this story was inspired in part by the movie Inside Out and partly by the book Alice in Wonderland.

Dr. Elsie Hale was the new person in the Angelwings Institution for the Mentally Challenged. Little more than a nurse, she had earned the “Dr.” because she had been recommended by her university. Her only friend here so far was Dr. Dylan Walters, who was walking toward her.

‘They brought in someone new,” he said. “Man. 32 years old. Serial number #838-43.’

‘What’s he in for?’ she asked.

‘Responsible for two deaths.’

Elsie gasped and put her hand on her heart.

‘Even worse,’ continued Dylan, ‘they want us to talk to him.’

‘To a psychopath?’ she cried. ‘They should be in a cell themselves!’

***

Dylan had no idea what he was doing here.

The person responsible for murdering two people was rocking back and forth singing a lullaby to his pink teddy bear.

Another doctor wheeled into the room with a man in a wheelchair. The man held a plastic box and two virtual-reality headsets.

‘Ah, I’ve heard all about you!’ he said. ‘You must be Dylan Walters.’ Dylan scarcely had time to exchange a glance with Elsie before the man was speaking again.

‘I don’t allow most people to know my real name,’ he said. ‘So just call me Poltergeist. I’m the founder and CEO of Fiery Raven Electronics, and we think that we’ve found a way to heal the inmates of asylums such as this once and for all.’

He said all this very fast without taking a breath. Dylan exchanged another confused glance with Elsie

‘How?’ Elsie ventured to ask

Poltergeist held up the box. ‘Through VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY!‘

‘Ok’

‘This device allows us to look inside the mind of the patient, find out what is causing the problem, and cut that part of the brain out!’

‘Out?’ Elsie looked shocked.

‘Yes, out, but we can worry about that later. Right now we need to focus on the test subjects.’

‘Test subjects?…wait…us?’

‘It would be most ideal.’

Elsie looked at Dylan.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘Let’s do this.’