"Ahhh!" Mark kept screaming as the enormous hippo drew closer. Suddenly, the scene before his eyes began to flicker, the light brightening and dimming before everything changed into something else.
"Calm down, Mark? Mark!"
That insufferable Doctor Harrow had appeared again.
His brow was furrowed, his face helpless as he rapidly waved a pen in front of Mark's eyes. His mouth opened and closed as he urgently said something to him.
"Mark, your mind slips in and out of lucidity. Try to imagine this, all right? Your brain is a pendulum, constantly swinging between harsh reality and fantasy."
Doctor Harrow leaned forward slightly, his expression serious and his eyes full of concern.
"In reality, you're my patient. This is the Putnam Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. But in the fantasy you've created..." Harrow opened his hand, revealing a Khonshu toy that had been glued back together.
He sighed softly and shook his head.
"I'm not sure myself. Perhaps you're some kind of superhero. You're doing everything you can to resist facing your inner self."
Mark stopped screaming. He stared hard at Harrow, his eyes full of suspicion and defiance.
"You're not a real doctor," he told Harrow, enunciating every word.
"?"
Harrow tilted his head, looking utterly confused.
His mouth hung slightly open. After a sigh, a helpless expression spread across his face. "That's why you're in the hospital. You keep fighting imaginary enemies."
"No, I mean you're not a doctor."
Mark's face was filled with certainty.
Harrow: ...
After two seconds of silence, exhaustion covered Harrow's helpless face.
He closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, then slowly opened them and looked at Mark. "Listen, I'm quite certain I really am a doctor."
"You're not," Mark retorted without hesitation.
"I can show you my diploma," Harrow said urgently,