Chapter10: Not Ok

"Oh, Goten. It's been a while. Good to see you again. Look how tall you've gotten."

"Hello again, Dr. Nicholas." I sat down on the couch by the coffee table. "I'm sorry to drop in out of nowhere, but I don't know where to turn."

He looked saddened as he spoke. "Nonsense. I might not be your brother's therapist anymore, nor helping with your father's treatment, but you are always welcome to talk with me." He sat on the loveseat on the other side after handing me a cup of tea. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"I can't sleep. Been having nightmares as of late, and I don't know why. I also can't look at my best friend without feeling pain in my chest. Not to mention how I have been avoiding my parents. Every time I see them, I just have this strong urge to cry and be in their arms. But I'm older now, and that feels weird. Plus, I haven't talked to or seen Marron in months. I just want to be left alone."

"That isn't good." He set down his tea and picked up his notepad. "Tell me about the nightmares. Maybe that will give us some answers on what's going on."

…

The sun was just about to set as I laid in a field with Marron. Everything seemed to be going so well until the sky turned pink. I sat up and looked around. Before my eyes, I was in a sea of burning and destroyed cities. I tried to fly, but something sticky was pulling me in.

My arms and legs were being held by a pink blob. It pulled me down as if being dragged into a sea of flesh. I couldn't breathe. I kept fighting to escape to the surface, but it was too strong. I saw a hand, and I tried to reach for it.

At first, I thought it was a younger me pulling myself up, but it was my dad. Yet he vanished into dust, and I was pulled under again. There was another hand, but I ended pulling them under. It was mom. Her skin started to crack and break apart. Instead of blood, it was egg yolk that spilled out.

I tried to scream, but it felt like I was choking on water. Everything was fading out of sight. That was until I thought I saw Trunks before a sudden flash threw me back.

Surrounded by darkness, all I could hear is an evil laugh and a sinner voice speaking. "You'll never see them again. You lost." Then pink smoke swirled around me. A shadow of my brother appeared. I tried to reach for his hand, but he pulls away from me. He, too, becomes smoke and a sharp bowl hits my chest.

…

"I then always wake up in a cold sweat at that point." I look up towards Dr. Nicholas in hopes he'll have the answers. But his expressionless face gives me a sense there isn't anything he could do.

"It sounds like you're reliving past trauma that you didn't take time to process. Can you recall anything from your childhood that has some similarities to your nightmares?"

I try to ease into the cough as I look at my cup on the table. "Buu."

"Who is Buu? What has happened recently that could have triggered these nightmares?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "My dad happened to take on a student a few months ago; after that, the nightmares started." He then asked who was this new person. "His name is Uub and is the reborn version of kid Buu," I went to grab my cup. "From my understanding."

"You have yet answered who Buu is. Is there a reason why?"

"Well, Buu now is no more than a friend of the family and is fun to play with." I couldn't even take a spit of tea as I suddenly felt a massive headache and wetness sliding down my face. "When I first met him, he wasn't the fun-loving blob he is today."

"Why are you crying? What happened that day you met him?"

"He showed up on the same day I finally met my dad. Everything was going amazing until everyone had to fight to… to…" The cup broke in my finger. "I'm sorry. I'll—"

"Don't worry about the cup. Please go on about that day."

I looked at the shard glass on the floor as my hands trembled. "I don't think I can." I finally looked up at him and saw that he had placed down his notepad.

"That's perfectly fine, Goten. Please come back next week, and we'll try to get through this together. But you're always free to step into my office before then." I nodded my head before flying out his apartment window.