Author's note: Jesus these past two weeks have been both tiring and amazing. I'm officially done with physical therapy as of this week, (for those who don't know, I injured my knee a few months ago and I've been struggling with it a lot. For those worried, I'm doing a lot better and just have to deal with minor pain every now and then.), my book is being released as of next month, I've been hyping the book up a lot and had to make a phone call this week for something I've wanted to do for two whole years (all good!) You know, I said to myself on New Year's Eve this would be the year I achieve everything I wanted, and so far, it is!
So, I decided to make this one a Touka chapter mainly since we haven't been paying attention to her lately, so here we go! Also I'm adding a phone number in it and I wish to kindly as my fans to never call it because I'm not sure if it is a real number! Also there is some form of hypnotherapy in this and since I'm not a trained professional, I advise no one tries this for safety concerns.
Chapter 12: Am I Going Crazy? Or Was I Always Crazy?
Touka was sitting at her desk in her office, staring off into space as she could hear the constant flood of phones ringing outside her door. Last night was a total blur to her. To be honest, every other night for the past few weeks have been a blur. She had nights where she would go to bed and when she woke up, she was more tired than normal.
That was something she brushed off at first; but last night, she was out for a small walk to clear her head and when she blinked, she completely blacked out. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself sprawled out on her bed. Sheets disarray, a few pillows on the floor, and no memory of how she got home the night before. Was this normal?
Did stress take her mind for a moment and caused her to go on autopilot? It sure as hell wasn't a dream since she remembered feeling the wind blowing against her face. No, it was one thing to go to bed and wake up exhausted; but to blink and wake up the next morning and lose several hours of memory like that is a whole other story: something was wrong.
Knock knock knock!
The sudden knocking on her door startled Touka our of her thoughts.
"E-enter!" she called out. The door opened to reveal Dimaria.
"Mayor White?" she spoke out "You have a meeting with the chief of police in two hours.." Touka groaned at that.
"I'll be there." she waved her hand before beginning to make her way to her water cooler for a drink.
"You're not hung over again are you?" Dimaria pestered a bit agitatedly.
"No." Touka waved "I had a lousy night. I went for a walk and for some odd reason, I can't remember how I got back home." Dimaria looked in concern, this didn't sound good.
"You have to be kidding me." Dimaria deadpanned.
"I'm not." Touka took a sip of water from the small paper cup before adding a small amount of water into it to top it off.
"Are you sure you didn't have anything in your system?" Dimaria asked in concern "Like are you sure you haven-"
"I wasn't on a single substance!" Touka hollered. She let out a groan before making her way back to her seat, sighing in a scared manner.
"I don't know what to do Dimaria." she confessed "Is it from all the politics? All the stress of being the new mayor? Am I going crazy? Was I always crazy?" she sounded scared at that last part. Dimaria made her way over to Touka and took a seat at the chair opposite hers.
"I have no idea what's going on, I'm not a psychologist;" admitted Dimaria "but I think you should look into taking a break from the politics today and schedule an appointment with a psychologist. I have a friend from my days in college who specializes in hypnosis and psychology. He can probably figure out what's going on." Dimaria pulled out her wallet and found a card with a phone number on it. Touka took the card and read to herself:
" Dr.Invel Yura
Call 555-342-4556
134 Lilith Ave apt 304
psychologist and hypnotherapist
Specializes in psychology and hypnotherapy"
"He might be able to help you retrieve your lost memories." Dimaria pointed out. Touka stared at the card numerous times before looking at Dimaria with seriousness.
"Do you really think he can help me?" she asked.
"Man's good." Dimaria reassured "I remember a friend of mine was having some nasty drug abuse going on and Invel managed to hypnotize him to quit."
Touka continued to eyeball the business card, still feeling hesitant over going.
"I'll postpone your meeting with the Chief." explained Dimaria "I'll tell him you contracted the flu and you want to get a doctor's appointment immediately. He'll understand." still hesitant, Touka gave Dimaria a nod as if to give her the go ahead.
#
Touka called Dr.Yura for a private session that afternoon. She found herself in a small office space on the third floor, a large set of windows giving a beautiful view of the city of Oak Town, bookcases with ros of books near a door that lead to a small bathroom. A set of couches and chairs with a coffee table. There was a desk with a large comfy chair nearby and near the window was a coffee maker, filled with fresh coffee and to the side was some snacks such as chocolate chip cookies, fresh fruits, bagels and cream cheese. It was a really nice set up if you asked Touka.
Touka looked around the room and suddenly noticed as a tall, pale young man with pale blue hair, tied back and he wore a set of glasses. This was Dr. Invel Yura.
"Alright Mayor White." Dr. Yura suddenly spoke up "You're here today because you've been having "black outs" lately?"
"That's right." confirmed Touka "I have been waking up a few times more tired than normal; but last night I went for a walk only to have no memory of how I returned home! Dimaria told me that you specialize in hypnotherapy. I was hoping you could help me remember, just in case." Dr.Yura glanced at Touka for a moment to see if she was telling the truth. He's had multiple people come to him over the years saying they were going crazy only to learn it was part of their imagination.
This was different since it was the mayor they were talking about. He took a deep breath and looked at Touka with a serious glance.
"I can put you under hypnosis if you want." he explained "It will be to unlock memories; but I can't guarantee the results. I will be writing everything down so you can learn the results yourself when you awaken."
"That's fine by me!" smiled Touka "I don't care how much it costs! Just as long as I can get some form of peace of mind!"
Tght alright! