Chapter 22

Three days passed. Those days felt like thirty years have went by. Carol barely received any sleep the last couple of nights due to her nightmares about evil witches. Cole stayed up with her, cradling her in his arms, the two of them talking amongst themselves until sunrise.

She never spoke of the evil witch. Never described her or anything. Whoever it is remains a mystery. One they hoped the psychologist from Chitow City could help to solve.

They received the call from the village doctor just a few hours ago. He and the psychologist arrived to check on Carol's physical and mental condition. It was there Cole waited with Victor and Carol's brothers in the living room while Rose remained by her niece's side in Carol's bedroom.

The only sound that filled the living room was silence for a while until Victor turned on the radio to bring in some noise while he sat in his chair shearing corn.

Stephen sighed, removing himself from the couch along with Gregory and Joseph. "We're heading out to finish some chores in the barn. Let us know when the doctors are done examining Carol."

Victor said nothing, but nodded while continuing with his work. Cole would've joined them, but he refused to be too far away from Carol. What if she went off, started breaking down in tears? What if she needed him? He was needed here, even though he was sitting in a chair not doing much, he was still needed.

He wished Victor would switch the channel on the radio to something more entertaining. It must be some channel about murder stories or something since someone on there told how a young boy who lived next door to her killed his parents because he grew fed up of their abuse and decided it was high time to end it all for them.

Hearing such stories freaked Cole out more than anything. He wasn't really fond of murder stories and hated the idea of it ever happening in front of him one day. He's glad to never have come close to killing anyone while fighting crime as a ninja, only going so far as to injuring them pretty bad by landing them in the hospital and plans to keep it that way. He prays to the Great Sensei everyday murder never comes into the picture. Not like it did with Buck before the ninja days.

He shook thoughts of that man out of his head, heading inside the kitchen for some water. A minute later, he heard footsteps entering the living room. The doctor stood in front of Victor, preventing Cole from seeing his expressions.

"I do bring good news about Carol's physical health," the doctor said, "It looks like plenty of rest has helped her recover well and she's more than welcomed to start moving around the house more. Just make sure she takes it easy and don't allow her to do any heavy lifting for the next week or two. I'd like for you to bring her down to the clinic next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday will do since those are my less busiest days."

Victor nodded. "Thank you, doctor. We will help her take it easy. What of her mental health?"

"The psychologist is still examining her, but I can't make any promises on how well she's progressing. It's best to keep an eye on her."

The doctor left, leaving Victor to return to his shearing and Cole to just sit there in case he was needed, forcefully listening to the story on the radio.

Two hours passed before the psychologist finally returned from Carol's bedroom, her eyes on Victor's. "Mr. Dominez, I'd like to speak with you in private."

While the two went outside to discuss about Carol, Cole decided to distract himself from overhearing the conversation from the front porch by changing the channel to a different station. He found a comedy channel playing one of his parent's favorite TV shows, That's Life, Joey. He thought it to be pretty funny since he grew up watching it and listen as Joey and his wife Melinda were arguing once again about his brothers always coming over too much. The same argument they have countless other times.

A few minutes later, Victor returned inside, sinking down in his chair, head in his hands. Cole shut off the radio, worried for Carol's father. "Is everything alright?"

For a few minutes, Victor didn't answer. Then he stood up, walked inside the kitchen and removed a bottle of what looked to be whiskey and a small glass from the cabinet and set it on the kitchen table. Cole watched as the older man poured the light brown contents from the bottle and drank half of it from the glass, the liquid burning as it washed down his throat.

Victor seated himself in the chair he stood next to, the whiskey glass half full in one hand, the other placed on his forehead. Cole sat across from him, his worry growing bigger by the second. What exactly did the psychologist say that set him off like this?

Victor sighed, holding up the whiskey bottle. "Can I offer you a glass?"

Cole shook his head. "No, thank you." He never drank alcohol before. He's seen his grandfather drink beer every now and again, but other than that, it was never allowed in the house. And he had no plans to consume any. There were too many worries about Carol right now. "What did the psychologist say? Is there a way we can help Carol? Did she figure anything out?"

