A small boy was led into one of the empty rooms, he couldn’t have been older than 7. “Dr Kurt, when can i see my parents again?”

“I think it’ll be quite some time Jack, Master Timmet over there hasn’t seen his for 5 years.”

5 years, Tim thought, has it really been that long? He wondered, not for the first time, if they’d come to see him. Were they turned away by clever excuses and plausible lies? He wondered if they thought he was dead, or if they were dead. Over the first few months he had prayed for them occasionally, but really he’d given up on God when he found out the Devil existed.

All for pills, he reflected, he’d felt sick when he found out that’s what Kurt did. Manufactured pills that gave you temporary powers. He sold them to Athletes and then bet heavily on them to win, he smiled when he told them.

His anger was rising, he threw his pillow across the room without touching it and froze. He hadn’t been able to do that for 5 years. The medicine wasn’t working anymore.