Trapped in a Fake Apocalypse

Three years into the Great Drought, Neil Crawford is dragged outside the shelter by his sister Lisa Crawford and left under the sun for spilling a little water. His skin blisters, his body fails, and his heart gives out. Only then does his soul drift free and see the truth: the apocalypse is a hoax. His parents are alive, celebrating his adopted brother Hal Crawford's birthday, and the grieving survivors inside the shelter are actors paid to keep him fooled. For three years he has been punished for pushing Hal, believing his family died fetching his heart medicine.

Lisa, once the guardian who praised and protected him, now scolds him through a microphone and orders Jimmy Smith to make him stand for two hours. When his corpse will not rise, Jimmy kicks and drags him, Hal stages a fall and blames him, and his parents call him a disappointment. Lisa has him roped to a scorching pole for the whole day.

His soul follows them back to the Crawford Villa, where Hal settles onto his favourite couch, and Neil can only watch, unheard, as his body is defiled and no one believes he is already dead.