Free Scribner Horror Bundle: Four Horror Novels by Joshua Scribner by Joshua Scribner Page A

lunch with David go?”
    Jonah had been taught in
his psychological training that mental states could be infectious.
In groups, rage could spread fast, quickly becoming a riot. In a
clinical situation, emotional chaos could be soothed by the
therapist’s calm demeanor. But now, Tate’s calm was not infecting
Jonah. It actually made him more anxious. Tate could change mental
states on the drop of a hat, and Jonah expected any time for Tate
to open up on him.
    “All right,” Jonah said in
a delayed response to Tate’s question.
    For the next two minutes,
neither of them spoke, and, in that time, Jonah’s mind went back to
the dilemma he had been focused on in the car. How could he not
take advantage of the opportunity? Sure, it would make him out on
his own, no boss to help him when things got ugly, no boss to make
decisions for him and to take the blame when things got ugly, but
he could handle it. He was smart, wasn’t he? He was resourceful,
wasn’t he? But the SSI job would be so comfortable. He wouldn’t be
rich, but he’d be better off than most people, and the government
was footing the bill. If the building burnt down, Uncle Sam had it.
If he were sued, it wouldn’t matter, because he would be a part of
city hall, and as the saying went, you couldn’t fight that. It was
comfortable. If something happened to him physically and he could
no longer work, then he would have benefits. Sick pay. Vacations.
Somebody else’s property. No direct client contact. No one to pay.
He’d never be as challenged as he could be. But he’d be
comfortable.
    Out of nowhere, Tate said,
“So what if you lose?”
    “What?” Jonah asked, flying from his
thoughts.
    Calmly, Tate said, “For a
minute, stop thinking about how you could lose if you take
advantage of this opportunity, and ask yourself, ‘What if I
lose?’”
    At first, Jonah couldn’t do
it. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the question, but he
couldn’t do it. Then, little by little, it changed.
    What if I lose?
    What if it didn’t work out?
What if owning his own business overwhelmed him? What if he
couldn’t take care of the odds and ends? Then what?
    Jonah opened his eyes.
    His hands in a downward
motion, his voice soft, Tate said, “Close your eyes, and stay with
it. What if you lose?”
    Jonah
shut his eyes. What if I lose? If his private practice, his business, failed,
where did that leave him? It left him without a business, but it
didn’t leave him without a Ph.D. He would still be able to get a
good job somewhere. Maybe he would still be able to get the SSI
job.
    Suddenly, Jonah wasn’t so
anxious. He opened his eyes, planning to tell Tate this. But, just
as he had done before, Tate sent Jonah back inside his
head.
    What if
I lose? What if some client sued him and
won? Well, he had insurance. But losing a lawsuit would cost him
more in reputation than anything. There go the SSI clients. There
go any referrals from the area. But if his reputation did go out
the window, was he stuck here? No, he could pack his things and get
the hell out of the Dodge that was Stanton.
    Jonah opened his eyes, and
Tate sent him back inside his head, and it went on that way for a
while, until Jonah’s anxiety was gone.
    Jonah said, “If I lose, I will survive
anyway.”
    Tate’s expression was still
calm, but he was smiling. He said, “You, brother, just made your
mind think what you wanted it to. You controlled it, instead of it
controlling you.”
    Jonah nodded. He had never
liked Tate as much as he did in that moment.
    “So what did David offer
you?” Tate asked.
    Jonah laughed in response
to the question. “I had assumed you knew.”
    “I’m not psychic, brother.”
    Are you
sure? Jonah thought. Then he said, “He gave
me the Stanton office.”
    Tate didn’t say, “I told
you so,” nor did he inquire into David’s reasoning, both things
Jonah would have predicted he would do. Tate just nodded, then
said, “Don’t let what your mind gives you