Dr. Leon of Ponfin inc.

Chapter 1
Dr. Leon of Ponfin inc.

Chapter Description: Be advised, this piece contains brief but coarse dialogue. This story started with a monologue, and grew all around it. If you're a literary type, I'd recommend making Checkov's gun your maguffin while reading this.

The room was made to look warm and comforting, and in the last three months had seen extensive use. This was the office of Dr. Leon, company psychiatrist to the employees of Ponfin inc., the site of a truly catastrophic set of circumstances, the results of which no one can explain. He had never been so well paid for his services, but he had never in his life had so much work.

Every hour he met with another victim, and not one of them would leave more hopeful than they had been upon arrival. For Dr. Leon, it was just as bad. He became a scapegoat for all their anger. He became the face of Ponfin, which to these people was the source of all their problems.

Leon’s last patient was one month pregnant. She was not ready for maternity leave yet, but now she wouldn’t have to worry about that. He pulled a little flask out of his pocket. He was not much of a drinker before, but now it was all that stood between his status as a doctor and as a patient.

Leon didn’t major in psychology, no he went in for computers back then. He was still good at it though, and when the time came that was what he chose to follow. He wanted to help people, and he’d done fairly well until recently. These people were beyond help. At least, beyond his help. He had finished his swig just in time to hear the quick rap-tap of his assistant with another patient in toe.

"Come in." he said, quickly stowing the flask.

The door clicked open to reveal two people, one a young man of twenty, the other a boy who’s head leveled out at man’s chest. This was not a real boy. There was no biological difference between him and a boy of eleven, and there was no way at all to scientifically prove he was anything else. But you wouldn’t have needed proof. All anyone would need was the boy’s eyes. These eyes had lost more than most ever would. These were the eyes of a man who had gone to war, or had lost his wife in a car crash. These weren’t the eyes of a child.

"Good morning, Ben. Why don’t you have a seat." Leon said cordially.

The boy named Benjamin Serling did not speak, but calmly stepped over to the couch to sit down. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt with a pair of plain blue jeans and strap on shoes. These had been issued after the accident to everyone involved. The measurements had been taken from their medical records which the company had been granted access to for this reason. It was obvious that Ben was not pleased to be wearing them.

"You can leave us now, Jason." Leon told his assistant. Once the door had closed again, he turned back to Ben, "How are we feeling today? Any better?"

"How are we feeling today? That’s a great question, Doc. How are we feeling today? It’s surely can’t be the same answer as every other day, I mean it’s been a whole three months since the accident! I’ve gotta be over it by now, right?" Ben said bitingly. He would never get used to his new voice, but he’d certainly gotten used to using it.

"I just wanted to gauge our progress, Ben."

He had been avoiding looking at the doctor this whole time, but now he glared at him, "Imagine you built a house. Are you seeing it? Picture it. It’s perfect, everything you ever dreamed of, and the best part is that you built it. It’s strong, it’s sturdy, it’s yours." He leaned toward the doctor, "Now imagine watching that house burn to the ground in front of you because somebody dropped a cigarette. That’s how I feel. That’s exactly how I feel about this whole fucking situation, and I do not forgive any of you bastards for it. You took my house. You took my life away from me. You took my son away from me. They won’t let me see him. Did you know that?"

"Benjamin, I-"

"They won’t even let me talk to him on the God damn phone!" he shouted, standing up, "What do you have to say about that? How do I cope with that?"

---

Three months after the accident and the site was still locked off. The place was guarded by men whose suits had been designed to allow their hands to work the firearms they had in their possession, and there were always at least two people at every entrance.No one went in without a hazmat suit, and not without authorization. On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Leon had both.

"You’re good to go, sir, just keep your suit on at all times." said a guard who didn’t know that Dr. Leon was not the CEO. It was rather fortunate that Leon hadn’t completely forgotten his former major.

"Don’t worry, I will." He lied, "If it’s all the same to you, it’s best if I go alone."

"Very good, mr. Ponfin." he said, unzipping the plastic shield and waving the doctor through.

Leon went in and waited until the shield was zipped back up again before opening the large metal door in front of him. His identification was false, and it wouldn’t hold up for long. It would only take another five minutes to figure out that he’d altered the boss’s personnel file. The alarms would sound, and the guards would go in after him, but until then he was mr. Ponfin, and it was already too late to stop him.

Leon carefully lifted his mask off and breathed deeply, then slowly unzipped the rest of his suit. There he stood as he had in his office just that morning, in his sweater-vest and kakis, ready to trade them in for a pair of blue jeans, strap-on shoes and a simple white t-shirt.

He pulled his flask out of his pocket and took one last drink, quietly thanking God that he’d never need it again.