Chapter 2

The doctors were still amazed at the speed of Jason's recovery. He exceeded all standards and previous records. He felt so good, that he started missing doctor appointments. That worried his mother.

She started hinting that perhaps he should consider seeing a psychiatrist full time. He just looked at her. She sighed and knew that if she pushed it, he would only withdraw more fully inside the shell where he seemed to be hiding. The doctors had warned her there would likely be a change in his personality, but she had not expected this very withdrawn person. She remembered a warm, fun, happy boy when he was young; and a bit of a prankster when he had entered his teens.

This new Jason seemed cold, and totally different from the Jason she remembered so well. Oh, he made an effort, sometimes, but she could tell it was an effort. She sighed and considered trying to get a court order to force him into therapy... But no, that would alienate him even more.

Jason was not unaware of his mothers worry. While he felt emotion, it was usually anger or rage. It would spring into being over the most minor and inconsequential of circumstances. It left him wondering, 'why'? It was very hard to control, and he had found himself reaching for... what?

Also, he had been dreaming strange dreams, lately. Most were of him fighting. Some were of fighting horrible looking beings that he had no fear of, and others were of fighting beautiful beings he wanted to emulate. It confused him.

In the last two dreams, he had known whom he was fighting, and how to fight them. The dream faded to a faint hazy recollection upon waking, though, leaving him feeling frustrated. He believed the dreams were telling him something. He knew the dreams were something about his life, his other life. He knew this body was not his. Yet here he was, living and breathing in it.

He took in a deep breath, and sighed. The smells, the touches, the tastes... They were all exquisite. They were all so new to him. While his mind could put names to the smells, he did not ever remember smelling or tasting before. It was something, one of the few things, which he enjoyed in his new life.

Another thing that happened, with a regularity that disturbed him, was an erection. The entire sex association was another thing that had him confused. While his mind supplied answers to what was occurring and why, he knew he himself had never engaged in sex. His new body's mind supplied memories of having engaged in this act with several females, and even alone; but he himself had no previous experience with it.

Jason decided it was time to move out on his own when two things happened. The first was that his mother had walked in on him masturbating in his room, one day. This caused an awkwardness on her part, and a new feeling on his: embarrassment.

The second was the conversation to his doctor that he had overheard. She explained that she had had been worried about him and had entered into his bedroom without knocking, thinking he was perhaps sleeping. She was startled and embarrassed over it, but thought that maybe he should speak to her son about it. The doctor had responded that masturbation was actually a normal function, and was considered a healthy outlet. She replied that she knew this; but since his accident, and his memories, and mind the way it was, perhaps it was not good for her son. She was reassured that it was nothing that should concern her.

So, Jason found himself in the market for a house. He did not need a very large one, as it was just for him. He did not inform his mother immediately, that he was looking. He knew this would cause her some distress. Still, he started exploring neighborhoods that he would not mind living in.

His insurance settlement had left him with more than enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life, if he was not foolish with it. Also, he had discovered the joys of investing. He seemed to have an eye, or a knack, for picking stocks out of the paper. The stocks that did well, or would do well, seemed to leap from the page at him.

He also discovered that while he liked his space and time alone, he was fascinated with the people around him. He would sit for hours on a bench in the city, watching people go by. He wondered what they were doing, and where they were going. So many, and they seemed to be in such a hurry.

At his very last session with his psychiatrist, he informed the man of his decision to move out on his own. He said that he was finished with these weekly meetings. The doctor asked him why he wanted to stop, and Jason informed him that while his memories were still fragmented, he felt no need to keep coming.

The psychiatrist did his best to convince and encourage to stay with him for more sessions. Jason was a major case study, and a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. The doctor had a wealth of information already, that he was transcribing from his notes into a paper he was going to present to his colleagues.

"Jason, I understand if you're getting frustrated with these sessions. Let's do this. Take a break from all the poking and prodding, and come back in say, three months?" the doctor asked in that reasonable tone he had cultivated over the past twenty-two year.

"No. I am finished with having my head shrunk, poked, prodded, peered into, and taken apart with machines. My body has healed, and my mind is no longer as fragmented as it was. I know how my new memories work, and I seem to be doing well in establishing new connections to my old memories.

"You yourself have told me on several occasions that I have exceeded your expectations. You have assured me that I have a reasonable knowledge of right from wrong. That means I am not a danger to others or myself. I have the means of supporting myself. While I am grateful to you, I am finished with doctors," Jason said in one of the longest speeches the psychiatrist had ever heard from him.

The doctor had immediately informed Jason's mother, who went and confronted Jason with this information. While the doctors were concerned with Jason's health, they were also concerned that a medical impossibility was walking away from their control.

Jason had sharp words with hospital administration over the doctors' breech of patient/doctor confidentiality... they had informed his mother of his decision to stop going to the hospital on a regular basis.

While Jason's mother had had the legal authority over him during his coma as next of kin, once he recovered, he became responsible for his own decisions. His mother had never sought any legal papers outlining her authority over him, so the doctors at the hospital were totally out of line. It had been a thinly disguised desperate attempt to keep a veritable gold mine of study at hand.

One of the things Jason had learned early on, was not to reveal certain ideas or the ability he had displayed to capture the would be purse-robber. For a while now, he had also been <sensing> certain things.