Page 37 of Even in the Dark

Dr. Morley:Any thoughts on that?

Dylan:Nope.

Dr. Morley:Alright, so… pretty different situations, then—your life before and your life now. A lot of adapting, I’m sure. How is that? All the changes… What’s that like?

Dylan:It’s fine.

Dr. Morley:Mmm. Can you… How would you describe your life before? Not just the money situation. But in general, if you had to describe what life was like living with Eli?

Dylan:It was pretty much normal.

Dr. Morley:Okay. Describe normal.

Dylan:Just—normal.You’d just do your thing. Do whatever. As long as you didn’t get in his way, you’d be fine. Could do what you wanted, pretty much. Nothing ever really happened.

Dr. Morley:Okay. And what about if you did get in Eli’s way?

Dylan:Nothing crazy. You’d get locked in the closet for a couple days, something like that. Only if you pissed him off, though, or bugged him or something.

Dr. Morley:Alright. And when you say your life with Eli was pretty normal, is the closet thing an example of that? Or different in some way?

Dylan:It was normal, ’cos Eli wasn’t like the people here, talking about feelings and emotions and crap. Eli’s tough, and he wanted you to be tough. He did what he had to do to make you that way. Treated you like a man, not like a kid.

Dr. Morley:Okay. And how did it make you feel—when he locked you in the closet?

Dylan:You just dealt with it. It was fine. You knew if you didn’t toe the line—if you triggered a mood or something—you’d get sent to the closet for a couple days. Or the bathroom. When you got older… got bigger, I guess—it was the bathroom.

Dr. Morley:Alright, I see… So, when you say your life before was normal; let’s talk a bit more about that. Can you tell me ways it wasmostnormal? And ways it wasleastnormal?

Dylan:It was most normal ’cos it wasnormal.You just… lived. Watched TV and skateboarded or whatever. And it was least normal… I don’t know. Because of not going to school, I guess.

Dr. Morley:Makes sense.

Dylan:[no response]

Dr. Morley:Are there times when you wished youhadgone to school?

Dylan: …Sure. I guess, sometimes.

Dr. Morley:Mmm. I get that.

Dr. Morley:So… again—when you think about things from your life before that were most normal and least normal… the fact that Eli would sometimes kill people—would you say that was pretty normal or not so normal? Or somewhere in between?

Dylan:[movements heard] Real obvious what you’re doing—trying to make out like Eli was a monster. Because of what you’ve read in the papers. You’ve obviously made up your mind about him, so… whatever. I’m not gonna talk about it. He’s locked up, anyway. None of it matters anymore.

Dr. Morley:You’re right. I don’t know anything about Eli, except what I saw printed in the papers. But that’s not the side I’m interested in, Dylan. Forget what the papers said. What I’m interested in isyourexperience with him—bad or good or anything in between. And the killing thing strikes me as one of the least normal aspects about being raised by him, so I was curious why it wasn’t the first thing that came to mind for you. And you don’t have to agree with me. I don’twantyou to agree with me if you think I’m wrong about something.

Dylan:It wasn’t the first thing that came to mind for me because I’m fucking sick of hearing about it!All the fucking time!But yeah, the fact that he’s a serial killer is obviously not normal. I fucking know that. Knew it then, too. I’m not an idiot. Just because I didn’t go to school doesn’t mean I’m a total idiot. That I think being a serial killer isnormal.

Dr. Morley:I’m sorry if I made you feel like that. Truly, Dylan, I do not think you’re stupid. In a lot of ways, you’re a hell of a lot smarter than I was at your age.

Dylan:[no response]

Dr. Morley:Let’s talk about something else for a bit, hm? What about TV… You into any good shows right now?

Dylan:[no response]

Dr. Morley:My wife and I have been watching one of those cringey reality shows sometimes before bed. Love is Blind? You heard of it?

---