You're listening to the new mutual audio network. Welcome home. The following audio drama is rated PG for parental guidance. [Music] Good morning and welcome to the Sonic Society of the world's most fabulous showcase of modern audio drama. I'm your Willy Wonka of sound excursions, Jack Ward, and I'm here with everyone's lovable Charlie David Alt. How are you calling it Charlie? But at least you didn't make me Augusta's Gloop or anything like that, or Mike TV. Good morning everyone. Or Violet Bolregard, if I remember. Indeed, yes, yes, I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. Today on the society we are looking into Lawrence Shipen and Misha Stanton's incredibly popular The Bright Sessions with episodes one, two, and three. Yes, it is rare we get to feature more than two episodes of a show, but I know after listening you'll want to subscribe to the whole series and listen to all of the rest yourself. And our trilogy of therapy begins right now and right here on the Sonic Society. New patient, session one, female mid 20s, no history of psychological counseling. She was skittish when making her appointment, condition unknown. Come in. Dr. Bright? Yes, hi, I'm here for a session, for a therapy session that is. Two o'clock, I have a two o'clock appointment. It's my first time. In therapy I mean that's probably obvious. I'm Sam, Samantha. My name is Samantha Barnes, but you can call me Sam. Or Samantha, either one is fine, whatever you're comfortable with. It's your office. Which would you prefer? Sam, I suppose. I had to pick. Well, Sam, why don't you come in? Right, gosh, sorry. Please, take a seat. I don't have to lie down, do I? I never understood that Freud is so insistent about and it just always seems so weird. No, you're not required to lie down. What did you mean by that? By what? That comment about Freud. Oh, that, um, nothing. I didn't mean anything by it. I mean, I don't know if Freud personally or anything. I mean, it's not a personal interest of mine. I probably just read something somewhere about Freud and his intense need for people to lie down while talking to him. I'm a researcher, so I spend a lot of time on the computer. And do you know the internet? Just full of information. So, yes, I probably just read about Freud while I was doing my internet. I mean, I'm sure you know all about Freud. Being a psychiatrist and all, I've read his works, yes. Right, well, so that's, uh, that's a relief that I don't have to lie down, that is. It just seems silly. So, Sam, how are you feeling today? Good? I'm good. Like, great, yeah, things are great. Is there anything in particular that's on your mind? No, no, not really. I don't really need therapy or anything. I mean, I'm not, you know, depressed or suicidal. I mean, I have a nice life. A job I like, a nice apartment, a very understanding cat. Things are good. I just, um, yeah, I saw your, your listing in the paper and it looked intriguing. That's all. What about it intrigued you? Well, therapy for the strange and unusual. I just, it sounded well, unusual. And do you like things that are unusual? No, I would not, I would not say that exactly. Then what did the listing attract you? What did you, what did you mean by it? I mean, I put a listing in the paper for therapy in the first place. It seems a little weird. I've learned that some people have problems that aren't exactly found in psychology textbooks. And a lot of those people don't know where to turn for help. That's where I come in. What do you mean? What, what kinds of problems? I'm afraid I can't discuss any of my past or present patients. Right, right, of course you can't, I'm sorry. It's just, I think I might qualify for that, for the, the strange and unusual. Oh, why do you say that? Well, ever since I was a kid, wait, you can't tell anyone about this, right? I mean the, the same patient, doctor, confidentiality agreement still applies? Of course, I can't tell anyone what you told me in this office. And you can't report me to any law enforcement or government agency or anything, right? Well, if you've hurt someone or planned to, I would have- No, no, no, no, no, no, God, it's, it's nothing like that. It's just, well... Okay, you will probably think that I'm completely insane. I mean, I think I'm completely insane. I have thought for 15 years. But well, here's the thing. Ever since I was a kid, I've been able to, to do this, this thing that for all intents and purposes should not be possible. I never had every book that I could get my hands on. And I've scoured what feels like the entire internet and I've never come across any kind of explanation for it. And you probably will not believe me, but essentially, unbelievably... I can time travel. And it sucks. You don't enjoy it? What? No, wait a minute. Oh, wait. Are you just a little bit curious about the whole "I can time travel" thing? I mean, doesn't that seem a little weird to you? It is certainly...atypical, but no stranger than anything else I've ever heard. Wow. Wow, that's...really? I guess it's sort of, sort