Chapter Twenty-Seven - Jason Havelock
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Jason Havelock
JASON’S PHONE CHIMED,
R_Bellamy: I’m glad to hear it is nothing serious. The offer still stands if he wants to have a few sessions with me.
J_Havelock: Thanks, Dr. Bellamy. I’ll bring it up. He went to bed, I think the meds hit him pretty fast.
R_Bellamy: They do that. Have a good night. Keep me posted.
Jason clicked his phone off and tossed it aside, while he lay sprawled on the sofa. He had homework he needed to do, but the weight of the day clung to him. Ethan had shuffled off to bed, the image of him cradling the prescription bottle made Jason’s stomach twist.
He grabbed his phone and scrolled through the messages. After confiding in Bellamy a few days ago, Jason had been exchanging messages with him on the university’s instant message app Roar . In a way, he felt guilty, details of Ethan’s health weren’t his to share. But he had no one else to turn to, Ethan had no family, and Jason’s family didn’t even know they were dating or living together, much less his boyfriend battling an illness. There was so much swimming around in his head, it felt nice having someone to express things to. He didn’t have to convince Bellamy of anything, the professor just knew things. It was Bellamy who encouraged Jason to stay committed to Ethan’s health. After all, Bellamy researched stuff like this and offered multiple times to meet with Ethan. There was lingering doubt in Jason as to bring this up to Ethan, something told him that Ethan wouldn’t appreciate him talking to their professor about something so personal. Not to mention, Jason wasn’t exactly clear on what Bellamy would do in what he called “sessions” with Ethan.
This was the man who promised them recommendation letters if they produced solid work in the lab. Who was Jason to argue with that? Besides, now that the MRI was complete and the doctor had offered no real answers or solution — Bellamy was starting to look like a viable option.
“Fringes of neuropsychiatry,” Jason muttered to himself reaching for his laptop. Dr. Trent’s words had ping-ponged around in Jason’s head since they left the clinic. If there was a way to describe Bellamy’s more recent research, “fringe” might just do it. While Jason and Ethan had participated in more mainstream and scientifically sound research as members of Bellamy’s lab, there were rumors of Bellamy’s more theoretical work being provocative. Ethan and Jason hadn’t yet had time to discuss that Bellamy’s research funding was frozen by faculty, effectively closing the lab down — leaving them jobless.
Jason’s parents funded his education and provided a generous living allowance while Ethan’s academic scholarships provided more than enough to pay his way. The jobs paid very little in the way of compensation, such that neither Jason nor Ethan relied on it for financial stability, but it did provide a doorway to graduate school recommendations and research publications, which was an absolute must for ambitious undergraduates.
Jason opened his laptop, the glow of the screen illuminated his face and cast a long shadow across the apartment. His fingers hovered over the keyboard considering what to search: “Dr. Richard Bellamy.” He navigated the professor’s university profile, scrolling through a long list of accolades and publications. Bellamy’s work in neuropsychology was well regarded and his numerous publications were highly cited. Exploring the intersections of emotion, cognition, and brain function, Bellamy was once considered a pioneer in neuropsychology and brain functioning.
Jason's scrolling slowed as he reached older articles in Bellamy’s bibliography. Titles like “ Neural Correlates of Telepathy: An Exploration into Cross-Brain Communication" and "Emotion and Energy: The Role of the Limbic System in Psychic Phenomena" piqued his interest. He clicked one skimming the dense academic language that described experiments but much of it was foreign to Jason with just his current undergraduate training. The article was filled with images of the hemispheres of the brain and tables with complex statistical analysis.
But, he could feel himself leaning in, Jason was onto something.
He stared at the screen, scratching his chin. Bellamy had spent decades researching fringe theories examining the brain’s untapped potential, all interspersed with more mainstream psychological scientific inquiry. The way Jason figured it, Bellamy used his mainstream research to then gain access to research subjects to test his more fringe theories. It was rather ingenious and certainly added to Bellamy’s polemic reputation.
Curious, Jason broadened his search. After some digging, he stumbled on an archived article from the Science Gazette dated 1974. The title read Mind Over Matter? Dr. Richard Bellamy Claims Telekinetic Potential in Human Brains. Jason scrolled through the article when one passage caught his attention,
“In a hotly contested paper, Emotions and Energy: The Role of the Limbic System in Psychic Phenomena, Bellamy recounts the details of experiments in controlled laboratory settings. Using advanced stress induction techniques, Bellamy and his team claim to have observed subtle, measurable movements in small objects, such as metal pins and glass beads, when the subject experienced stress induced at a precise volume. “The limbic system, particularly the amygdala, plays a central role,” Bellamy explains. “It’s where emotion and instinct meet, creating a kind of ‘energy bridge’ between thought and matter.”
With proper stress-induction, Bellamy claims that primal functions within the amygdala can be antagonized to yield observable psychic phenomena. But, he is not without his critics, many arguing that such results could easily be attributed to micro-vibrations or human error. Further, some have argued the ethics of his “stress induction.” It is unclear what type of stress at what frequency and for what duration the subject needs to be exposed to produce observable psychic potential.”
Stress certainly triggered Ethan’s migraines, Jason was certain of that. Closing his laptop, he considered Dr. Trent’s prognosis from earlier in the day and Bellamy’s research. This is potentially something that Bellamy has been postulating for years.
Jason glanced towards the bedroom yet again, Ethan needed help. More and more, Jason was convinced that Bellamy was the one who could give it to him.