by P J Mann
She stood up from the bed and tried to walk, but her legs felt weak, and she fell to the floor.
“What the heck is going on with me this morning?” she said aloud as she tried to keep calm and stand up once again.
It took several attempts before, even if uncertainly, she could manage to stand on her feet.
“At least one task is accomplished,” she cheered looking around the room. “Now let’s see if I can also walk to the toilet and grab some painkillers to get rid of this headache.”
She wasn’t sure even if she had any sort of painkiller, headaches were such a seldom event, that she might have forgotten to bring any sort of medicine with her.
It seemed like forever for her to reach the toilet, but she noticed that even if slowly, her legs started to feel less weak and they could support her the way they always did.
“Ok, I made it to the toilet,” she whispered switching on the light. “Now let’s see what I can find here to help me.”
As she forecasted, she couldn’t find anything that could have helped her with that terrible headache. Her only chance was returning to the bed, trying to calm down and relax, hoping that her headache was just due to momentary stress from the dream.
“What was it about, I wonder,” she mumbled as she laid on the bed.
She tried to focus on the feelings, hoping she could have come up with some images about it, but nothing came up. It was like there was a black hole between the time she fell asleep the previous night and the time she woke up screaming.
“Could it be that I was drinking a bit too much last night and this is just a typical hangover?”
She tried to rationalize and see everything logically, unwilling to believe anything that went out of what could have a logical explanation.
“Why am I going to even consider that there should be another explanation besides tiredness, drunkenness, or just bad digestion?”
She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, hoping that her headache would have subsided with some rest. She really didn’t feel sleepy, but that headache was draining her of all the strength she possessed, and although it didn’t seem to subside with the time, she fell asleep one more time.
She woke up later in the morning, the headache seemed to have passed, and that was a relief. Nevertheless, the tiredness and strange feeling about that nightmare didn’t seem to be improved. She woke up, and before even thinking about going for breakfast, she decided to take a shower and prepare all of her luggage and getting ready to leave the hotel.
It wasn’t something easy to explain, but she felt like there was more than a black hole after a drunk night, and the first thing that came to her mind was that perhaps she behaved inappropriately after a couple of glasses too much.
“I need to ask Sabina about it,” she hesitated, coming out from the shower. “Oh, no, now that I remember, she was drunk too…”
She started to collect her things but stopped almost immediately.
So, there is something I remember. I do remember the dinner, the laughter and the wine, she started to recall. What else I do remember?
She walked to the door, trying to reconstruct moment by moment what happened the evening before since the moment she came inside her room.
“I walked to the toilet because I wanted to brush my teeth. I know that when I drink too much, I have a terrible taste in my mouth unless I brush my teeth before going to sleep,” she recalled walking to the toilet.
“Everything felt like every other night, just a bit of dizziness, that’s why I decided to drink a bit of water,” she added, walking to the minibar.
“I took a bottle and drank some, and placed it on my bedside table,” she walked to the bed, noticing the bottle like she remembered.
“I undressed, and I laid down on the bed. I thought I could read a book, but I felt too tired. Then… Nothing, I just fell asleep dreaming of something so terrible that my brain decided to erase.”
She sat on her bed, closing her eyes, trying desperately to recall anything, even the slightest detail about what happened after she fell asleep. However, despite how hard she tried, nothing really came to her mind. Absolutely nothing…
“It seems like I am missing something, and there is a tiny voice telling me that whatever the detail is that I am missing, it is vital for me to get it back,” she said, opening her eyes. “Should I talk about this to Dr. Wright? Perhaps he can help me understand what the problem is and where I can find the detail I am missing.”
She looked at the clock, “Damn! If I do not hurry, I will be late for breakfast,” she rushed out of her room.
Waiting for the elevator, there was Sabina. She looked like she had the worst night of her entire life. She didn’t have on any make-up like she usually does every morning and her hair was messed up.
“So, it seems like I am not the one who had quite a strange night,” Laura said with a giggle.
“I made a promise to myself that I won’t drink the same way as I did last night anymore,” Sabina growled. More than a graceful vampire, she now looked like an angry werewolf.
“I had one of the worst nights I can ever remember. There is a black hole in my memories, and I had quite a turbulent night,” she started to explain. “When I woke up this morning, I was sleeping against the door, wrapped in the blanket off my bed. The worst thing is that I do not even remember that I walked in my sleep. One thing I can say is that there was something that scared me to death; I remember waking up in the same position when I was a little kid, after thunderstorms.”
Laura smiled, “Were you afraid of them?”
“Yes, but I am talking about the times when I was a toddler; after I started to be fascinated by their energy, and presently there is nothing I love more than falling asleep with a good thunderstorm,” Sabina explained. “I am wondering what could have scared me so much during my sleep to make me revert back to those times when I needed to find shelter far from the windows.”