of comforting. Have you ever met anyone that can do what I do? I'm afraid that pesky doctor-patient confidentiality means that... Right, of course. That makes sense. It would just be nice to know if someone had the same condition. Condition? Why do you call it that? Well, it's sort of involuntary. I mean, it's not like I hop into the tortoise and sail off through time. I just go unexpectedly at any time. I don't have a choice. It just happens. Can you elaborate on that? Like, at this sort of light-headed, dizzy feeling. And then, the edges of my vision go hazy. And I get this... I get this weird, intense tightness in my chest. And...and poof. I disappear. Or at least, I assume I disappear. I mean, I don't know, I've never seen it from the other side. Obviously. And then I, you know, just reappear. Usually just a few minutes later. Regardless of how much time I spend in the other place. And no one has ever seen this happen. Um, I just tend to avoid, um, people. You don't have family, boyfriend, girlfriend, friends. My parents are dead. Um, and I'm an only child, so... Where do you go when you disappear? Or, I suppose I should ask, when? I go everywhere. Every time I mean, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it's significant historical events. Sometimes there isn't another living soul around. I really have seen Freud, though. I've accidentally sat in on a few of his sessions. Those trips are okay. Not too eventful, but usually pretty interesting. And Freud doesn't mind the intrusion. How could he? What do you mean? He couldn't see me. They can never see me, I'm just there. It's like being stuck inside someone else's memory or something. I can move around, but I can't talk. I'm basically a ghost. Or, like, a reverse ghost. Not dead, but invisible. Or, well, not even born yet, I guess. I don't know. That... That must be difficult. It's horrible. And do you say this has been happening since you were a child? Yes. I think I was 10 years old when it first happened. I was so scared. But... But it was also kind of exciting, too. I remember I went back to Ancient Greece. It was... It was really cool, to be honest. When I came back, I thought I'd just fallen asleep and had the most vivid dream ever. The second time it happened, I knew it wasn't just dreaming. And when was that? About a year later? The trips didn't happen very frequently when they first started. But when I was a teenager, they started happening all the time. Why do you think the trips increased? I don't know. May I ask, what happens on these trips? You begin to feel ill, you disappear, and then... What happens next? Well, um... I open my eyes, and I'm somewhere else. Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out where exactly. Especially if I'm out in the countryside or there's no one else around. But sometimes it's really obvious, like Greece was, or Victorian England, or the Civil War. Oh god, that was very loud. It must be very interesting. Seeing these things that are only familiar to us through history books, you get to witness events that no one else does. Yeah, I guess. It was definitely really at first, but... I'm just tired. I honestly think I would just prefer to go to an iMax movie. It would probably smell a lot better. I'm curious, Sam. Why come to therapy now, after all these years? I don't know. I just fed up, I guess. This week, I turned 25, and my parents on their will... Well, I got the rest of the family money on my 25th birthday, and it's a lot of money. And you know, what am I supposed to do with it? Share it with all the friends that I don't have? Save it for a big wedding that will never happen. I mean, what's the point of buying a nice house or traveling around the world if I can't enjoy any of it? Why wouldn't you be able to enjoy any of it? Because I can't enjoy anything. I'm terrified all the time. When I'm not actually disappearing, I'm worried about disappearing. I'm worried about being caught, about hurting someone, about not coming back. When I go away, I'm nowhere. I'm invisible. I'm no one, and it's not better here where I have no life, no friends. I don't exist anywhere. I'm so scared of everything, and I'm starting to lose my mind. Sam, Sam, you do exist. You're here right now with me. You are important, and you're a part of this world. Even though it seems like you can simply vanish, you will never truly... Sam, are you all right? You look very pale. I don't believe this of all the times. Oh God, I'm so sorry about this. Patient grew increasingly panicked and vanished. No sign of a vortex or any other manipulation of space. Her person flickered slightly before disappearing, but there were no other symptoms beyond a paleness in her face. I've never seen anything like it. Bright Sessions is written and produced by Lauren Schippen. The voice of Dr. Bright is Julia Morizawa. The voice of Sam is Lauren Schippen. Special thanks to Elizabeth Laird for her advice as both a psychologist and fiction lover, to Elizabeth and Matthew Harrington for their enduring support, and to