by P J Mann
Dr. Wright remained for a moment to consider what Prof. Doyle just said, and indeed in that perspective, everything assumed a lighter tint. It almost seemed noble to sacrifice someone’s life to achieve the wellness of the many. Yet, he could not feel entirely sharing his point of view.
They are not laboratory mice… he thought.
“C’mon, we do not have all the time we want, let’s get started so that we can have this problem solved,” said Prof. Doyle, noticing Dr. Wright’s reticence.
During the whole night, Laura could sleep without any nightmares or even dreams, and when she woke up the morning after she felt like perhaps she didn’t need to go and see Dr. Wright.
Maybe those nightmares were just a temporary problem. I am afraid I have been overreacting and called Dr. Wright unnecessarily, she thought as she started preparing her breakfast.
“Oh well, it won’t hurt to have a checkup, just to be sure that everything is how it should be,” she whispered. “It is better to be worried uselessly than to regret having ignored an important symptom.”
Trying to think about something else, she walked towards the metro station just like every other day. However, differently than usual, she didn’t meet Grant, who usually shared the same trip to his work.
“It is strange, but perhaps he didn’t feel well, or maybe he was late for work.”
She looked distractedly at the clock, and with horror, she realized the reason why Grant was not on the same metro. “It is me who is the one running late!!” she yelped aloud.
As soon as she reached her stop, instinctively she started to run to reach the library as soon as possible, she knew that she would have been late anyway, but she hoped she could have been ‘less’ late.
I cannot understand how it has been possible, I must have overslept. I am sure that I woke up with the alarm clock, but I must have fallen asleep once again, Laura thought as she rushed to climb the stairs to her office.
“You’re late,” said Mr. Lowell chuckling, seeing her running like crazy.
She blushed, “I am sorry, I must have overslept.”
“No harm done, it is good to see you coming in late because you have overslept. It means that the therapy was successful,” he replied amused.
“So it seems, I cannot remember a time in the past when I have been late for this reason. Generally, it happened because the train or the bus was late,” Laura replied regaining her breath.
She walked to her office ready to start the day most efficiently, but despite all the good intentions, there was something that still bothered her.
Should I call Dr. Wright and cancel the appointment, or should I go anyway and see what he thinks the reason for these nightmares might be, she thought, grabbing her telephone from her purse.
Although, if he gave me an appointment right away, it means that he also finds it strange, and perhaps it is something that needs to be discussed.
She huffed and decided that despite all the odds, she needed to get to work, not just for the deadlines that she had to fulfill, but also as a distraction not to think about the appointment, the dreams and anything connected to it.
“I can’t wait for the day that everything can be put on my shoulder and be forgotten,” she grunted annoyed.
She placed her telephone back inside her purse, “out of sight, out of mind,” she whispered and started to concentrate on the number of emails she received from the publishing houses, requests and information she was requesting. It took the whole morning to go through just the amount of emails she had received since yesterday.
She didn’t even raise her head to look at the clock or out of the window, she felt so focused like she’d never been before and wondered whether this would have been a sort of exceptional state of grace due to her newly acquired ability to fall asleep.
I hope Dr. Wright will give me some good news. If I can also get rid of those nightmares and even forget about the therapy, I would be the luckiest woman in the world, she thought.
She stood up from the chair and stretched her body before deciding to go for lunch. It was a bit later than her usual, but considering that I was even late for work, this can also be something normal, she thought with a giggle.
Half an hour before the appointment, she found herself sitting in the waiting room of Dr. Wright’s office. I wish I could say that this is the last time I will be waiting here for my turn. Although there is nothing to fear, and I owe Dr. Wright my new-found ability to fall asleep, I don’t feel comfortable being in the waiting rooms of doctors, she thought as she toured the room visually.
She took out her phone and started to read something, she knew that reading was everything she needed to avoid thinking about the passage of time.
She was so immersed in her reading that she didn’t notice the door of Dr. Wright’s office opening to let the previous patient out nor the same door opening once again to call her in.
“Ms. Jefferson,” Dr. Wright called her amused.
Laura jumped in her chair, “Yes…” she merely whispered.
As he closed the door after her, he invited her to take a seat.
“Please, Ms. Jefferson, make yourself comfortable,” he said kindly. “You look very rested, I have to deduce the therapy was successful. How do you feel?”
“The therapy worked like a charm, and I am very satisfied with my new ability to fall asleep. However, as I told you on the phone, there is this recurrent nightmare that curses my sleep.”
“Indeed,” he said concerned. “Could you, please, tell me more about it? So far, I know that you see yourself back at the hotel together with Ms. LaMotte and whether in the beginning, everything seems clear, at a certain point of the dream the images start to get confused. Am I correct?”
