Sophie's Choice

Ok, maybe “Sophie’s Choice” is a bit dramatic.

But last night, Gary woke me up because he thought a ghost was jostling him.  First, the ghost awakened him by thumping his bed a few times and then began gently thumping Gary.  He says it didn’t hurt him, but he was frightened.  Very frightened.  More frightened than I have ever seen him before.

Up until this past weekend, the easy answer would have been to gently tell him it was a hallucination and try to get him back to sleep.  But, this weekend, he became suddenly aware that his hallucinations are getting worse and he’s been deeply troubled because he doesn’t want to “lose his mind” (apparently unaware it’s already lost).

So, my choices are: tell him the ghost is a hallucination and speed his spiral into hopelessness and despair over losing his mind or don’t mention hallucinations and let him wallow in terror.

It’s times like this, I wish there was a door #3.