Anna Lori for our graphic design. For more information and additional content, please visit the Bright Sessions dot tumblr dot com. For any questions or just to say hi, email us at the Bright Sessions at Gmail. Thanks for listening and stay strange. Patient number 11a7, Session 9. Male, 16 years of age, with the abilities of a highly advanced empath. So far, he's made very little progress in controlling this ability. Sessions have been quite challenging as a result for obvious reasons. Caleb, come in. It's very nice to see you. How are you feeling this week? Fine, I guess. You had a football game yesterday, correct? Yeah. How was it? It was fine. You won. That's wonderful. That must have made you happy. Yeah, I guess. Was everyone on the team excited about winning? Yeah. Yeah, everyone was pretty excited. It was really, it was really loud. People were shouting, or do you mean it was loud for you internally? I know you've had problems with post-game gatherings in the past. It was just loud. How was school this week? It was alright. You had a big presentation in English class, isn't that right? Yeah. How did it go? It was okay. Remind me, what was the topic? My bath. That's right. Did you enjoy reading it? It was okay, I guess. I didn't really like the witches. They're really creepy, and I didn't like the whole free will thing. What do you mean the whole free will thing? Well, Mr. Collins was talking about how the witches take away Macbeth's free will by like tempting him to kill the king and make him confuse himself. Do you agree? What do you mean? Do you agree that the witches took away Macbeth's free will? I don't know. Not really. All they did was make a bunch of prophecies that they knew Macbeth would like. I mean, he was still the one who killed people. Him and Lady Macbeth, many would say. Yeah, and Lady Macbeth. I didn't really like her either. No, she's not a very likable character. I just don't think that's possible. Making someone do something just because you know what's going on in their head. Macbeth was already ambitious. The witches couldn't control them just because they knew that, right? What do you think? No, no, I don't think they could. But... Remember, in the same way that Macbeth chose to murder, the witches and Lady Macbeth chose to manipulate. It doesn't matter what information you have, it's about what you choose to do with it. Yeah, I guess so. Caleb, are you worried about making someone do something they don't want to do? No, I just... I think I mean something worse. What do you think you made worse? There's this kid in my ear, he's like a total loser. Caleb, remember, don't use insults to connect to people. Right, sorry. Continue. So this kid is one of those weird emo types. Sorry, he's different, I guess. He's in every one of my classes and he's always drawing these pictures and listening to like... like stupid, sad folk music and it's so fucking distracting. I'm sorry. That's all right. It's good to express your frustrations. Does this boy, what's his name? Does Adam bother you during class talk to you? Not really, no. But you find him distracting. Yeah, I mean, he's just... He's so sad, like all the time and it's... It makes you sad. Yeah, no shit, it makes me sad. Whenever he's in the room, I can't feel anything else. I just feel his stupid emo-ness crawling all over me and it's just, it's not fair, okay? I don't care that he's sad, a lot of people are sad, just fucking deal with it. What does it have to do with me? Remember what we talked about Caleb. Responding with anger is not productive. I know you say that, but I think you're wrong when I get angry, the other stuff goes away. But you're not dealing with it, you're overpowering it. Why is that a bad thing? Because it's a temporary solution. Caleb, you have a wonderful gift. Being able to feel other people's emotions is something many people would be thankful for. I know it would certainly make my job a lot easier. When you try to drown that out with anger and frustration, you muddy the waters. You need to learn to take in each feeling and balance them alongside your own emotions. I know that's easier said than done. I'm kidding. I can't balance shit if I'm walking down a hallway of 100 students who all have their own stupid problems and emotions. It's just, it's like suffocating, you know? Other students' problems are not stupid. Everyone has their own burdens to bear. Yeah, so why should I have to bear all of them? I didn't ask for this. