Chapter 1: Earpiece – Part 1

The first thing Rebecca noticed was that the doctor seemed genuinely happy to meet her. Most people were unsettled by her, so she was taken aback by the welcoming smile and tone that greeted her.

"Come in, come in. It's nice to meet you, Rebecca. I'm Doctor Flint. I'm a mental coach," the doctor said, "Do you know a mental coach is?"

"It means everyone thinks I'm crazy," Rebecca said.

"Oh goodness, no. That you're seeing a mental coach doesn't mean you're crazy or that everyone thinks you're crazy. It just means you're having trouble in some part of your life. In your case, I understand that you've been experiencing distress recently for a personal choice," Doctor Flint said.

"The choice to not wear an earpiece? Yeah, you could say it's been causing me distress," Rebecca said while crossing her arms.

"As a mental coach, I hope we can work together to find a mental space you feel more comfortable in, one that doesn't cause you to feel distressed," Doctor Flint said.

"You're just going to try to convince me to put in an earpiece like everyone else," Rebecca said. She hated that she felt petulant while saying this, like she was refusing to eat her veggies.

Doctor Flint paused. "You know, you're right. My gut reaction was to introduce an earpiece to you at some point during this session. I apologize for that. Instead, if you don't mind, why don't we start with when you started avoiding earpieces? Perhaps you might feel better if you talk about it?"

Rebecca stared at Doctor Flint for a bit before sighing. She knew she couldn't go on like this. Her life was in shambles, was there really any risk in sharing? She started to narrate, "I started not wearing an earpiece a month ago, but this really started a while before that. At the start of the year, out of nowhere, I woke up and I felt like everyone around me was a stranger. You know how the earpieces work, right? Of course you do, you're a doctor, but something about them is wrong. The earpiece reads your thoughts, tells you your best course of action, then pokes your brain or something so that you take the best course of action. Well, when I woke up that day, I realized that I didn't know anybody. Like, I knew earpieces. I knew this piece of technology in everyone's ear, not the actual people. Does that make sense?"

"I'm sure you've been asked before, but please humor me. What's the difference between the earpiece and searching up the right course of action?," Doctor Flint asked.

"It's kinda, urg. Isn't it obvious?" Rebecca said exasperated.

Doctor Flint could only give a chagrin smile and shrug.

"It's just not genuine. The earpiece is not the person. I'm talking to the earpiece and not the person. The earpiece is controlling the person," Rebecca said, frustrated.

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"Hm... I supposed most people have an earpiece inserted at birth and never remove it. Most people feel like the earpiece is part of themselves," Doctor Flint said.

"I know! I know. I understand that," Rebecca said.

Rebecca and the doctor sat in silence for a bit.

"If I'm honest, I'm probably here because I keep asking people to take off their earpiece," Rebecca said. "I know people hate it, but it's often the only way I can see something genuine. There's a flash of emotion, real emotion, that appears before the earpiece interferes. There's a person behind the earpiece! Yeah, that person is usually genuinely angry at me, but still."

The doctor seemed to be openning his mouth, but Rebecca could feel herself hit upon a sore subject.

"But, my parents- my parents at least should talk to me without an earpiece," Rebecca could feel herself gettting worked up. She at once hated and loved the feeling. She was out of control, but she was free. "Every single word out of my parents mouth is from the earpiece, not from them. I haven't heard my parents speak, really speak, ever. Isn't that weird? How is that allowed? My parents are basically strangers to me. I've been raised by earpieces, not by humans. Do they even love me? Do they care? If they really cared, they'd take out that stupid earpiece. They'd tell me 'I love you' without the earpiece."

She couldn't help herself from glaring at the earpiece on the doctor's ear. 

"If you really felt like helping me, you'd take out your earpiece."

Rebecca couldn't help it, she looked for the same flash of emotion in the doctor's eyes and she caught a new look, fear and what? Excitement?

The doctor braced themself, reached up to their ear, and took out his earpiece.

Rebecca's mouth dropped open. "What are you doing?"

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