Ooo i love the line you walk in this one! The use of accessing memories through a pill and a machine instead of hypnosis etc gives it a much more scientific feel, with a touch of Scientology & their thetan's, both in the machine and the power dynamic between Kurt and Machete. Machete steers him so well, the pill was aptly named. The way Machete remarks on the childhood home, echoing Kurts own feelings, it does feel like he was setting Kurt up to make this choice.

The story you chose to tell here is a very good one, and has so much depth to it. Confronting the self, so many people twist their own memories to get them through what they need to, and that internal dilemma of not knowing who the real him is any more because of it.

I adore that when confronted with the two possible pasts, he chooses what he needed it to have been, not what it was. Which i think maybe we all do. We look back at our lives not through the lens of what really happen, but what we needed to have happened. We can focus on either side, and shift it in our mind, it could have been both, there could have been good days, and bad days, things could have changed over time. You give Kurt a very relatable choice. It's easier to burn it all, let the flames of fury cauterize it all and not feel anymore. A powerful story that really made me think about myself.

And damn you steve! Posting this just after the deadline (but i know they are super lenient on that and chances are people will get away with it all the way up to the results coming up) but I had to go back and change my vote, cos this story is just, fantastic.