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Your mother told me she wants to get you at home tutoring. I know you have an easier time with adults. Have you considered taking her up on her offer? I wouldn't be able to play on the football team if I did homeschool. Adults are better, but spending all day with one person is hard. I started feeling only what they're feeling, and I don't like that. It's like having someone else inside of my chest, you know? I see. I have to say, I'm surprised you find football enjoyable still. Don't your teammates' emotions get in the way of the game? Not really. Look, it's easier when everyone is feeling the same thing. Football is intense, but it's... I don't know, it's comfortable. It's simple. You said that when Adam is in the room, you can't feel anything else. Do you mean his or the only other emotions that you feel? Yeah, pretty much. He just sort of drowns everything else out. Isn't that preferable to feeling what everyone in your class feels? You don't sound very happy about it. No, of course I'm not happy about it. It's literally the point. I can't be happy because he's so miserable. Do you know why he's sad? No, how the fuck would I know that? I'm not a mind reader. Look, I just know that he's sad. In previous sessions, you've talked about how similar emotions can have slightly different colors to them. Happiness over getting a good grade versus happiness over seeing a friend, for example. You feel that difference. It's something you've felt many times in school, correct? Those different colors? It sounds a little gay when you feel like that, but yeah, I guess. Caleb. Sorry. So, does Adam's sadness have a special color to it? Is he sad over his grades? His family? Like I said, I'm not a mind reader. But I mean, I don't know. It's pretty general. He's lonely, I guess. Yeah, he feels alone. He doesn't have a lot of friends, so I guess that makes sense. Actually, I don't think he has any friends. So... Perhaps that's why you only feel him when he's around. His loneliness isolates you from feeling anything else. Yeah, maybe. I mean, people are lonely and sad all the time. It's high school. He's just... He's just different for some reason. You said you made something worse this week? Did that have to do with Adam? What? Yeah. Yeah, I did. What happened? Well, we did our presentations on Macbeth. I went pretty okay. I mean, I basically just read off the spark notes for it, so... What? Everybody does it. Anyway, he gets up there and he gives this, like, really long and weird presentation about the witches and symbolism and King James and... I don't know. I didn't really understand any of it. It seemed pretty smart, I guess. Mr. Collins was impressed, but all of us were like, "Who does this nerd think he is?" It was just really show-offy. And that bothered you? I mean, a little. It was really annoying, but at least he wasn't sad during it. He was just focused, so, you know, that was a little bit of relief. But it bothered some of the other guys. What other guys? Some of the guys from the team, they were giving a hard time about it after class, calling me names and stuff, pushing around, you know. Were you a part of this behavior? No, I mean, why would I want to make him worse? It's just going to make me feel worse. And did you feel worse? Yeah, I did. I mean, he was starting to get really sad again and really angry. The dude's got a lot of anger. Like, way more than I would have thought. It was making me really mad, so I asked them to stop bothering him. And did they? Yeah, they walked away. I don't understand the problem, then. It sounds like you did a really good thing, Caleb. Yeah, except when I told them to back off, I said, "Leave him alone, the dude's sad enough as it is. Can't you see that? He wants to be left alone." And then the look on his face, he just looked so embarrassed and I could feel him getting even more depressed and scared. I think it was the wrong thing to say, and now I've made him sad and scared. I was just trying to help, and I made him feel worse. Sometimes people don't want others to see their sadness. He probably thought he was hiding it well, and the fact that you noticed frightened him. It brought into focus just how unhappy he is. See what I mean? I knew how he was feeling, and instead of fixing it, I made him more unhappy. You're always talking about this, like it's some sort of stupid gift that I can help people, but I just, I always fuck things up. That's because you haven't learned how to control it yet. You're so young and you're dealing with so many of your own emotions that handling others is going to be overwhelming. Being a teenager is hard. You know that. I've said before that I think this ability will get easier as you grow. Yeah, I know. I know. I've been teenagers, rough, they're hormones and all that stuff, blah, blah, blah, that doesn't change the fact that I suck. It's not an excuse. Someone was sad, and then I opened my mouth, and now they're sadder, and I don't know what he's going to do, or how he's going to react, or if he spent the whole weekend thinking about it. And would you stop that? I can feel your fucking pity bleeding out of you, and I don't need it. I'm not sympathetic emotional loser, okay? I'm not like him. Okay, okay, Caleb. Caleb, it's all right. It's all right. I don't pity you. I'm empathetic to what you're feeling. Surely you of all people can understand that, right? Okay, yeah, right. Sure. Look, I'm sorry. Your feelings are normally pretty quiet, and so it just surprised me. That's all. I see. You think you're being too hard on yourself. You