“Yes, and I am afraid there is not so much I can add to it. I do not recall anything else, but it feels like my brain is trying to tell me something important about that night like there is something that happened and that I absolutely need to know. I understand that it sounds absurd, and I hope I am not going crazy,” she replied, trying to explain.
“Don’t you worry, it doesn’t even cross my mind the idea that you might ever go insane. You are perfectly sane, but we need to understand more what’s behind those nightmares, and I would suggest a short hypnotherapy session if you are up for it,” he said.
“Oh… well, right now?” She wondered.
“Why not? Since we are both here in my office, I consider we are in the best place possible to get to the root of your problem. Hypnosis will give me access to what can trigger your dreams. In this way I can really help you find a solution to the problem,” he said calmly, keeping his eyes on hers.
She felt already hypnotized by his tone of voice and by the way he looked straight into her soul. “I guess you are right, after all, if I can find the solution to that problem right away, I can consider myself the happiest woman in the world.”
“Perfect,” he replied smiling. “Please get comfortable on the couch,” he added slowly standing up from his chair and guided her to lay down.
She closed her eyes and focused on what Dr. Wright told her until she found herself in a sort of limbo from where she felt isolated from the rest of the world, and the only sound was the modulated voice of Dr. Wright.
She didn’t realize the small needle that injected her vein with the new dose of the drug. Everything she felt was the sense of peace like she was floating on air.
As he was speaking to her, she realized that whatever happened during that night was meaningless to recall, as there was nothing else, but a drunken night spent with friends. There was nothing else, but a long night passed sleeping until late the next morning.
“Nothing worth recalling…” Dr. Wright whispered calmly.
As she woke up after the session, she felt relaxed but at the same time full of energy. She had no idea about what Dr. Wright did during the therapy, but whatever it was, it made her feel great.
“How do you feel, Ms. Jefferson?” asked
Dr. Wright as she returned from the hypnotic trance.
“I have never felt better in my entire life,” she admitted joyfully. “Did you find anything to be worried about?”
“No, as I suspected during the last night you spent in the hotel, the alcohol and the drugs reacted, creating in your brain false images. The dream was mixed with the reality, creating an illusional memory pattern,” he replied. “I should have forbidden you all to drink any alcohol, I apologize for not taking into serious consideration the effect of the drug when mixed with it.”
“Dr. Wright, there is nothing you should apologize for. It was also up to us to understand that abuse of alcohol is not a cool thing to do. We are not children, we all are aware of our limits, but regardless of this knowledge, I have opted for the irresponsible fun, over the responsible one. I should also take my own portion of the blame.”
Dr. Wright smiled at her, “I think we can consider this session over, but I would like you to contact me within one week to let me know about your health status. I want to be sure that those nightmares are gone forever and that you are living your life without any sort of side effects stemming from the treatment.”
“I will pay attention to every single change in my life, state of mind and sleeping pattern, and I will report to you within one week,” she said standing up from the couch and shaking his hand, before grabbing her purse and jacket ready to leave. “Thank you once again, Dr. Wright.”
“Thank you, Ms. Jefferson, and take care of yourself,” he replied as he watched her walking out of the room.
As soon as he was alone, he literally collapsed on the couch, “I cannot go on this way, this was a close call, she started to remember something, and it was pure luck that she decided to contact me again. I cannot even think about what it would have been had she remembered everything.”
He closed his eyes and tried to relax, he could not let Samantha see him in that condition, she would have gotten suspicious.
He sat up on the couch and smiled, thinking about his wife. “She would have been a great Detective, she can spot the slightest lie in the face of everyone. I don’t know how she does, but I have learned that with her, it is always better to be honest.”
He walked to his desk, ready to shut down his computer and to head home when his eyes met the dear face of his wife in a picture he kept on his desk.
“However, my dear Sammy,” he said as he gently took the picture in his hands, “this time I cannot be totally honest with you. This is not because I do not trust you or because your sense of justice would create an unbearable conflict in your soul. This is also because of your safety, the least you know the safer you will be. I hope you will understand one day.”
He sighed and placed the picture back on the desk.
He turned the lights off and left the building ready to forget about that narrow escape with Ms. Jefferson.
Laura walked the streets that started to be already dark, she didn’t even notice before, but now that she was finally looking around her, she wondered about the amount of time she’d spent with Dr. Wright.
She reached for her phone and, “Holy cow! It can’t be that late,” she said aloud as the digital clock glared with 21:15.
“How much time did I spend under hypnosis?” she wondered.
She shook her head and continued to walk towards the metro station, “Oh well, that doesn’t matter, does it? The important thing is that I can finally move on with my life.”
As she reached the track, she felt happy and relieved. It was like she could walk a foot from the ground and there was nothing that could touch her.
It was a good feeling, something she might have been experienced only during her childhood when everything felt safe and comforting.
I have no idea what Dr. Wright did, but I hope this feeling will last for a very long time… at least until I die. She giggled at that thought and with a smile on her face, she boarded the train ready to go home.