"Carol has told you about her nightmares," Victor said, "The ones about the evil witch. It seems she confessed them to the psychologist. For the first few minutes, they talked. She noticed the art in Carol's room and brought up the idea for her to sketch out what her nightmares were about. Carol went on a drawing spree, portraying all her emotions coming from the tips of four different pencils, drawing out every little detail." Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a few sheets of paper and showed them to Cole. "This answers all our questions."

Cole examined the drawings, finally understanding why Carol feared the evil witch in her dreams. It was just as he thought. The witch resembled her mother. Every detail of that terrifying woman's features were accurate. There was no mistaking her.

Rachel is the evil witch. The woman haunting Carol's dreams.

He looked closer, noticing the woman throwing spells at Carol, knocking her down, inflicting harm upon her. Picturing it differently, he finally saw a clear picture. The spells are actually Rachel's hands hitting Carol, hurting her. All this time, Carol has taken abuse from her mother, enough to finally take hold of the dark side of her heart, setting her negative feelings free.

Cole knew something suspicious was going on between Carol and that horrid woman. He didn't realize it was this bad. Only one thought swam through his mind.

Why didn't Carol say anything about this?

Sighing, he looked up at Victor. "I think I'll take that whiskey offer after all."

Nodding, Victor grabbed another small glass from the cabinet and poured the brown liquid, sliding it over to Cole like a bartender in a pub. "Enjoy."

Bringing it up to his lips, Cole drank, almost choking on the contents burning down his throat. It tasted awful, like fire and smoke flaming a person's insides. He rushed over to the sink, turning the cold water on and filled his hands with water, rinsing his mouth out from the taste.

Victor chuckled, patting Cole on the back. "I remember doing this when I was your age. It's alright to try new things and not enjoy them. After a while, you get used to such taste of certain beverages."

Cole finished rinsing his mouth, coughing and clearing his throat. "That is the first and last time I'll ever drink something like whiskey."

"You say that now, but promises are not always kept." Victor sat back down, sighing. "I hate making you stay with us any longer than you have to."

"What do you mean?" Cole asked, seating himself at the table.

"You must return to college in September. We can't rely on you to be here forever. Even Carol knows that."

"I attend Chitow City University. I won't be too far away."

"But it will be a long drive from here to the city. You know that as well as anyone."

"Victor, Carol is more important right now. I have nearly two months before I have to return to school. It doesn't matter what's going on right now, I'm sticking beside Carol through thick and thin. The healing process takes time. And I plan to help her through it. To scare away this evil witch."

I'll do whatever it takes to get Carol through this.

WOW. NOW WE KNOW WHO THE EVIL WITCH IS. I SUPPOSE YOU ALL WERE EXPECTING THAT. AND COLE JUST TRIED HIS FIRST WHISKEY AND HATED EVERY MOMENT OF IT. (I DON'T BELIEVE IN DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, SO I WILL NEVER KNOW AND I DON'T PLAN TO.)

WON'T GET THE CHANCE TOMORROW, BUT I JUST THOUGHT I'D LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT AS OF TOMORROW MARKS SEVEN YEARS OF WRITING ON FANFICTION. WHO KNEW I WOULD STILL BE HERE THAT LONG? ALSO, SUNDAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. JUST THOUGHT YOU GUYS SHOULD KNOW.

NOW I DON'T HAVE ANY REVIEWERS TO THANK SINCE NOBODY'S REVIEWED RECENTLY, BUT ALLOW ME TO THANK THE ONES WHO HAVE FAVORITED AND FOLLOWED THIS STORY. YOU GUYS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT.

Goku275, H3LLF1R3IIOS, NinjagoLover61-9, Psycho-LemonCake, AND The Mayor of Ninjago City. YOU GUYS ROCK!

WELL, UNTIL NEXT TIME. REVIEW, FAVORITE AND FOLLOW.