are not responsible for what other people feel, but as I was saying earlier, you can choose how to respond to it. You need to get these outbursts under control. Think before you speak, and that will only be possible if you learn to filter the incoming emotions. I think it's possible you're not in control of your own feelings because they're being overpowered by others. That's why you need to learn to balance them. Yeah, I know. I just don't want anyone to get hurt. That's all. I have an idea. I think you've been given a unique opportunity. Awesome. More unique opportunities. If you couldn't do what you do, do you think you would have noticed that Adam felt worse after you intervened? No, I guess not. But I wouldn't have gotten involved in the first place if I couldn't do what I do. I just mean that you know now that he's feeling worse, and maybe you can help make that better. Make the choice. I think you should talk to him on Monday. Try and become friends. Where the hell would I do that? You said yourself that he's lonely. He could probably use someone who understands what's going on with him. And it might help whatever misplaced feeling of guilt you have if you befriend him. Using my ability to make someone feel a certain way is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Isn't that an abusive power or something? Is it? I don't know. Adam's feelings are having a profound effect on you for a reason. I think you owe it to both him and yourself to find out what that reason is. If his emotions are so overpowering, perhaps it will help you learn focus and control to get someone on one time with him. Learn to contain both his feelings and yours. I don't know. It sounds a little weird to me. Promise me you'll at least try. Ask him to have lunch with you this week and try to get to know him. Use on the feelings that are coming from him and see if you can control how much it affects you. Will you do that? Yeah, okay. You know, I'll try. Thank you. Now, let's work on your meditation exercises. Alright, Caleb. I think that's enough for today. Do your exercises at home and remember what we talked about. Make contact with Adam this week and see what comes of it. Yeah, I will. Good. I'll see you next week. End of session 9. Interesting progress today. Subject showed increased focus in his exercises after venting about a fellow student. I've encouraged him to pursue a friendship and I posit that the results will be very telling. The Bright Sessions is written and produced by Lauren Shippen. The voice of Dr. Bright is Julian Morizawa. The voice of Caleb is Brigham Snow. Special thanks to Elizabeth Laird for her advice as both a psychologist and lover of fiction, to Elizabeth and Matthew Harrington for their enduring support and to Anna Lori for our graphic design. For additional content or to donate to our podcast, please visit thebrightsessions.com. For any questions or just to say hi, email us at the Bright Sessions at Gmail. Thanks for listening and stay strange. ♪ New patient, female 20 years old. The appointment was made by her mother, a woman I met while in graduate school and the first a typical I ever worked with. She didn't say much about her daughter on the phone, simply that she has been in therapy for quite some time, but is only getting worse. You must be Chloe. Why don't you come in? Please, take a seat. Hello, Chloe. My name is Dr. Bright. I'm glad you've come to see me. How are you feeling? I'm feeling a little drained, but okay, optimistic, even. Maybe cautiously optimistic. I'm glad to hear that. As I understand it, you've been in therapy before but have been finding it frustrating. Could you tell me a little bit about that? No one believes me. No one believes you about what? About any of it. They keep telling me I need medication and they're wrong. Why don't we start from the beginning? What made you seek therapy in the first place? I started to hear things. What kinds of things? Well, at first I wasn't sure. It was just a quiet murmuring, you know, like being next to a beehive, like that steady hum, and then things started to break through the hum, and that's when they started talking to me. Who started talking to you? The angels. You believe that angels are speaking to you? I don't believe it. It's true. None of the others believe me, and now you don't either. You were supposed to be different. I didn't say I didn't believe you, Chloe. I'm just trying to understand. Your mother sent you to me. Do you know why? She said you would be able to help me like you helped her. That's my hope. I met your mother when I was getting my masters. She was working at the university at the time, and we became good friends. She was dealing with a special ability, and... Has she ever told you about it? Yes. I didn't think anyone else knew. Yes, well, I think I was the first person she ever confided in about it, and she was one of my first patients. I helped her learn to control it. Whoa, and it didn't... it didn't freak you out? That you could move things like that? I was certainly surprised