Wyn was mad. Not at Robin, not at Eve, not even at himself. He was mad, no, furious at the people inside his dreams. Who are they? How dare they infest his mind? He would give anything to rid himself of these otherworldly, enchanting but painful dreams. The hazy and confusing individuals, who always seemed to tug at his heartstrings.
Wyn jolted awake. It took a moment for him to recognise his surroundings. This was a common occurrence; his dreams enveloped him into a world so genuine and deep that he always forgot he was sitting somewhere in the wretched town of Springton, in Eve's office. His only reminder that he was in a world from afar was the piercing pain in his head that arrived the moment the world inside his head changed colours.
"You're awake," Eve frowned. "What happened in your dream?"
Wyn did not respond. He bolted out of the massage chair. "I want to leave."
"Your session is not over," Eve said. "We have to cover five sessions worth of…"
Eve's words trailed away as she met Wyn's soft yet angry but tortured gaze.
"I'm not asking for your permission."
Without another word, Wyn marched away.
"Wyn! Hey, Wyn!" Robin called after him frantically.
Wyn strode down the street, ignoring Robin's voice. He was absolutely exasperated by his session with Eve. He hated remembering his dreams, for they reminded him that there is something wrong with him. It reminded him that he could never be as content as the person he was in the carefree section of his dreams and that he was doomed to forever be a lonely and grumpy man.
"Wyn, hold up!" Robin caught up with Wyn and placed his hand on his shoulder to prevent him from moving further as he panted to catch his breath.
"What do you want, Robin?" Wyn scowled.
"Look, I know you hate going to the psychiatrist, but I'm doing it for your own good."
"What good?" Wyn scoffed. "I'm remembering my dreams but I don't know what they mean or what they are. No one can tell me why I am constantly having these dreams, not even Eve."
"Alright, alright," Robin nodded his head. "I'll tell Eve to lay off the dreams. She will just treat your depression, alright?"
Wyn sighed in frustration. "I told you a million times, I am not depressed!"
Wyn is depressed. He was diagnosed several months ago when Robin sent him to visit Eve for the first time. Initially, visiting Eve was simply for her to hypnotise Wyn to allow him to recall the details of his dreams, for his dreams are the basis of his web comic series, Fairytale Town.
For as long as he could remember, Wyn had been having dreams of a strange, mysterious island. At first, he was perplexed and sought to figure out what they meant. He drew and wrote down everything he could remember on an online whiteboard. The more he did, the more his dreams formed a story. He eventually began to draw and write anything he could remember in the form of a comic, which allowed him to better recall and understand the events that occurred in his dreams. He had no intention of publishing his stories online, but on a gloomy and rainy morning, he dozed off at his desk and accidentally published it. He had spent the wee hours of the morning drawing out the frightening nightmare that he had the previous night and fell asleep at his desk. He unknowingly published his story on an online forum and the response was explosive.
After he grew popular online, fans of his story demanded more, but Wyn had no intention of publishing anything. He took down his first upload, but it was easily replicated. He did not enjoy the attention he received, for he was a recluse. Since young, Wyn had been a detached and moody person. For an unknown reason, everything and everyone around Wyn seemed to annoy him. He was a hermit, speaking to others only when needed and living in his small studio apartment by himself. After his popularity grew online, publishing companies took note of this and offered him a contract. Wyn--who had been earning a meagre sum working as a night watchman at the Springton Museum--was convinced by a dedicated Robin to sign with his company after learning that he could earn much more money as a comic artist than he could ever earn as a night watchman.
He initially believed that his new career would be easy. After all, he would be doing what he loved—drawing and writing—for money.
He was wrong.
The pressure of churning out chapter after chapter of Fairytale Town broke Wyn. His stories were based off his dreams to allow him to investigate them, but somewhere along the line, he realised that no one could give him the answer to his strange dreams. He ceased production of his stories. That did not sit well with the public nor the publishing company. With a contract at hand and his career at risk, Wyn could only do as he was told and continue to pen down the dreams he had. It was easy to pen down the happy dreams, but it pained Wyn every time he had to pen down the frightening dreams. After he finished the first series of Fairytale Town, Wyn received an enormous sum of money that transformed him from poor wannabe author to millionaire comic artist. Though he informed his publishing company that he did not want to continue Fairytale Town, he was forced to begin the second series of the web comic immediately. Not wanting to recall his dreams, he lied to Robin that he could not remember the details, but that only prompted him to search for a psychiatrist to hypnotise Wyn to allow him to remember his dreams. That was when he was introduced to Eve and diagnosed with depression. Wyn did not care about Eve or her sessions, and skipped plenty of them without informing Robin, but eventually he found out. Bounded by his contract, Wyn had no choice but to visit Eve and continue to draw and write under the watchful eye of his company. In spite of this, after Wyn had published twenty-six chapters of the second series of Fairytale Town and received his second paycheck from his publishing company, Wyn simply disappeared from the face of the city. He had wanted to escape for a long time, for putting down his dreams in colours only brought him pain and confusion. He had enough money to disappear and do whatever he wanted, so he did. But now, with the threat of his copyright being robbed from him, Wyn could no longer hide from Robin and his publishing company.
"You're an alcoholic and drug addict. Do you think that I don't know that you have been popping pills?" Robin hissed.
It was true. Wyn had been abusing drugs for a period of time. The alcohol made his mind drift away, and the drugs made him numb. It placed him in a world that was neither Springton nor the island. It was a void, where only he existed. The absence of emotion allowed him to do whatever he wanted without being haunted by his dreams or his publisher.
"Those are medicinal," Wyn defended himself, though he knew Robin was right.
"Sure they are. You…"
"Shut up, Robin," Wyn snapped. "Go and find someone else to annoy to death."
Wyn did not wait for Robin's reply. He flounced across the street, ignoring the passing cars that honked at him and the pedestrians with incredulous looks on their faces whose arms he bumped into.