Novel & Cerita Suspension Disbelief

Most of what I remembered myself doing was beyond my mental comprehension, as it rightly should, because the thought that those things happened is scarier than the actuality of all the strange things I’ve seen here so far, so it was safer and more reasonable to filter the images that made no sense to me out and leave the ones that I could piece together behind. “ Why are you still doubting the reality of this Jasmine?” he asks me calling out my full name as he stares at me with a straight face and I can hear the clear disappointment in his voice and this tone quietens the remaining ounce of normal reasoning I have in me, his tone automatically clears every iota of disbelief I had, and at thi

the first man continued, “points to possession.” The room felt like it was closing in on me. “So what does that mean?” I asked, even though a part of me already knew. After a brief silence, he continued, “You are hereby suspended effective immediately.” The words echoed in my head but I refused to register them. I thought it was my mind that was making up things. “And pending further review,” he continued, “expulsion procedures will begin in the coming weeks.” Everything inside me went still. My body shut down completely.

“Or you can dare to believe the truth… that you were born for greatness, never meant to kneel for anyone.” My heart pounded like it could explode any minute. I didn’t know what to believe again. I’d had enough of their argument, and I so much wish they could be in a separate space away from the one I was in for a few seconds. My vision, for no reason, started to blur; the world and everything surrounding us began to spin uncontrollably. “I...I... don’t…” —but I couldn’t form a complete sentence; my voice drowned in my thoughts. “I don’t know what to believe from either of you anymore.”

The anticipation was unbearable, and my mind raced with countless possibilities of what Clyde could ask of me. "Put??!!!" I exclaimed, my voice betraying a mixture of shock and disbelief. The words hung in the air, suspended in a moment of suspended animation. My mind raced, desperately trying to comprehend the extent of Clyde's demands. The possibilities were both terrifying and unimaginable. With each passing second, the weight of his words sank deeper into my consciousness, like an anchor dragging me into the depths of the unknown.

Not fear. Not panic. Something heavier. Recognition of limitation. Anna continued walking. The environment remained stable. But now she noticed subtle inconsistencies she could no longer confirm as external or internal. A sound slightly delayed. A shadow slightly off-angle. A sensation that didn’t fully match movement. She whispered, “I can’t trust what I am seeing anymore.” Elsewhere, Adrian replied quietly. “Neither can I.” A pause. “And we cannot verify each other’s experience.” That sentence landed sharply. Because it removed the last illusion of shared grounding.

After going through the entire contract, I sloshed back into the couch and just stared out in the open living room blankly, my mind still reeling with the things I have just read through. Suspension? Was that supposed to give pleasure? I didn’t see how dangling from the roof, bound probably head facing down, would be pleasurable. And I had no intention of finding out. Maybe I was being a whole stuck-up suit but some boundaries are just not meant to be stretched. Such as a fist shoved up my anus.

But before I could process this miracle, a blinding light erupted around us, followed by a burst of energy that sent me and the other men flying and crashing against the walls. I didn’t have time to recover. I sprang up again while the men groaned in pain, and started towards Elodie’s body until I stopped in my tracks a few feet from her. The unexpected happened. Elodie's body began to levitate, slowly at first, until before my very eyes, she was suspended mid air, her hands falling limp by her sides. My brain shut down. I couldn’t process it. That defied science and any type of logic. I had never seen, heard, nor read something like this. Ever.

My entire worldview shattered the second James turned into that… thing. I have such massive—what do they call it? My brain is still glitching. Cognitive dissonance. Yes. That. It’s so overwhelming, there’s nothing I can hold onto and say: this is true. What is the truth now? What the actual hell am I even doing here? "What the...?" The words slip out under my breath as I glance to the right.

“So what happens now?” Marcello didn’t answer immediately. That pause told me more than any sentence could have. Then he said it. “You are temporarily suspended pending internal review.” For a second, I genuinely thought I had heard him wrong. “What?” The word escaped before I could stop it. Marcello’s expression didn’t change. “You are being temporarily suspended pending review.” A short laugh left me, sharp with disbelief. “Suspended?” I stared at him. “You’re suspending me before you’ve even figured out what happened?”

His eyes flickered with disbelief. The seconds ticked by. The video ended.