The interior of the house was completely different from anything Justin had seen before. Everything was eye level. The counter tops, the doorknobs, the light switches. Nothing was out of reach or hard to get around. There were no stairs leading to the upper level either. There was only an elevator. It was so strange to him, having come from the monstrosity that was his house, with all its curves, bends, and long staircases. But he guessed living there would have been so much more difficult now that he was confined to a wheelchair. He knew this house was perfect for a cripple like him. Of course it was. That was why it had been designed. So crippled freaks like himself could come here and try to become…uncrippled, without having to struggle in between. He adjusted his sunglasses, to ensure his eyes were totally concealed. He knew they must have looked frightening by this time. Most likely bloodshot to the point where the whites of his eyes were more of a rose red color. Nobody needed to see him like this. Especially not this lady that was giving them the grand tour of the place. Was she the doctor? He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t been paying attention when she had introduced herself. Judging by her classy getup though, he figured that she probably wasn’t. She was probably the personal assistant, yes, that was exactly who she was. He knew about personal assistants…

He bit his bottom lip. Trace. Trace had been his personal assistant.

“This is the exercise room.”

The woman’s voice broke through to him. He glanced upwards. It certainly was the exercise room, there was no doubt about that, with all its expensive looking machines, and the dreaded parallel bars.

“Justin, isn’t this nice!” Lynn smiled, wheeling her son further into the room. “It has everything you could possibly need. Oh, this is just fabulous…”

His mother was close to tears. She was happy. Justin was glad she was happy. He wanted her to be happy. It lifted some weight from his shoulders knowing that she felt secure leaving him in this place…with these people. One of his biggest fears was that she was going to go home, and spend countless nights wide awake, worrying about him. She had worried long enough, and she was long overdue for a break. He half smiled at the thought. It quickly faded. Trace was back. He had taken his classic position in a corner of the room, one foot against the wall, puffing on a cigarette.

“Nice place,” Trace smiled.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered.

Trace laughed. “Bullshit. I’m always with you. Why should now be any different?”

“Justin dear, did you say something?” Lynn asked.

He looked up at his Mother. “I…I just said that it was nice here,” Justin lied. “That’s all.”

Lynn smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

“So how long you gonna be here J? A month…a year?” Trace asked, blowing smoke out of his nostrils and pushing away from the wall. “Because I could get used to it here, ya know?” He ran his hand along one of the parallel bars. “There’s lots to do.”

It was so real, he was waiting for that woman to scream as if she seen a ghost. She didn’t though, which only made Justin more aware that Trace was simply an illusion his mind had created to comfort him. The truth was, Trace was dead and he was never coming back. All these hallucinations and conversations needed to stop. They needed to stop right now.

“I dunno,” he mumbled. “Just…get outta my head okay?”

“What was that?” The classy looking woman asked.

“Yeah J…what the hell was that?” Trace said, in the mocking, high pitched tone that he had been so well known for.

“I said get the hell out of my head!” Justin yelled.

Both women stared at him. He knew they were shocked, confused. He knew they couldn’t understand why he had just lost his temper. He was sure they thought he was losing his mind. He wanted to die. He glanced back toward the parallel bars again. Trace wasn’t there anymore. He shook his head.

“Is he alright?” The woman asked Lynn.

“Oh yes,” Lynn replied, sheepishly. “He’s just…tired.”

“Sorry,” Justin whispered. This wasn’t good. It had been okay to have these kind of hallucinations when he had been in the hospital. He had wanted them then. They had kept him from losing his mind completely. Now though, now he was trying to move on. But as long as Trace kept coming back like he was, nothing was going to change. But what was he supposed to do? Tell everybody that Trace wouldn’t leave him alone? No way. They would toss him in the loony bin for sure.

The woman smiled at him awkwardly. “Well…that’s alright. I’ll just leave you two here for a moment, while I get the doctor. It was nice to meet you,” she said quickly. She turned on her heel and trotted out of the room as quickly as she could.

“I think I drove her away,” Justin half chuckled.

Lynn patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” she whispered. “You just worry about you right now, all right?”

He looked up at her. She was smiling, but he could tell it was forced. His little outburst had caused her to start worrying again. He was stupid. So stupid. “Sure Mom. I can do that.”

