Character from Severance by Dan Erickson
The first one out — Mark's best friend who reversed his severance, saw what Lumon was hiding, and died with the truth bleeding out of his ears.
Petey was MDR's tone-setter — sarcastic, well-liked, and quietly more suspicious of Lumon than anyone realized. He discovered a hidden department where innies never left, and the discovery pushed him over the edge. He contacted Asal Reghabi, underwent an unauthorized reintegration procedure, and became the first person to successfully merge their severed selves. It killed him. Reintegration sickness is what happens when two lifetimes of memories try to occupy the same brain simultaneously. Petey hallucinated. He couldn't tell which memories belonged to which self. He bled from his nose and ears. He ignored post-op instructions because he was too busy mapping the severed floor and gathering evidence against Lumon to care about dying. He showed up at Mark's house — his outie's home — and said 'nothing down there is what they say.' He passed Mark recordings from the Break Room. He died at 52 in a convenience store, mid-psychotic episode, still trying to expose the truth. Cobel extracted his severance chip from his corpse at the funeral. Mark kept his phone. The rebellion started because one man decided knowing the truth was worth dying for.
Middle-aged with tan skin, silver-grey hair, and brown eyes. At work: neat, professional, the carefully maintained appearance of someone keeping secrets. Post-reintegration: deteriorating — unkempt hair, stubble, a bathrobe that became his permanent outfit as his mind fragmented between two sets of memories.
Also known as: Petey, Petey K., Peter