“You know, something similar happened to me too,” replied Laura. “I fell asleep almost immediately, and from that moment to the time I woke up this morning, screaming and drenched in sweat, there is a big black hole. Generally, during the night or during a nightmare, I can recall some details of my sleeping pattern, of some noises that I could perceive from the outside, or even some details of the dream I was having. This time, it was like the whole night got deleted from my life. Like someone came along with a big eraser and deleted everything.”
“I am wondering if it was only the two of us, that experienced it. Perhaps we were the only ones who really drank too much, and perhaps that wine was not really a good one,” said Sabina giggling as they reached the breakfast buffet.
“Whatever it was, I am sure of one thing; no more alcohol in my life. This was such a terrible experience I do not want to risk repeating it anymore.”
They looked around, and they noticed how the room was empty, “either we arrived too late to have breakfast together with the others or they are also late,” observed Sabina.
“Whatever, I was starting to feel hungry, and I think that I will have both, lunch and breakfast at the same time,” replied Laura.
At that moment Gabriel appeared, “Girls, we thought you got lost. Have you overslept?”
“Let’s get over it, we both had a terrible night, perhaps we have been drinking too much, and that gave us something more than a bad hangover this morning. What about you?” Asked Laura.
“I had just a light headache, for the rest, I have slept like a stone. Although I have to tell you that you were quite drunk when you went to sleep,” Gabriel said keeping his voice down.
They got their breakfast from the buffet and took a seat at one of the tables.
“Oh, my goodness, did I embarrass myself?” Asked Laura, almost scared about the possible positive answer.
“No, no; don’t you worry, none of you behaved in a way you should regret. You just couldn’t walk on a straight line, to say the least, but concerning your beha
vior, there wasn’t any sort of crazy stuff,” he tried to reassure them.
“That is at least a consolation,” replied Sabina.
“However, I came to search for you to tell you that soon our taxi will be here to take us home, so you should hurry and get ready to leave,” added Gabriel.
“Already? I was hoping I could have another chat in private with Dr. Wright. I woke up this morning with a big black hole in my mind about what has happened last night. The only thing I know is that at about five o’clock I woke up screaming like crazy. I am sure I had a nightmare, but I cannot recall the slightest detail about it…” Laura tried to explain.
“But this is totally normal. Haven’t you ever got drunk?” He asked.
“Well, yes, I have but this time was totally different. I have never felt so scared in my entire life, and I would just like to have a sort of a second opinion about it. I hoped that perhaps Dr. Wright could have helped me in recalling my nightmare,” Laura insisted.
“I agree with Laura, I would also like to have a talk with him about last night. This morning, I woke up wrapped on my blanket sleeping against the door,” added Sabina. “The only times when something like this has happened it was when as a toddler there was something that could scare me to death. If there is a way to understand what triggered this old habit, I would be really interested in knowing it.”
Gabriel’s expression turned suddenly very serious, “You know, girls, you shouldn’t think about things that happen during a drunken night. You know perfectly well that an excess of alcohol in the blood acts on the brain like poison. The reason for your behavior and the strange dreams are nothing else but the reaction to the poison.”
“You might be right, but I would like to feel reassured by Dr. Wright,” pursued Laura, focused on going deeper to the source of her worries. “Perhaps, I can ask for an appointment, but I need to talk to him about this issue. Even if it is for one last time.”
“Of course, I guess you can ask him to schedule another appointment. In fact, I believe this would be a better idea, rather than having another session here at the hotel. Perhaps he might ask you to start a series of psychotherapy sessions,” Gabriel replied.
Sabina looked at him puzzled, I cannot say it for sure, but this guy starts to be more suspicious than an opened pack of condoms… she thought.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he said noticing her expression.
“Nothing, I am just tired,” Sabina answered standing up from the table. “I will go pack my luggage, so you don’t have to wait for me when the taxi arrives. By the way, how much time do we have?”
“You can take it easy, it will be here in a couple of hours,” he replied.
“I will come with you,” added Laura, starting to walk with Sabina toward their rooms.
As they were on the floor where their rooms were, Sabina glanced Laura.
“Come to my room, I have something to show you,” she said, grabbing her hand pulling in the direction of her room.
Laura just followed her; she felt too tired to even protest or wonder about her behavior, “What is going on?” She finally said as soon as they reached Sabina’s bedroom.
“Don’t tell me that you didn’t find Gabriel’s behavior strange,” Sabina replied.
“What do you mean strange?”
“What the hell does a mechanic knows about the poisoning effect of the alcohol to the nervous system? He spoke like he wrote a scientific paper about it.”
Laura thought about it for a moment, yet, she couldn’t find anything strange about Gabriel being more educated than they thought.
“Sabina, what do we know about Gabriel? What if he is a person who is interested in this topic? What if he had a better education but followed his passion for engines to open a garage? Then, please, explain to me what you are accusing him of?”
“I am not really accusing anyone of anything, it was just strange that all of a sudden, he sounded like a totally different person than the one we have gotten to know over the course of the therapy,” Sabina tried to explain. “Of course, I am not saying that since he is a mechanic, he is not supposed to have any education. My point was that he sounded like having a very specific education, or at least this is the impression he gave me.”
