The Syndrome by John Case Read Free Book Online Page A

delicious. So sweet and crisp and cool.”
    Her chest rose and fell. And rose again.
    “When I count to five,” he said, “you’ll wake up, and you’ll feel relaxed and refreshed, okay?” Without waiting for a reply, he began to count: “One … two … three …”
    Nico’s eyes fluttered and opened, revealing dark, unfocused pupils that dwindled in the light. Duran handed her a Kleenex.
    “You’ve done some really good work, Nico. I’m proud of you.”
    She blinked furiously at the light, until Duran came into focus. Then she swung her feet off the couch, sat up, and cleared her throat. Her face was flushed, but her eyes were shining and clear.
    “So it was okay?” she asked.
    He nodded. “Absolutely. And we’ll talk again on Friday.” With that, he helped her up, and showed her to the door, where she gave him a big smile, and a lingering kiss on the cheek.
    “You really make my day, Doc.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s why I’m here,” he joked. Then he got serious. “There’s one thing, though.”
    “What?”
    “Your lithium—
take
it, Nico.”
    She rolled her eyes, and looked away.
    “Promise me,” he repeated.
    Reluctantly, she nodded. “I hate it,” she said. “It makes me feel dead.”
    “It keeps you grounded. And you need that. You want to be on a roller-coaster all the time?”
    She shook her head.
    “Then take your medication.”
    When the door closed behind her, Duran went back to his desk and typed a brief summary of the afternoon’s session.
    October 16. Sullivan, Nicole, 30
    Hypnotherapy and guided imagery continue to elicit classic allegations of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), allegedly suffered as a child (8-10) in a South Carolina foster home. Sisters, Rosanna and Adrienne, similarly abused. Rosanna supposedly killed by foster father, Declan, while making pornographic film. Client’s narrative includes occasional references to politically prominent persons and celebrities, implicating them in the activities of the cult.
    Episodes of manic-depression and compulsive behavior currently managed by medication (Lithium salts), though client continues to encourage the manic phase by skipping doses….
    When he’d finished his summary, Duran attended to the tape recording that he’d made. Removing the cassette from the machine, he wrapped it in a length of bubble wrap, which he then secured with rubber bands. This done, he slid the package into a JetPak, and addressed it to the Mutual General Assurance Company in New York City.
    Then he sat back in his chair. The nearest mailbox was a block away, a
long
block away, at the corner of Porter and Connecticut. He’d have to take the elevator down, and—
    He didn’t like to leave the building.
    There it was. He didn’t like to leave the building. But of course, he had to.
    Package in hand, he went into the hallway and pressed the button for the elevator, thinking that the best thing to do was to think about something else.
    Like SRA. (Talk about a mess …)
    Nico’s story was shocking, of course—but it was wholly unoriginal. If you read the literature, there were hundreds of accounts of “organized” child abuse. And almost all of them were the same—a lurid narrative that strained credulity to the breaking point.
    The elevator arrived. The doors drew apart, and Duran stepped inside. Pressed 1. Began riding down.
    Depending on the therapist you talked to, or the paper that you read, SRA was either a mass delusion or something less probable, but even worse—an epidemic set in motion by a demonic underground whose perversions centered upon, and were ignited by, the ritual murder of children.
    The elevator doors opened, and Duran stepped into the lobby. Looking neither left nor right, but concentrating on the monologue inside his head, he took the revolving doors to the outside and strode briskly toward the mailbox on the corner. It was one of those cool and windy days that made it seem as if the whole world was air-conditioned.