Chapter 3: Because We Can

He was still in the air, falling. And suddenly, his father's face was beside him, not falling, but somehow standing above him.

Luke stared at him with those deceitful eyes, simultaneously arrogant but almost caring... in a way that was annoying more than anything else. 

"Do you want to say something to me Dean?" Luke asked in that faux-innocent voice, knowing perfectly well what he had to say.

"Would you leave me alone? I'm sort of in the middle of something!"

"Do you think I'm really here? If I am here, it's because you have something to say to me."

"N- no! No I don't. I'm tired of your stupid- technicalities! Go away!"

"Maybe that's why you ended up here, because you pushed me away. You pushed your whole family away. Your mother wanted to help you, but you didn't want it. We sent you away to help you in ways we couldn't ourselves... but you ignored that too. And here you are, still rebelling against me in your own way... by replacing me with some dying jackass who can boss you around instead!" Luke was ruthless, and even if he wasn't real, it hurt all the same.

"Look L- Dad. I didn't want this okay? But I don't want to work in an antique store all my life, and I'm not gonna throw it away to some college. Why can't you just let me be my own person?" Dean managed.

"Do you still believe that? After your whole spiel about responsibility and taking control of yourself, you still wanna be a little vanguard? You're anything but responsible, Dean. You could've had it great... you could've inherited all of it. But you decided to fuck it up instead. Well I'm not gonna stop you anymore. Go on."

"Y- you're not real. You're not real! You wouldn't say that... even you wouldn’t say that.." 

Luke's likeness slipped form, becoming something else entirely. It moved mechanically, hissing noises shooting through his head and shooting into Dean's face like so many insults. Finally, he disappeared into thin air.

Dean looked down at the platform below, and still couldn't believe what he saw. He was falling, but he wasn't getting any closer to the ground. He was suspended, but air still flowed through his hair as if he were sticking his head out the window on a windy day.

He stared at the massive monitor on the wall. Mr. Johnson was nowhere to be found, but like a hawk, Caroline had her eyes peeled, seemingly documenting his every move. Did she see what he just saw?

"Let me out of here... please let me out!"

Caroline went on taking notes.

"What was that? Why did I see my dad? What are you doing to me?"

He felt this rage boiling inside him. Dean realized he had spent practically his whole life suspended in the air. He was a lab rat now, but he'd always been. It was no different from those tests they ran on him at Montgomery Prison.

"I didn't agree to this shit! 2 weeks! You said 2 weeks of testing and- and I could go home. Please let me go home. Please let me-"

The screen began to change. Caroline's leather seat seemed to morph into something else; something more extended. Something designed to lull him into a false sense of security. 

"Dean," a familiar voice suddenly echoed around him, but not from the speakers. 

"Are you listening?"

"Dr. Bennett?" Dean said, startled.

"Don't be silly. We've got plenty of work to do and only a half hour to do it. Now, where did we leave off last week?" The prison psychologist asked.

"What's going on? I'm- out of that horrid place. I don't have to answer your questions anym-"

"Dean, we've been over this. You're never leaving here. You have to accept that. What's up to you, is what you're going to do about it." That was practically her motto.

"I'm... glad to talk to you again!" Dean reassured himself. "You didn't help me one bit! You're so holier than thou. You don't treat any of us like people. You only have this job so you can feel better than-"

"Dean, you need to listen to me. You're on one side of these bars, and I'm on the other. You don't speak to me that way. You need me, and I'm giving you time."

He was taken aback.

"And since you've come out of the gate swinging," she continued "How about I do the same. You're still letting your father define you as a person. It's why you can't stop imagining him. You could be thinking about literally anything right now. Do you know that? This device they're testing - it lets you visualize your wildest dreams. And the first 2 people you think of are me and your father."

Dean's head was spinning. He couldn't possibly know that... but if she was a figment of his imagination, how could she possibly know that? 

"You blame others for where you are, but the truth Dean, is that you don't have the will to change any of it. You keep falling back on what you think are the sources of your problems. You go into this feedback loop where you get to feel angry without changing anything. But it's you Dean. You're the problem."

He was shaking:

"How do I fix it? How do I fix myself?"

"Dean, that's why we have the 7 easy steps to a fulfilling life behind bars! I gave you the sheet music. Did you lose it? Ah well, here's another copy:

'Put your chin up and dance along with me'

'Pick up a bible and read along with me!'

'Your problems are your own and not society's'

'You've got to-'

"Shut up! Shut the hell up!"

The noise went away, as Dean fell face first into the greenish goop.