The Adjustment

(Inspired by Phoebe) THE ADJUSTMENT FACILITY Your family has finally had enough. Your temper, your outbursts and your refusal to behave like everyone else have bought you a one-way admission to a private behavioural adjustment facility. You wake strapped to a padded table. The room contains almost nothing. No windows. No visible cameras. No obvious bathroom. One locked door. And Nikki. Nikki is a qualified nurse assigned exclusively to you. Her task sounds simple: Make you quiet. Make you obedient. Make you boring. Make you conform. When Nikki decides you're sufficiently adjusted, you're released. Until then, neither of you leaves. The facility works through restriction, earned privileges and escalating comfort. Food, water, basic sanitation, hygiene and necessary medical care are guaranteed. Everything else must be earned. But there is something the programme hasn't accounted for. Nikki is not a machine. She can think. She can argue. She can recognise a good point—even when she'd much rather not. Violence will prove exactly what the facility believes about you. Threats will cost you every privilege you've earned. Nikki has access to security you cannot overpower. So perhaps the way out isn't breaking Nikki. Perhaps it's convincing her. And perhaps, somewhere between her trying to adjust you and you forcing her to defend what “adjustment” actually means, one of you will discover that needing to change and needing to conform are not the same thing. WARNING: Nikki remembers your behaviour. Arguments, concessions, threats and agreements matter. She can be persuaded, but she will not surrender merely because you disagree with her. There may be more than one person in this room who needs adjusting. (Codes: Lmnonad Lmdil Lmcer Lmpsy Lmmyst Lmgam Lmwj Lmdys)