R&R
"I've been having these dreams lately."
"It's the same one every time. I'm waking down a street in a town I don't recognize, and the further I go I get the feeling I'm being followed – but when I look over my shoulder, nothing is there.
So I keep walking, and walking.
The farther I go, the more I feel inclined to look behind me. I get a grave sinking feeling in my stomach that whoever or whatever is following me won't stop until it's a breath away.
I don't know what it wants with me. I don't how to deal with it.
And even if I run away, eventually it catches up to me. I can't get away."
"It sounds like you've been dealing with a lot of anxiety. Why do you think that is?"
"...I don't know."
"Do you still get these dreams?"
"Yes."
"And nothing ever changes in these dreams?"
"Sometimes there's a car where there wasn't, or it's a different season."
Dr. Kain watched his patient ball her fingers into a painful fist and then relax.
"What made you bring it up in our session?"
There was something different about her today. Her voice was cool and collected but her body language said otherwise. He knew her to be a charming woman, not the restless mess that was before him.
"Something happened yesterday night. I was walking, same as usual but when I turned around it wasn't there."
"That's good. Then what happened."
"My neighbor's dog woke me up, and...I saw something in the corner of my room - it was there, watching me."
Ah, so that's what's bothering her.
"Hallucinations are a cause for concern, Nikaido. How long ago was your last episode?"
"Since I entered the room..."
Dr. Kain stopped scribbling his notes and averted his gaze to her.
"Is it here with us now?"
Nikaido sat across from him, unresponsive. Her eyes were glazed with tears and he suspected she was having an anxiety induced episode of some kind, but he couldn't be any more wrong.
She just didn't want to acknowledge it behind him.