at first, but then... It was amazing. I'd never dreamed that... Well, your mother is very unique, and it seems you've inherited some of that. So you believe me then? About the angels? I'm not going to tell me more about these angels. How often do they speak to you? Oh, all the time. They're speaking to me right now. It's a little quieter than usual at the moment. They like to give me some space and be a little less noisy when I'm by myself or in a quiet place. They're very respectful like that. Well, most of the time. When are they not respectful? Well, if I'm in a busy place, like the campus dining hall or driving home in rush hour, they can get really, really loud, and they all try to talk at once, and it just gets to be a little much. That's why I had to go to therapy in the first place. One of my professors made me see the college mental health advisor after I had a bit of an outburst during a lecture. What caused the outburst? Well, I was trying to take notes on the found art movement. I'm an art major, and there were so many voices getting in the way. And some of it was about the lecture. Sometimes the angels try to be helpful, and I know they mean well, but there was just so much other stuff too, and it was just too much, and I couldn't concentrate, and everyone was looking at me, and I just sort of lost it. See, is it always like that when you're in a big group? Yeah, mostly. It's best when I'm in my studio. I do sculptures, mostly with clay, and I work at this outdoor studio on campus, and I think the angels really like it, because they always say the nicest things when I'm working. Even when the studio is full, they're just always saying the nicest things. What did they say? Talk about art. It's beautiful. The flow of artistic inspiration and all these different ideas. My art has reached new heights since they started talking to me. It's like they're all working on their own pieces, and they tell me about them, and it just elevates my own artistic thought. That sounds lovely, but lectures are still difficult for you. I haven't been to any since. After I talked to the school counselor, she told me to seek more official psychological evaluations, so I went to go see a therapist, and that's when I got my first diagnosis. And what was that diagnosis? This kid's a friend of you? You said that was the first diagnosis. You saw another psychologist after that? Yeah. I said two more before coming to you. And they said the same thing? Schizophrenia? Yes. But they're wrong. I'm not schizophrenic. I'm not paranoid, and I'm not seeing things. I'm not crazy! No one is calling you crazy, Chloe. But auditory hallucinations are very serious. I do not hallucinate. What the angels are telling me is true. I know it is, because that's why I'm here with you. I'm sorry. I don't follow. I moved back into my parents after it all started, and last week, I was sitting in the kitchen with my mom, trying to help her cook, but there were too many voices, and it got to be a little much, so I sat down and I put my head in between my knees, because sometimes that makes me feel better, and then this little voice starts telling me things about my mom. Yeah, I'm an only child, but the angel was saying my mom had a daughter before me, but she died. And I didn't know that, and it made me so sad, so I asked my mom about it, and she was so surprised. I wasn't supposed to know, but the angel told me, because my mom was thinking about her baby, and it was making her sad about how I was sick, and she was worried that something was going to happen to me too. The voice said your mother was thinking about the baby in that moment? My mom said she was so shocked, because she had never told me about my sister, and she said she had just been thinking about her. She said it was like I read her mind, and that's when she told me that I needed to come see you. Yes, I see why she would want that. Chloe, I think your mother is right. I think it's possible you're hearing the thoughts of other people. Wait, what? That's a bit science-fiction-y, isn't it? Really? That seems strange to you? I'm sorry, I just... I'm surprised you find that harder to believe than Angel speaking to you. It's not my place to question the methods of the universe. She moves in mysterious ways, and will send messages in whichever way she pleases. I've always felt a deep connection to the cosmos. It's clearly trying to push me on a certain path. I think that... Because the angels tell me things that will help people, like telling me about my sister. Now my mom can talk to me about it and unburden herself. She doesn't have to feel alone anymore. What else have the angels told you that have helped someone? Nothing else yet. It's hard to sort through all of them at once. They all talk over each other, and they get snippets here and there. I'm with one person, like with my mom, or the college therapist. The angels told me she was way out of her depth and worried she was going to say something wrong to me, so... I tried to take it easy on her. You know, not