Pete admires his older brother Toby, who is popular, extremely athletic, and overall, a shining example of what a son and brother should be. That is why it comes as such a shock when Toby enters their rural Texan home one day roughed up, with bruises covering his face and a tear on his shirt's shoulder. Their father gets a call from Duke's father, Toby's best friend, and by the look on his father's face, Pete knows the situation is serious. He attempts to coax information out of Toby, but Toby just covers his face; after the phone call, their father enters Toby's room, ordering Pete out, but from beyond the door, he can hear the lashes of his father's belt. Not a word of the situation is uttered in Pete's presence, though he tries to find out about the situation from other people in town; if it had just been a scuffle between Toby and Duke, news about it would've gotten out, but seeing as no one knows about it, Pete understands that it had cause for all parties to keep quiet about the situation. Soon, his father and brother begin building something in the garage that has been renovated into a workstation. More than once, the power to their home flickers out as Pete hears excited yelps from the garage. Investigating, Pete finds his brother in the garage painting the windows black, and though his brother seems better, he refuses to let him in on the situation. Weeks pass, with the lights flickering out, and eventually, Pete decides that he must find out for himself. Peeking through the gaps in the paint, Pete sees his brother strapped down on a cot, with several wires connecting from his head to the machine. His brother is convulsing, so Pete breaks inside to find images being projected before him: naked men accompanied by a shock, and naked women accompanied by relief. Pete unplugs the machine, imploring his brother to stop, but Toby says it's good for him and that it's helping. From now on, every time Toby treks out to the garage, Pete begs him not to go, but his father takes on a look of pride, so Toby continues. After their father dies, Toby tells Pete that he destroyed the machine. The damage the machine wreaked on his brain was already done, though, so as an adult Toby has been kept in a home with supervision. Upon discovering that Toby's broken out of the home yet again, Pete traverses to their childhood home, finding the machine in perfect condition. Toby's corpse is still strapped down, wires connected to his brain and an image of their father projected. The smile on Toby's face is permanently engraved, set by rigor mortis.