Dear Diary…
Ray threw the book aside.
He was in a white room with padding on the walls.
At least I'm not in a straitjacket any more, he thought.
He was journaling until he heard the guards' footsteps approaching his room.
"It's time." One of the two guards entered Ray's room.
The other muscular guard was standing behind the first one.
Ray sighed.
**
It was five days after the first war had ended. Helena and Damien were walking together, talking about their lovers, who were presently not there with them.
"Nina has fully recovered hasn't she?" Helena asked Damien who she was secretly in love with.
"Seems that way." Damien said nonchalantly.
He seemed to Helena like he was far away in the thoughts.
Was he second guessing his commitment to Nina? Helena thought enviously.
Just then, something shone in the evening sky.
"Time to make a wish." Helena said looking at what she thought was a shooting star.
Damien just smirked in reply.
But his semi-serious face took on a whole new emotion.
And that was fear.
"Helena, look out!" He shoved both of them aside as the star smashed into the ground near them.
**
"So what is it going to be this time?" Dr. Sharma asked Ray.
She was sitting cross-legged in a sexy doctor's outfit. Ray was thinking that if he was straight, he would have probably been attracted by her, but now all he felt was repulsion.
"What do you mean?" Ray asked.
"Truth or lies?" Dr. Sharma questioned while making notes in her notepad.
"Look, are you sure this isn't a conversion camp?" Ray asked moving forward in his couch.
Dr. Sharma tapped a pen on her notepad. "We have been through this, Ray. Your parents have already accepted you for who you are. Now, they just want you to come back to reality."
"Werewolves are real." Ray grunted.
Dr. Sharma didn't reply. She started taking notes again.
"So are vampires, witches-"
"Yes even the goddamn tooth fairy!" Ray got up but he remembered the beating he got last time he wanted to make a sudden move.
So, he sat back down again with his arms crossed.
Dr. Sharma gave him a warm smile. She was wearing bright red lipstick. Ray likened her to an older version of his friend Priya minus the evil personality.
**
The star that had landed near the two werewolves was alive. From the smoldering crater emerged a human figure—a woman with alabaster skin that seemed to pulse with an inner light.
Her hair cascaded like liquid silver down to her waist, each strand catching the moonlight in hypnotic ripples. Her eyes, the color of distant galaxies, held ancient wisdom that pierced through Helena and Damien.
She was beautiful and serene in her nakedness, her body unmarked by the violence of her descent, as if gravity itself had bent to her will.
All Damien could think was, MILF.
All Helena could say was, "Mom?!"
**
"Please don't." Ray tried to close his eyes but they were glued to the small hourglass Dr. Sharma held in her grasp.
"Remember the truth." Dr. Sharma said calmly although she still had that evil smile on her face.
Ray was transported to another world. A world Dr. Sharma promised was his reality. Where he had made a website called Only Furs.
His top star Priya stirred her latte with a tiny silver spoon, the foam swirling into abstract patterns.
The afternoon rush had thinned, leaving just enough patrons to create a gentle hum of conversation beneath the hiss of the espresso machine.
Ray inhaled deeply, catching notes of cardamom from the specialty blend the barista had recommended—the one that had made Priya wrinkle her nose when she'd first smelled it.
Ray knew it would do nothing to tell Priya the truth. That he was in a hypnotic state. He had tried many times to get out of that nightmare, although honestly, it could have been worse. At least his real-life boyfriend Harry was there but even he didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation.
Only Furs was a website where fake supernatural beings were given contracts to perform for paying customers. Ray had always hated Only Fans but he thought Only Furs was worse.
"Because werewolves are real." Ray muttered under his breath.
"What?" Priya asked.
"Nothing."
Ray knew it was hopeless. He had tried many times to convince Priya, Harry, and the others, that the supernatural did indeed exist. At least in his own world.
And Ray was smart—not just book-smart, but intuition-smart, the kind that made him see patterns where others saw chaos.
That's why Dr. Sharma always made him out to be the secret millionaire founder of a tech startup in these hypnotic sessions, painting vivid scenarios where his analytical mind had built empires from binary code instead of tracking lunar cycles and supernatural phenomena.
The fantasy was almost believable; in another life, perhaps he would have been that person.
But right now he needed a way out of this simulation.