Episode 05

**Patient #11 (Caleb), Session 10** is the fifth episode of Season 1.

## Synopsis

"Session 10 with a teenage empath. His continued exposure to a fellow student may help him learn to control his ability."

## Plot Summary

Caleb enters Joan’s office feeling great, and this feeling is quickly explained when Dr. Bright informs him that her secretary Sarah had gotten engaged the previous night. Caleb is upset with this realization, stating that “God forbid I be happy for my own reasons.”

He goes on to tell Dr. Bright that he had a bad day at school and that he had felt overwhelmed at school because Adam, the classmate whose emotions seemed to drown out everyone else’s, was absent from class. When Joan asks if he missed Adam, Caleb defensively responds that he didn’t, though he states that Adam “simplified things” and “made it easier to breathe”.

Dr. Bright asks if he had worked on talking to Adam like she suggested and he states that he had attempted to talk to Adam and ask him to get lunch the previous Monday. When describing this interaction, Caleb mentions feeling another student’s nerves and gets sidetracked trying to use color as a metaphor to describe to Dr. Bright how he feels people’s feelings. As he explains it, if he is feeling one feeling and someone else is feeling another feeling, those two feelings will exist alongside each other in his head as separate colors, usually making the source fairly distinguishable. The exception to this rule is Adam, whose emotions blend with his own and mix colors, making it harder for Caleb to tell who the emotions are coming from and, due to how overwhelming it is, harder for him to feel the emotions of anyone else around him.

Caleb then gets back on topic, explaining to Dr. Bright that as he was approaching Adam, he himself was approached by another classmate, Caitlin, whose nerves he could feel. He tells Dr. Bright that Caitlin asked him to the school’s Sadie Hawkins dance and that he said yes, but that he didn’t really like her feelings. When Dr. Bright asks him to elaborate, he describes a “tingly, nauseous feeling” that he struggles to place before Dr. Bright suggests that it may be “butterflies”, and that Caitlin probably has a crush on him.

Caleb seems surprised by the idea that Caitlin could have a crush on him and when asked about talks about how he hasn’t felt interested in anyone in a long time and has mostly avoided spending time with the girls in his class since his ability presented.

He continues to tell Dr. Bright about what happened on Monday, saying that by the time he had finished talking to Caitlin, Adam had pulled his notebook out and was feeling sad, making Caleb believe that he was no longer in the right headspace to have a conversation. Dr. Bright asks if Caleb had tried to talk to Adam again, and Caleb responds that he had asked him to get lunch with him that Wednesday. When asked how it went, Caleb describes feeling calmed by the presence of Adam’s emotions. Dr. Bright and Caleb discuss this for a while before Dr. Bright suggests that they do some breathing exercises.

In Joan’s notes on the session, she states that while she is still concerned with Caleb’s anger issues, he seems to be gaining remarkable control.

## Featured Characters

* Dr. Joan Bright
* Caleb Michaels
* Adam Hayes *(mentioned)*
* Sarah *(mentioned)*
* Caitlin Park *(mentioned)*
* Alice Michaels *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* This episode contains the first mention in the TBS-universe of the character Caitlin Park.