overwhelm her too much with my energy. That was kind of you. But don't you think it's possible that what you are hearing were the actual thoughts of the therapist? How exactly do these angels communicate with you? Do you hear full sentences? Not so much. No. I don't really know how to describe it. It's like hearing lyrics to a song that's playing in the background. You know, you're not paying attention, but a word or two sneaks its way into your brain and maybe you get the idea of the song just from these few words and the melody and... Does that make sense? I can't pick out individual words exactly, but I just... I just know. I see. And you can't choose not to listen, I gather. No. No, it's always there. But I can't really choose to listen either, if you know what I mean. Like I said, it's not like I can focus on the words and pull out full ideas. They just... ...come into my mind and then I understand them. Are you hearing them now? Yep. I feel they're being quieter than normal. What are you hearing? Or should I say? What are you understanding? I'm not sure. Things don't always come through. It's a little unfocused at the moment. Someone's worried about their next patient. Oh, that must be you, I guess. Are you worried about your next patient? Yes, I suppose I am, but I wasn't actively thinking about them in that moment. Are you sure you should be doing therapy with this person? When you're so worried about them being dangerous, it's not worth it if you think they might hurt you. That really isn't any of your business. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... It's all right, Chloe. You just, uh, you just surprised me. That's all. You were right. I am concerned for my next patient. He... ...this person is a difficult case and I'm not sure I can help them. But I wasn't thinking about that when you heard it. I was very much focused on you. See? I told you I wasn't hearing people's thoughts. It has to be some outside source. That's the only thing that makes sense. I'm not sure that's true. This patient is certainly on my mind, not actively, but in the back, somewhere between my current thoughts and my subconscious. I think it's possible that's what you're hearing. That's why it's so scattered and hard to sift through. Humans are capable of thinking about so much at once that I'm not surprised it's an unclear connection. Yeah, maybe. I guess we'll never know for sure. Says who? Chloe, I think you can learn to control this ability. Focus it. It will become less distracting to you and perhaps you'll be able to actively listen and pick out the thoughts. But I think that's probably enough for today. Consider this a preliminary consultation. We can start full sessions next week if you're interested in working with me. I just need to, um, look at some of my notes and see what methods I can come up with. Oh, okay, right, that would be good. I think if you really think you can help me. Yes, yes, I think I can. Okay, so until next week then, I want you to continue to avoid large groups and see if you can focus more on listening when you're one-on-one with someone. Okay, thank you Dr. Bright. I'll see you next week. Goodbye, Chloe. It was lovely meeting you. (Sigh) End of session one. Truly remarkable patient. I had to cut the session short due to the patient becoming aware of my own neurological activity. This is going to be a difficult obstacle to overcome in treating her. She cannot be allowed to hear my thoughts, but I have to teach her to control her listening. In the next week, I will attempt self-hypnotism and meditation in order to control my own thought processes and limit what she can hear from me. If properly trained, she could be one of my most promising subjects. The Bright Sessions is written and produced by Lauren Sippen. The voice of Dr. Bright is Julia Morizawa. The voice of Chloe is Anna Lori. Special thanks to Elizabeth Laird for her advice as both a psychologist and lover of fiction, to Elizabeth and Matthew Harrington for their enduring support, and to Anna Lori for our graphic design. For additional content or to donate to our podcast, please visit thebrightsessions.com. For any questions or just to say hi, email us at the Bright Sessions@gmail. Thanks for listening and stay strange. And that's This Week Show. Please check the show notes for links for both shows this week at SonicSociety.org. Please join us next week as David and I look into another favorite series where we fall for the Red Planet. Ah, looks like I'll have to be getting in the tortoise for this one. Ah, the good old days. Good bye everyone. Bye for now. ♪♪♪ The Sonic Society is written and produced weekly by Jack J. Ward and David Alt, with original music by Sharon B. at SharonB.com. Researchers, interviews and audio drama shorts are owned completely by their originators and provided to the Sonic Society by Creative Commons Licensing. The Society itself originates from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Thanks for listening. ♪♪♪ This has been an electric Vicuna production. [MUSIC]
