Page 101 of Even in the Dark

Dr. Morley:So, let’s say four and a half?

Dylan:Sure.

Dr. Morley:And what about this past week?

Dylan:Six, I guess?

Dr. Morley:Okay. Six… Do you remember our very first session I asked you to rate the first few days?

Dylan:No. What did I say?

Dr. Morley:You said two.

Dylan:[No response]

Dr. Morley:So if we made a graph, do you have kind of a mental image of what the slope of the line would look like?

Dylan:Not sure what you mean.

Dr. Morley:I mean, if we plotted your ratings out of ten since you arrived in Sandy Haven, we’d see a steady upward climb. Some days and weeks lower, for sure. Sometimes higher. But overall, based purely on those number ratings, your days and weeks are ranking higher. They’re getting better… Would you say that seems like an accurate reflection?

Dylan:Yeah. Probably.

Dr. Morley:And that’s the thing we need to remember here—that we’re looking at the overall picture, right? The overall direction of your mood and your general happiness level. Or unhappiness level.

Dylan:We gonna be doing math the whole session today, or…

Dr. Morley:You gonna be a smartass the whole session today?

Dylan:[scoffs]

Dr. Morley:Okay, tell me one good thing you did, or that happened since I last saw you.

Dylan:You’re like a broken record, you know that?

Dr. Morley:And here I was, thinking your generation didn’t know what a record was.

Dylan:Okay, fine… I had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

Dr. Morley:[laughs] I call foul. That is a total copout answer and you know it. Good Lord, if you’re going to give me a bullshit answer, at least make it interesting.

Dylan:I layered slices of cheese on the pancakes. That better?

Dr. Morley:Mildly… Mostly, it just sounds like a bad case of indigestion waiting to happen.

Dylan:[no response]

Dr. Morley:What else you got? Something else you did or that happened, besides your questionable breakfast choices.

Dylan:Fine. Uh… I hung out with this guy Silas a couple days ago. Found out I don’t totally suck at Call of Duty.

Dr. Morley:How was it? Hanging out with Silas?

Dylan:Fine. He’s a cool guy.

Dr. Morley:Call of Duty? You liked it?

Dylan:Sure.

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