rambles about?”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t,” Matson says. “From what Gregory has told me in our sessions together, there was a piece of paper in his home that encouraged him to murder his family. During my excursion into his mind, I didn’t see it. From what I witnessed, Mr. Harmon began to hear voices that encouraged him to murder his family. When they returned, his mind was so convinced that they were going to drag him to the bowels of hell that the only way to ‘save his soul’ was to fight back, hence the murders.”

There was a round of applause, and Dr. Matson’s colleagues began to file out of the room. As Scott watched them leave, he put his hands into his pocket, where he felt a piece of paper.

6:00 pm

No one else is home when Scott finally arrives home. He immeaditely goes to his study, closing the door behind him. He sits behind his desk and turns on the lamp. He takes the piece of paper out of his pocket and reads what it says under the lamplight.

“They won’t be real. Do it.”

There is a gun in his safe.