Pay Day?

Jacob cracked his neck and rubbed it with one hand as he reached towards the tablet. He was still in the therapy room. He had spent the last 20 minutes going over exactly what he had talked to Jean about in his mind.

In his business courses it was always touted that one should review what they had done for the day, or something along those lines. Either way, Jacob had found that just sitting down for 20 minutes after that session was a god send.,

He was physically and mentally drained

Grabbing the tablet Jacob was quick to navigate to the [Pay] section. Pressing down on it, the 4 previous messages were greyed out and his eyes quickly glided over them, before resting on a bright new one at the top.

[Therapy Sesson – Phoenix]

Pressing on that, a new screen popped up.

[Calculating...]

Shaking his head, a little in disappointment Jacob went into another stretch.

Jacob was quite curious about how much he would be paid after each session. Just giving out some casual words had already netted him $10,000; he figured that the real therapy session might just blow his mind away.

But at the same time, he wasn't in a rush. Not many people made even $10,000 in a month, not to mention however much he would acquire. He was also just happy that he had helped Jean. He had really messed up when he first entered the chat of Consol.

With this session he had been able to undo the mistakes of the past per say and now there wasn't a metaphorical weight hanging over his head, the guilt of what his actions may have caused... Split personality disorder... mental health in general, wasn't something to laugh or joke about. Well maybe you could joke just don't be mean about it, don't be.... vindictive.

Jacob decided that was the right word as he navigated out of the app and pressed exit.

The feeling was weird.

Weirder than when he first arrived.

Maybe it was because he was mentally drained?

Waking up in his bed Jacob looked to the side to check the time.

Just over 2 hours had passed since he first entered the therapy room. It was starting to get close to mid-day but he had just spent around 12 hours or more inside. Combining the amount of time, he had spent learning the functions of the room, preparing for Jean's session and then finally her session; it had been a long time.

But now only an hour had passed. Letting out a groan Jacob couldn't be stuffed to get up and decided he was going to have a quick nap. With all this time dilation, or manipulation, or whatever it was; Jacob just knew he was going to have one messed up internal clock as he continued.

Setting his timer, Jacob quickly conked out, turning his phone off, so as not to be awoken by messages, or phone calls.

It was only 3 hours later that he woke up, groggy but alert. Looking to the clock, it was now 2pm. He wanted to lie down for even longer, but knew that would only make it worse. Begrudgingly he flipped his feet over the side of his bed and wobbly got to his feet.

He had other things to do today such as....

Jacob stopped.

Actually... he had nothing else to do today.

For most people they would go and work a 9-5, or something along those lines. There would in general be something they had to do throughout that day, that would fill it in. But other than sleeping, Jacob just started to realize that if he was in the therapy room most of the time, and with its time distorting affects, he could be done with his work within an hour and then have the rest of the day free!

'Wait no.'

Jacob shook his head. The time dilation effect, while major, Jacob remembered was being enhanced for the first sessions of the group members. It was likely that in the future it wouldn't be so drastic. He still figured it would be there, but it would change.

Maybe instead of an hour, to every 6 hours in the therapy room, it would be an hour to every 3 or so on.

Not that he didn't appreciate the extra time, it was just he wasn't sure how he would spend it.

Was this what super rich people felt like?

When you have so much money that you don't have to work, is that why they have parties all the time?

Spend money on mobile games in the millions just to dunk on FTP plebs?

Does that bring them excitement, when they are so bored?

Jacob slapped his cheek to bring himself back to reality and made his way over to the fridge, taking a quick stock of what was there. He had decided what he was going to do for the day. He wouldn't just sit around all day doing nothing. Well, he would try not to on most days anyway. No, instead he would strive to make use of his time productively, maybe get a new hobby or start writing or something.

It was always an option when you had more time on your hands; but for today, he would go grocery shopping. Not just a small run either. He was getting a full stock up!

Having only, left over pizza, Chinese, and Indian takeout wasn't really a good sign of his recent eating habits. But then until recently, he had spent most of his time looking for jobs, sending in resumes, or surfing the web for other job listings.

He didn't have time for anything but takeaway! ….. Plus, it was cheaper.

It had only been 2 days since he had somehow wound up with this counseling job and found himself with excess money. It was time to make use of it. He could pay off his rent, buy the groceries he needed; and in general, eat healthier from now on.

With his mind made up Jacob went for a quick shower, shit and shave and headed out.

He only returned to his apartment 2 hours later.

Multiple trips were needed to transport everything back.

While he was out, he hadn't splashed out on anything and had instead been frugal with his money. Even though he was sure to have a big payment from the therapy session he wanted to make sure that he had a few months' rent saved at all times.

Somethings had caught his attention while he was out, but he had stayed steady. He wasn't sure how long this gig would last. If it suddenly ended after just the 4 people in the chat, he would be out of a job in maybe 2-3 weeks and by that point he would be back to where he started if he spent it quickly on impulse buys.

He had to be smart, lord knows he had enough trouble looking for jobs over the last few months.

Taking another 30 minutes to put everything away, Jacob could finally rest as he flopped on the couch and flicked the TV on. Mindlessly surfing for a bit Jacob was brought out of his stupor by a small ping from his pocket.

Jacob had turned his phone back on after waking up, and at the same time suddenly received multiple notifications. When he had first unlocked the phone, he quickly figured out what was going on.

[Consol App]

(Message from Dark Knight)

(Message from Phoenix)

(Message from Ruin Princess)

(Message from Darth Vader)

Multiple notifications from the Consol app had appeared.

At the time Jacob didn't look at the messages, moving them to the side to look at later. No doubt the rest of the group was asking Jean what her experience was like and what they could expect. Jacob was sure that soon he would be getting another therapy session lined up, which he would have to research for.

It was only just then, that he had gotten a new message, and from the sound Jacob knew that it was an SMS. As he unlocked the phone, another notification also popped up.

The first was from his bank.

[XXXXXXXXXXXXXX]

(This is a notification that your account has been upgraded as requested to VIP status with XXXXX. Please check our website or call XXXXXXX for more information. We thank you for your patronage distinguished member.)

The other from Consol, and more importantly the one he had been waiting for all day.

[Consol App]

(Your pay has been calculated, please check the [Pay] section for details)

With excitement Jacob quickly opened the app.