The click-clack of shoes on the hardwood floor, caused them both to fix their gazes on the doorway. Within seconds, another woman appeared. This one was much more simple looking, with her flannel button down shirt, blue jeans, and boots. Her straight brown hair hung evenly at her shoulders. Her expression was welcoming, but serious. Justin studied her for several moments, trying to understand her. Trying to figure out what made her tick. Normally, he could see what a person was like in the first five minutes of dealing with them. He couldn’t do it this time. It was freaking him out. He started to tremble. He could feel the beads of sweat forming on his brow. This was a bad start.

“You must be the Mr. Timberlake I’ve been hearing about,” The woman said, extending her hand to him. “Doctor Karen Williams.”

“Hello,” he managed, returning her handshake. Her grip was firm, business like. It was almost like the handshakes he received from the big wigs at BMG. He hated those kinds of handshakes. They were so cold, so emotionless. They said “What can you do for me?” This woman was a doctor. She wasn’t supposed to be out for herself like those men were. What had his Mother gotten him into?

“Doctor Williams, I can’t tell you how grateful…” Lynn began.

“I want to get something straight with you, Mrs. Harless,” Karen interrupted her. “You need to realize that the longer you stay here, the more difficult it will be for your son to be without you. And he will be without you for a number of weeks.”

“Whoa. This one’s grade A huh?” Trace emerged from behind her, not hesitating to steal a glance at her behind as he did so. “Got no ass though. Typical for a woman like her.”

Justin wanted to scream. Not only was Trace invading his mind every five minutes, but that woman who called herself a doctor had just spoken to his mother like she didn‘t matter. Like she had no right to be here. And what was all this now about not seeing his mom for a few weeks? “A few weeks?” he blurted out.

Karen didn’t seem to hear him. “I suggest you leave now Mrs. Harless,” she stated. “Unless of course you would like to see your son become more emotionally distraught than he already is.”

“You’ve hardly explained yourself,” Lynn seethed. “This is my son you’re going to be providing for. I’ll leave when I want to leave.”

“Yeah Momma!” Trace exclaimed. “That’s how its done!”

Justin glared at him. He wanted to yell at him again. Yelling at him always seemed to make him go away. But he didn’t want to do it now, in front of Dr. Williams. He didn’t need to give her another excuse to drive his Mother out.

Karen’s frown changed to a sardonic grin. “What would you like me to explain Mrs. Harless? We spoke for at least an hour on the phone. In that time, I had explained my program to you, and the benefits of it. I also recall explaining to you that you were to take no part in the initiation process…but maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough. It is vital, Mrs. Harless, that Justin is secluded from every aspect of his life for the first month. The only thing that matters is getting those first steps out of him. After that, everything else falls into place quite nicely.”

“Secluded?” Justin gasped. “Ma…you never said anything about being secluded!”

“You’re such a baby Justin,” Trace said with a roll of his eyes. “Such a momma’s boy.”

He rolled his eyes back at Trace, who simply shrugged, chuckled, and disappeared. Justin shook his head vigorously. Out. Keep out of my head.

Karen’s hard gaze softened. “I apologize for seeming so unsympathetic on the first day, but this is how I run my program. In order for us to make any progress, your son has to learn to become self reliant again.” She shot Justin a displeased look. “That means he can’t be babied by anybody, especially his friends and family.”

Justin didn’t like the look in his mother’s eyes as she listened to the doctor. It was a look of understanding, comprehension, and acceptance. His mother was buying it. She was buying the whole thing. In a few minutes she was going to kiss him goodbye and everything related to the life he knew would go out the door with her. He couldn’t let that happen. “Mom,” he whimpered. “I want to go home.”

Lynn glanced him, and opened her mouth to speak.

“I will be in touch with weekly progress reports, Mrs. Harless,” Karen said quickly. “And Justin will be allowed to speak on the phone with you twice a week. Maybe even more, depending on how much progress he makes.” She leaned forward and offered her hand to Lynn. “Your son is in good hands.”

“Mom,” Justin said, louder this time. “I said I want to go home.”

Lynn bit her lip, as though she was about to do the hardest thing she had ever done. She turned on her heel and walked briskly out of the room.

“Mom!” Justin hollered. There was no reply, just the sound of the click-clack of heels getting farther and farther away. He adjusted his sunglasses, but it did no good. The tears were flowing, sliding freely down his face. He felt so alone, so abandoned, as if there wasn’t a soul in the world who cared for him. He had officially been dumped. He tensed up as he felt the doctor roll him backward. He didn’t want her having control over him. He didn’t like it.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work Justin,” Karen said softly. “But I can help you get past this, if you’ll let me.”

He didn’t answer.