Amy and Karl have never met now they've
decided to live together
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they both have lazy eyes Ami's left in
Carl's right and that's why we're here
neuroscientist Elizabeth Quinlan has
been resetting lazy eyes and mammals
using prolonged periods of darkness
mimicking the process of the newborn
learning to see for the first time now
she and her team are taking the next
step
Amy and Karl are the volunteers a third
subject dropped out alarmed by the
treatment ten days in total darkness
with the apartment prepared the police
are notified and with that the door
shuts and we begin things start awkward
but crashing into things left and right
in Santa Karl asks me if I'm single in
the first hour and I stub my toe in the
second the pains intense but then I
click Karl can't see the tears I'm
trying to hide after half a day
we've acclimated Amy isn't single and
I'm half our age but I wouldn't say
that's a problem the hallucinations
start on day two classic Charles bone a
syndrome where people who've gone blind
think they're seeing what isn't there
I'm pretty sure the visions won't get to
me never been much of a dreamer working
nights and all I've taken a lot of drugs
I warned Liz but she seemed cool said
I'd be ready for the visions then Amy
lists the prescription drugs she's
barely taken levothyroxine for a thyroid
hormone deficiency rosuvastatin for
weight loss east omeprazole to reduce
stomach acid that's a long list I'm big
on medicine what can I say
is it working who knows but I'm in a
good place by day five other senses
begin compensating fruit this sweeter
and whispers are audible Carl peels his
peaches I'm not gonna lie this annoys me
he takes a small knife then washes the
peach then curls the blade around the
circumference it's a ritual she has her
prescriptions I have my peaches
he also has a knife it's now I remember
how big Carl is the days he's been
nothing but a voice but but now he's a
presence a hulking mass peeling peaches
but I can feel he's scared
vulnerable to his own imagination with
their sensitivity heightened the
slightest sound triggers a flood of
illusion the funny thing about a lazy
eye is I don't feel it it's all you've
ever known there's other people feel it
they feel a pang that tells them to look
twice something's off what do they see
first my eye on my size
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I'm a big man always have been born to
fill doorways I scared people it's
normal I get that but I overcompensate I
act soft and defer when it's something
to the furniture
it's only now I realize this
I hear Karl sniffle something better
than to let him know I can hear him cry
by Dana Karl's losing it
thick black oil engulfs his mind
swallowing him in its surge across his
consciousness
I'm talking to Carl holding in close
thinking my voice is like a psychic bomb
but really I'm just saying whatever
comes into my head why is the moon gray
what is a spleen actually do water
trans-fats I've never eaten a plantain
I only ever called tails
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you may not realize it now but you spent
240 hours in total darkness you'll know
why our Lord and Savior
the almighty z-- first order of business
was Fiat Lux let there be light
sounds simple but we are diurnal beings
we live in the light and we're scared of
the dark for a damn good reason so when
I signed up for this I was just thinking
it might fix up my eye I never for one
second saw myself cowering in the arms
of a woman I barely know with her words
being my only link to a reality I cannot
even perceive and with this the
experiment is brought to a close first a
1 watt bulb is introduced reacquainting
them with light over the next few hours
new bulbs are switched in and the
subjects see the world for the first
time in 10 days it is now 3 weeks later
Carl has left his job unable to return
to working nights
Amy's backpacking alone in Peru this
morning she will see Machu Picchu for
the first time
you
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