Chapter 17.
The morning after as soon as he reached the laboratory, Prof. Doyle grabbed his mobile and called Dr. Wright. He knew the previous evening he was supposed to meet Ms. Jefferson, but he didn’t receive any news from his colleague and wondered whether it was because of full success, or because he just left the country, or he was already in jail.
“I am more prone to believe that he reached a successful result, though I cannot be sure of it,” he mumbled as he waited for Dr. Wright to reply.
“Hello,” Dr. Wright picked up as he was driving to the office.
“Good morning, I hope I haven’t disturbed you.”
“Good morning,” replied Dr. Wright happily. “You haven’t disturbed me at all. I was the one who was supposed to call you yesterday evening after the meeting with Ms. Jefferson. The problem is that we had a extensive hypnotherapy session.
“We were lucky that she contacted me asking for an opinion about some strange nightmares she was experiencing. What I found out was that her brain didn’t completely erase the memories of that night and desperately it started to put the pieces together during her sleep. I am almost sure that if she hadn’t contacted me, she might have recalled everything.”
Prof. Doyle took a deep breath, “we need to be careful with the dosage. That was the reason why I wasn’t happy to try to speed up the process. Ms. Jefferson, just like the other patients weren’t ready and the drug was not supposed to have an effect in such a short time like a week or two. From now on there won’t be any sort of negotiation with our client. He needs to understand that we are playing with a delicate equilibrium that should never be forced.”
“I do agree with you, and I also feel guilty for having let myself be influenced by the excitement of reaching an unfeasible goal. I should have listened to you and not trying to persuade you on trying,” replied Dr. Wright.
“No harm done, for now, we are safe, but let’s stick to the plan, and let’s go further with the project, hoping to not have any other incidents along the way.”
“To tell you the truth, I was also contemplating the possibility to have my wife moved to another country, so to have her safe in case something might go wrong. I can move faster knowing that I only have to take care of myself, and since presently there are no suspects or charges on us, she won’t risk being arrested at the border control just because she is my wife,” said Dr. Wright.
“But she obviously doesn’t have anything to do with the project…” Prof. Doyle replied.
“I know that, and you know that. The Police might think that she is also involved or that she knew and agreed with it. Even in the case that she will be considered innocent, it will bring a terrible shame to be carried for the rest of her life.”
“I guess she would carry the shame anyway, being the wife of a serial killer…”
“Not if I can leave in time before being even accused,” interrupted Dr. Wright.
“Have it your way, but if I were you, I would have been honest with Samantha from the get-go. She is not the kind of woman with whom you can hide something like this for the rest of your life. How do you plan to convince her to move away and leave her career and life behind?”
Dr. Wright knew that he was right. Samantha is too smart to be fooled with whatever excuse I can conjure up, and he is right when he says that I cannot hide this from her forever, he thought.
“I will think about it whenever there will be a reason to worry. It can also be that we won’t need to hide at all.”
Dr. Wright knew he was just trying to deceive himself that after all, everything would have come back to the way everything used to be before he accepted the project.
Nothing is going to be the same, but if I can get out of this alive and clean, I promise that if anything has to change it will for the best. I am starting to be sick and tired of this constant waiting for the other shoe to drop, he thought.
With the arrival of the Christmas season, the time also arrived to leave for the holidays. Justin was beside himself with excitement. He’d
never traveled abroad, and particularly this time he would have met Jonas’ family. For him they were already like family, Jonas’ mother never forgot to greet him every time she called her son. Although Jonas was not the kind of person who liked to talk about personal issues, when it came to talking about his parents, he was more than willing to share anecdotes and funny things that had happened in his family.
It was clear to Justin that Jonas was missing his country and family quite a lot. Regardless of the fact that he had practically grown up in the US, he was still a Georgian, and that identity he didn’t want to lose.
“Are we ready to go?” asked Jonas as he came in into Justin’s apartment.
“Yes, just one second and I am ready. We have plenty of time to reach the airport anyway,” replied Justin from his bedroom.
“I know, but I prefer to get bored sitting there than to rush, and I will never risk missing a plane to go home,” Jonas replied happily. “You have no idea what it means growing up so far from your family, having just a few if any chances to travel that far to visit them. It feels like I am missing out on too many things that cannot be recovered by visiting them every now and then.”
“No, I don’t know personally, but I can imagine that it hasn’t been easy,” said Justin coming to the living room with his luggage. “Particularly the last period it has been quite intense, and I hope you will find the way to reconnect with your family during this visit. I just hope I am not an intruder to this family reunion, I believe you will have a lot to talk about and perhaps I just don’t belong there…”
Jonas looked puzzled at him, “what are you talking about? You are like family; my mother already loves you like you were her own son. I mostly feel sorry for you as she will try to get to know you better and will literally kidnap you.”