15 A couple

Lindy Lee was eating her dinner alone in the dim light of the room, tears falling into the bowl as she continued eating while sobbing. It wasn't the first time this had happened and she knew that this wouldn't be the last time either.

She loved her husband, she really did. Lindy repeatedly reminded herself of this to herself every time she broke down because of him. She kept thinking of the good times and waited for the day when things would go back to being better.

She can't remember when it started or how but it just happened one day. It was like a drop of black ink fell into a clear glass of water, and their happy life became a twisted, dark, and depressing version of it.

Time heals all wounds she had heard. Somehow her wounds just kept festering and instead of healing, they started to decay. She thought of cutting it all off and walking away. Maybe things would get better then.

But then inside her mind, another voice would remind her that she loved her husband. And if she didn't take care of him, then who would? He is already spiraling away, could he even handle it if she walked away?

It was already late and Lindy had to get to work early tomorrow. She couldn't be late for it, their rent for this month depended on that job.

Right as she headed to the bedroom to sleep, the door was opened violently and Robert walked in smelling like alcohol like always. Seeing his wife looking at him, he looked embarrassed and explained, "The boys at work wanted to catch a game and they dragged me with them. I couldn't refuse."

You can never refuse others, it's just me. Lindy said in her heart but she couldn't bring herself to say it to him. She just blankly looked at him, "I made some potatoes and chicken. It should still be hot, you should eat it. I'll go sleep, I need to get to work early tomorrow."

When did their conversations start to become so cold and devoid of emotions she wondered. She blamed Robert and his alcoholism. But Lindy couldn't confront him about it. She had tried talking about it and telling him to stop but every time he would agree only to drink the next day.

She sighed and prayed for this hell to stop before going to sleep. She hoped that tomorrow she would wake up to find all this was a nightmare. Hearing the sounds of the spoon and plates, she thought as she fell asleep, at least he is eating the food.

Another day came and Lindy was still in the nightmare. Nothing changed except the numbers on the calendar, she still had to go to her crappy job to make money that was barely enough to live a decent life.

Robert would probably sleep till late before going to work. He would probably get fired from this one too if his work supervisor weren't his drinking buddy. Even then he didn't earn much by toiling in construction sites and whatever he earned went into alcohol.

Going through the motions like a robot or maybe a puppet in some sick story of a demented storyteller, Lindy got through work and drove back to the empty house.

She could swear that she could feel the colors in that house fading every day. The colors turned to dust slowly but continuously and floated away, leaving only the greys behind.

But today was different. Today, there was a bright blue sports car parked outside her home. She thought of those artsy movies she watched back in college where the whole film would be in black and white and only a few characters would have colors.

Stopping the car by the side, she walked up to see who had parked the car in her driveway. Just as she reached the car, a boy, who should not be more than 22 got out of the car and apologized, "Are you Mrs. Lindy Lee? I'm sorry, there was a truck that passed by so I had to park this here."

"Yes, it's fine. How do you know me?" She thought that the face of the boy looked familiar. She seemed to have seen it somewhere.

"My name is Savant Smith. I was looking for you to talk about your husband."

When she heard the boy's name she remembered him. He was a famous scholar and a rising businessman. But when she heard the last words panicked. What did Robert do? What trouble did he create to make a person like Savant come to her doors?

Perhaps noticing her panic the boy quickly explained, "It's nothing major. I am studying psychology recently and I came upon your husband's old files while discussing some issues with Dr. Cornelius Worth. He seemed to have stopped seeing Dr. Worth a few years back so I came to check up on him."

Lindy was still suspicious, "Robert saw a psychiatrist? Why don't I know? And why are you checking on him out of the blue?"

After living in this nightmare for so long, she understood that people were never kind for no reason. There was always some price to pay for kindness.

"I understand your apprehension. To be honest, your husband's case just interests me and I want to try treating your husband which will help me write a paper." Lindy frowned at that and Savant added, "Don't worry, it's normal therapy and some regular checkup at most."

"As for why you don't know, usually people try to hide their mental illnesses from their loved ones due to fear."

Lindy understood that. She might not have told Robert either. But it still hurt knowing that he kept it from her. No matter how they had become, they still loved each other and they were happy once.

"We don't have the money for it." Lindy euphemistically wanted to refuse. She knew that Robert really needed help but she didn't trust a rich scientist who came searching for her husband specifically. She wasn't comfortable with her husband becoming an experiment.

"I assure you that it will just be normal therapy sessions and you can even accompany him on the visits. I'll pay you money for the troubles as well." Savant added.

Lindy was tempted but at the same time, her caution grew as well. The fact that Savant would pay for her husband to be treated made her suspicions grow. She stood there for a second, staring confrontationally at Savant as if trying to find his true intentions.

But at the next moment, a voice came from behind Lindy. "What troubles? What money? Who are you?"

Savant smiled and turned to Robert, Lindy felt that the smile hid some meaning but she didn't have time to dwell on it.

"You must be Mr. Robert Reynolds. I'm Savant Smith, a friend of Dr. Cornelius Worth. I was talking to your wife about how your case." Savant greeted Robert with a handshake and went on to explain the whole thing to him.

At first, Robert seemed confused about it all. But when it was mentioned that he could be treated and get paid as well, Robert had already agreed in his mind after a short time of thinking.

Robert was aware that his illness was growing. The voices in his head, the nightmares, and the hallucinations were all increasing. Alcohol helped at the start. But then it slowly started to have a lesser effect over time. He knew he needed help but he didn't think of getting it due to one reason or another until today when help came to his door.

Even now there was a dark, almost slimy voice in his head constantly speaking to him, "Oh dear Bob, they will put you in a looney bin and lock the doors." "How long are you going to keep pretending?" "Oh, I'll enjoy tearing Lindy apart in front of you."

Robert ignored the voice and looked at the doctor, "How much will you pay? Also, can you really treat me?"

"Robert! You can't agree with him. We know nothing about what he wants to do." Lindy shouted. It had been a long time since she raised her voice at Robert.

Robert showed a rare genuine smile, "It is okay Lin. It can't get worse than this."

Savant's mouth twitched at this but it went unnoticed. Lindy wanted to speak, "But Bob…" Robert cut her off. "Besides, he is so rich and famous. What can he even cheat from us that he can't take forcefully if he wanted? Besides he said he will pay a nice sum."

This time Lindy noticed Savant's face twitching. She ignored it thinking it was just embarrassment. While in Savant's head, images of him forcing Robert and being beaten up by a combo of Sentry and Void were playing.

Savant was perceiving the information from Robert but everything felt normal. He seemed to be a normal human being. Does Robert need to tap into the dimension where a million exploding suns to change form into Sentry?

"Like I said Ma'am, I just want to treat your husband as his case is quite unique. You can be present during the whole time." Savant said with a wry smile while thinking.

After a discussion between the husband and wife, they finally agreed to the treatment under the condition that Lindy will be present.

Savant returned back to his office after finalizing the details of the visit. In the parking lot of the office building, as he was getting out of the car, a glowing circle appeared in front of him before it fully unfolded into a portal.

A man in blue robes, a red cape, and a fashionable goatee walked out of the portal with his hands behind his back. He stood there for a second, observing Savant.

"Savant Smith, I'm Dr. Stephen Strange. We need to talk."

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You guys are great at throwing stones. You all would do great during violent protests. So keep practicing and throw them stones.

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