“Hello Ms. Cyr. Please have a seat,” Doctor Kerry Derksen said.
Samantha Cyr sat down. “Thank you for seeing me, Dr. Derksen.”
“It is my pleasure. I don’t normally get to consult on cases like this, but due to the unique circumstances, I can in this case.”
“Dr. Robertson said you were one of the best at head trauma, but that you had taken a private job. I’m still not sure what exactly it is you can do for us. Randy has been in a coma for two weeks now and all the other doctors have said there is nothing they can do.”
“They are right. Normally, time is the best method for letting the brain heal after the kind of injury your son sustained during his fall.”
“First off, my son didn’t fall. He was assaulted and was bullied into being part of that dumb chase in the first place.”
“Sorry, I misspoke, Ms Cyr. I didn’t mean to minimize the trauma your son suffered. I’ve seen the police report. If there hadn’t been those bird watchers in the meadow, no doubt it would’ve been considered an accident. But they witnessed the whole thing and then other students admitted that your son was bullied into participating. In fact, the police reports indicate a history of bullying for your son at Haverson, not to mention the documented cases from his previous schools. Did your son tell you what was happening at Haverson?”
Samantha Cyr wiped a tear away and tried to keep it together. “No, he’d come home every day and tell me that school was fine. That the rich kids were too busy in their own worlds to pay any attention to him. He lied to me the whole time.”
“Why do you think he did that?” Dr. Derksen said.
“Because I forced him to go to that school. I told him that normal kids weren’t abusive like the ones he’d dealt with at his old school. I insisted that a prep school was a great place and that the kids would be nicer.”
“As a therapist, I have to tell you that having affluent parents doesn’t make kids any less emotional or cruel. The worst bullies are often children of parents who are extremely wealthy or successful. The pressure they apply on their kids to be successful is unhealthy and manifests in many ways, bullying being one of them.”
Samantha nodded. “Yes, I realize that now. The worst part was that I’ve been advocating a pacifist approach his entire life. I’m the one that taught him to always turn the other cheek and walk away.”
“I see here that Randy’s last councilor recommended self-defense classes as a way of boosting his self-confidence and giving him training in how to prevent conflicts, and that you refused.”
“I was taught violence begets violence. I wanted him to be a smart and compassionate adult who understood that violence was wrong.”
“A noble choice, the world could use more people who believe in pacifism.”
Samantha shook her head. “No, it wasn’t noble. It was unrealistic. I was a fool. I knew that Randy looked different than the other kids. I knew that kids could be cruel, but instead of giving him the tools to protect himself, I just threw him from the frying pan into the fire. Haverson was no different than public school. It was worse, and Randy didn’t tell me about it because he didn’t want to disappoint me. I’m the reason he’s in a coma now. I failed him as a mother.”
“Nonsense. Your son is in a coma because his head was hit with blunt force trauma. You didn’t tackle your son, nor did you leave him to bleed out. You don’t do yourself or Randy any good by focusing on your own perceived shortcomings. You need to be focused on what you can do to help Randy now. Going back and kicking yourself over what you did or didn’t do in the past isn’t going to help him now.”
Samantha wiped her face clean and stiffened her back. “You are right. What can we do now?”
“That is why I’m here. I work for Corton Industries. We manufacture medi-pods such as the ones recommended by Dr. Robertson for Randy. The difference between other medi-pods and ours is that our medi-pod patients often participate in our gaming world, New Realm Online. We’ve had a great deal of success with patients who are in comas like your son. As they recover from their injuries, they are able to enjoy a full-immersion fantasy world.”
Samantha frowned. “He’d be playing video games while in a coma?”
“Not exactly. The medi-pods allow the mind to recover faster, and while the patient’s body still isn’t functioning normally, the mind is able to process what is going on in the game. It would be like him waking up into a game world while his physical body continues to recover.”
“I never let him play video games before, I thought they were too violent,” Samantha said.
“New Realm certainly fits that bill; it is a violent and hyper-real world. However, I think that it is perfect for your son’s recovery. In the game he’d be forced to confront violence and take new approaches to dealing with being attacked. He would have a mentor of sorts in the beginning to give him the skills necessary to survive in the game world, but after that he’d be on his own. I think given the nature of his trauma and the history of bullying that this environment would greatly help his recovery.”
Samantha frowned. “It sounds a little extreme, throwing him into a violent world. He’s the kind of kid who doesn’t kill a fly.”
“It is extreme, but I’m afraid when you chose to ignore the more conventional options that were available, we got to where we are now.”
“Right, I guess I earned that. OK, Doc. What is it going to cost? I spent most of my disposable income getting Randy into that stupid prep school.”
“Since the incident was part of a school sanctioned event, Haverson is paying for Randy’s full treatment. Your lawyer did a good job in your settlement agreement. Once you sign it, all your financial burden will fall on the school. Money isn’t a worry when it comes to your son’s treatment. The only consideration is getting him healthy and making sure that he has no long-term issues. Because of his history of being bullied, I do believe that, while unorthodox, this treatment will be the best option.”
Samantha sighed. “I just want my baby back. If he must play the most violent games ever made, I don’t care. He can kill everyone as far as I’m concerned, just give me my boy back.”
“We’ll do the best we can, I promise,” Doctor Derksen said.