Flashback

Brent has previously shown that he prefers to ignore his problems and simply look away. As the story progresses, this starts becoming more literal through what Brent reveals. It all starts as Brent is taken into the OR for a surgery that takes the skin from his stomach and hips and places it on his back. While Brent is in the waiting room, he starts showing great fear of the possibility of waking up in the middle of the surgery and that if it happens he is screwed.

As he tries to remind himself to not wake up during the surgery, Brent says that "I've got to remember not to wake up this time, not that I've ever woken up before in the middle of a surgery, but really, wouldn't that just be the worst?"(78-79) What Brent doesn't realize is that he has waken up in the middle of something in the past. However, it wasn't a surgery but something that is similarly scary for him.

Soon after the surgery, Brent recalls an event that happened to him when he was younger. Brent remembers the brown wallpaper of his room when he was younger and a nightmare that he once had. In this nightmare there were some olive green silhouettes against a brown background: one big, one medium-sized and one small. The big one had a voice similar to that of his father, and the medium-sized one had a voice like his mother's. The two silhouettes would talk and progressively get louder and angrier. At times the little one would try to interrupt but the other silhouettes would just continue talking. This shouting would get to a point where it would scare Brent and wake him up, but "the voices would still be there."(81) Brent could try and go to sleep to run away, but there was no way to avoid the fact that his parents were fighting. Perhaps Brent was paranoid about waking up in the middle of the surgery because he had previously woken up during scary times and had possibly been traumatized by that. This could be another possible reason behind Brent's strange behavior.

Another hint to a possible family problem is when Brent is preparing the surprise for his mother in her birthday. His dad helps him prepare it and thanks him by addressing him as DF which stands for designated father. Despite the mere mention of the title is strange, Brent's reaction gives away his true thoughts. Brent realizes that his father is probably going to tell Dr. Rubinstein and gets angry. Since Dr. Rubinstein represents the part of him that he has to face, this reaction is Brent realizing that his family is also part of his emotional problems. He gets angry because he doesn't want to confront this but at least he realizes what is the problem making a little process in the trial of overcoming his inner self.