The Disappearist

Chapter Eight: "An Odd Session"

Wil never said it aloud, but he considered Bree and himself to be a "power couple." He was a young successful therapist at a prestigious treatment firm and she was the agent in charge of one of the U.S. Marshals' most important facets of the agency's functionality. It wasn't necessarily "ego" which gave him this sensation of "power," but rather, a sense of pride that he was successful, his wife was successful, and their marriage was successful. It was a great feeling of power — not in the traditional sense, but in an intrinsically-satisfying sense.

Sometimes this power was like a drug. When the two of them would go out shopping or to the movies or to the symphony, they would walk hand-in-hand — this young attractive couple — inadvertently putting on display their level of happiness with one another, the stability of their marriage, and their confidence in themselves.

Every morning, when Wil walked into his office and flipped on the light, illuminating his workspace for the day, he carried with him that sense of pride and power, happy with the life he'd carved-out for himself — happy, but not content. In Wil's eyes, there was always more out there. He'd more-or-less achieved everything he could in the academic arena and accomplishment in his professional arena would come with the passing of time, so in the corner of Wil's mind, he was always on-the-lookout for what John Cusack's character Lloyd Dobbler referred to as a "dare-to-be-great situation" in the Say Anything.

And then, one day, a conversation with his favorite client, "The Arsonist," gave him an idea.

On that spring day, "The Arsonist" (whose real first name was Iain) was scheduled as Wil's last appointment of the day, scheduled for 3:10PM. And although Iain was on-time, as he always was, it took Wil less than a minute to realize this session would be a bit different.

Iain was completely and utterly wasted.

Approaching his conversation with Iain as a therapist, Wil attempted to ascertain what substance Iain had been using. This was not alcohol; Iain neither stumbled, nor slurred, nor did he smell of alcohol. This was also not marijuana; Iain did not have the signature aroma of a pot smoker, nor were his eyes blood-shot or puffy. This was not meth; Iain was quite composed and displayed none of the typical behaviors of methamphetamine use (such as paranoia, anxiousness, nervousness, or hyperactivity). This was not heroine; Iain was not lethargic or slow-to-speak and he had no needle tracks on his arms. It might have been cocaine; Wil honestly had no idea what cocaine behavior looked like.

"Iain," Wil began, "you don't seem like yourself today." He spoke delicately, not knowing how Iain would react to Wil commenting on his sobriety. With some people, it can go either way. In the past, Wil had faced this issue several times and been confronted with statements ranging from, "Oh yeah, I'm totally hammered" to "How dare you question my state of mind?" So questioning a client's level of sobriety was often a roll of the dice. "Have you," Wil paused, trying to sound professional, yet calm, "have you consumed any substances prior to our session?

"Yes," Iain said matter-of-factly.

"May I ask what?" Wil inquired.

"You can ask anything," Iain replied in a calmly-sardonic voice. "You're the therapist. I'm just the villain."

"Well," Wil said, pausing a moment, not knowing if he should continue discussing the substance abuse issue or reflect upon this new term Iain just used to describe himself. Wil decided he wanted to know the substance first. "Have you been drinking?" Wil was reasonably certain there was no alcohol in his system, but he also thought it best to begin small and work his way up.

"Drinking?" Iain said calmly. "Technically, yes."

This answer puzzled Wil even more.

"Please elaborate," Wil said.