Laura shrugged, “Yet, we know almost nothing about him. I know something more about you and you about me, but for the rest, we are like strangers to each other. We didn’t really connect on an intimate level with anyone, because we didn’t even have the time to do so. One month is definitely a long time, but to start a friendship, it takes a bit more. Now that we have each other’s telephone number and email address, we can start building a friendship and get to know each other better.”
Sabina shook her head, “maybe you’re right, and it can be that with this confusion in my head, I cannot think clearly, but be sure that I will keep an eye on our Romeo.”
Laura giggled amused, “you do that. In the meanwhile, we might hurry up and prepare our luggage. See you downstairs.”
Dr. Wright and Prof. Doyle were also preparing to leave, and the University van was already waiting in the yard, to bring the temporary laboratory back to the University from where it was borrowed.
Gabriel knocked at Dr. Wright’s door.
“Yes, come in,” he replied without stopping collecting his stuff.
“Dr. Wright, I just came to inform you that Laura and Sabina had breakfast and they went to gather their belongings,” Gabriel said, closing the door behind him.
Dr. Wright stopped for a second and glanced over at Gabriel, “How did they feel?”
“They seemed quite confused, the night they had left some minor stressors, but they were convinced that it was because of the wine they drank,” Gabriel replied.
“So, no suspicion about what really happened last night?”
“No, I am sure they do not remember anything about it. Nevertheless, it is normal to feel strange from the sort of blackout they experienced. It seemed quite out of the ordinary for them not to remember anything about the whole night. I tried to explain to them that this could be one of the results of the alcohol they’d consumed.
“Laura wanted to have a chat with you, and I suppose she will contact you one more time to fix an appointment to see whether she can have her memory restored.”
Dr. Wright nodded, “I am not surprised about it. Although the loss of memory perfectly fits with the hangover effects, they might have realized that their loss of memory might feel too drastic, if absolutely no details of the night will come back. However, this is something that can be easily fixed. What couldn’t be easily fixed is the chance that they will recall the murder.”
“Don’t you worry, I have both of their contact info. I will keep an eye on them until we can be sure that their memory won’t come back,” Gabriel assured.
“Perfect, and remember to report everything to me and Prof. Doyle, we also would like to be assured that everything worked for the best. This is also important for the development of the next stage, for which everything is almost ready.”
At that moment also, Prof. Doyle entered the room, and as he noticed Gabriel, he started to feel a bit tense.
“Oh, you’re here too,” Prof. Doyle noticed, closing the door behind him. “Is there any bad news?”
“No, I just came to inform Dr. Wright about the fact that the girls do not seem to remember anything about what happened last night. They feel confused, but I managed to convince them that it is all the fault of the wine they’ve drunk yesterday evening before going to sleep,” replied Gabriel.
“Gabriel will keep an eye on them for the following days and will inform us if there is anything we should be worried about,” added Dr. Wright.
“That is a great idea, we need to follow-up on the situation, and if we ask them to come for a follow-up visit, they might grow suspicious. Of course, there is nothing wrong with checking that the therapy worked, but this is something that can also be solved by telephone. It is better
if someone the girls cannot suspect follows them for some time. Make sure that the girls are not going to search for the other patients, or soon we will have that Officer Sheen knocking at our doors,” replied Prof. Doyle.
“I will take care of that detail too, and in case there will be problems, you will be the first to know about it,” Gabriel reassured.
“Well, I think it is better if we all hurry up and get ready to leave the premises, there is a lot of work waiting for us back in the city,” said Dr. Wright, ready to leave.
Chapter 13.
Laura reached the yard together with Sabina, at the same time as the taxi arrived, she looked around surprised not to see Dr. Wright or Prof. Doyle already there waiting to return with the same ride.
“Where is Dr. Wright?” She asked.
“Dr. Wright and Prof. Doyle will not share our same ride,” explained Gabriel. “I saw them a few minutes ago and asked the same question, but it seems like they will go with the van that is supposed to transport all the equipment for the laboratory used by Prof. Doyle.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Laura replied, grabbing her luggage. “I was just wondering if we could still bid them both farewell and express our gratitude before leaving the place.”
“Of course, we wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” exclaimed Dr. Wright, coming from the reception desk.
Laura and Sabina turned in his direction. “I was almost afraid that I should have booked an appointment to say goodbye to you both and to thank you for the chance to participate in this therapy,” said Laura, with a smile. “I could have never believed that there was a way to make me sleep for more than two hours, let alone the whole night.”
“I am glad this therapy helped you. I would have preferred if the other people who had to interrupt the therapy also experienced the same outcome,” replied Dr. Wright.
“I am also wondering about them. Is there a way to have their contact information? I wish to stay in touch with them too and see what they are doing now,” wondered Laura, wishing to find a way to get back with Jonathan at least.