When Reality Cracks

Chronic sleeplessness, sedating pills, a public humiliation an hour old, years of fantasies about one person — and now that person stands millimetres away, half-naked, whispering “ask me”. Under such overload the psyche loses its main anchor: the ability to tell “inside” from “outside”. This is derealization.

Simon reaches not for the real Jacob but for the image from a thousand nights, which at this moment is indistinguishable from reality. It is not courage and not a decision — it is the act of a person whose reality-testing has failed for a minute. Understanding this moment is the key to everything that happens next.