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by
Dr. Harper
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June 18 - June 19, 2025
Thank you, for following Dr. Harper & Noah to the end.
“Just don’t let it get to that big head of yours,” she said with a wink. “Can’t fit too much more in there before it pops.” “Annnd the bitch is back…” Doc grumbled.
“A psychotic man-baby who kidnaps anyone that disagrees with him.”
“Well, the first key is nonjudgmental self-awareness. Like, we can’t do any of the other keys until we’re aware of our thought patterns — both positive and negative.
“We’re going to regret this, aren’t we, Noah?” I laughed nervously. I wasn’t quite sure if he was talking about the festival — or us.
It slowly broke into a smile, revealing a set of blood-stained teeth.
“Well…” said Zach. “We have — we have a vegan.”
We need to stop looking at this as activism or terrorism — I think it might be a case of domestic violence.”
“She’s DEAD, you insufferable bitch—” “But…”
Kierra had no idea — and I would never tell her this — but I was pretty sure she had just solved this patient file.
“Deadname,” I said. “That’s how some transgender individuals refer to their birth name, correct?”
You’re not Maggie Greenberg anymore. You don’t have to hold yourself hostage forever. Self-forgiveness dissolves the shame.”
“He is so in love with you,” Shawn spoke softly, clasping his other hand around mine. “Please don’t hurt him.”
He laughed and chased after me. “We’re like old people.”
An hourglass (to time his sessions — he said it’s more subtle than clocks), a metal feather bookmark (he loves to read), a miniature hot air balloon (to remember our beach day), and a locket with a photo of us.
Fear told me that no one would ever love me the way I loved them, so I was better off alone.
“Those labs handle the most dangerous and infectious viruses in the world,” he said. “Ebola, coronavirus, Marburg, Lassa, Nipah, Crimean-Congo, HIV…”
“Perfect place for a trial run on human subjects,” he said simply. “It’s an island. Anywhere else — even controlled environments — you run the risk of a pandemic. Here they can safely observe and learn.”
“Thanks for stopping by,” he said. “Good luck out there. I would get the hell off this island if I were you, before the quarantine starts and they block off the airport.”
“He thinks this is a bioterrorist attack.”
“Like clockwork, we turn on one another,” he said. “Our primal tribal instincts become activated, and we make sacrifices to keep ourselves safe. We talk about freedom and compassion, but that all goes out the door in a mass extinction.”
He shook his head before anyone could even ask. “Absolutely not.”
The only infectious disease I see is fear. What is the point of living if you’re constantly afraid of death?”
I grabbed a knife from the counter and slashed my palm open. “I have HIV.” I waved my bloody hand in Linus’s face. “Let me out — or I’ll make sure you get it too.”
I was actually starting to feel very optimistic about this whole thing. Until Noah coughed.
“Look at the evidence in front of you,” he said. “They’re incompetent. There is no security here. Just security theater.”
Since the day we met, Noah had become the antidote to my fear — a relentless source of integrity when others inevitably faltered.
He pulled the blanket over his head and peeked out with a smile. “You make my heart feel squishy.”
But deep within my heart, there was a festering black rot that told me the truth.
“It’s like — It’s like you’ve decided there’s something wrong with you and therefore don’t believe anyone could like you.”
“You’re already doing a good job of that yourself, aren’t you?” he said. “I came back because I was worried about you.”
Doc turned to me and whispered, “Noah, I’m terrified of heights!” “I know, me too!” I said. “I figured this could be a great way for us to conquer our fears together.”
“There’s been a rape on the island.”
His story added up. The evidence was on his side. But what were the odds? What were the odds of another elderly woman on this island being attacked — in the exact same way — with him here?
“Why is it always you four at the center of this goddamn clown show?”
This is a fucking coverup, and Officer Cholesterol is involved—”
That is funny
“Hey, that’s not fair,” he said. “We’re all working hard on this.”
Maybe he did it ?
“By order of the FBI, you are hereby under arrest for the rape of Ethyl McDougal.”
“I was a black man on campus when a white girl got raped.”
There was a gentle rumble of thunder in the distance as I stepped to his side and put my arm around his shoulder. “You’re not fighting alone this time.”
He shoved the dildo down my throat. “I’LL FUCKING CHOKE YOU, JUST LIKE I DID WITH THOSE GRANNY BITCHES.” And that was all we needed.
We would wait out the coming storm together.
“Happy endings are just a bit more… complicated for some of us.”
Alex and Ian. How the hell did she know that?
“UNIMAGINABLE PAIN AND TRAUMA!” she cried, falling to the ground. “SUFFERING BEYOND COMPREHENSION!” “Yikes.” Kierra raised her eyebrows. “Sounds like me when the pool bar closes.”
sociopathy.
“I’m sick of waking up every day with that boredom gnawing away at my soul. I’m sick of being unable to reciprocate the things people say they feel for me — all I can do is mirror and mimic them. I’m sick of knowing I should be angry or sad about my past, but being unable to feel those things even when I try my hardest. It’s like I’ve been banished from my own body, and no fucking key is going to let me back in.”
The world’s first permanent anti-depressant. With one side effect: losing the ability to love and feel emotions. Forever.
And without the discomfort, all that remained was… Peace.
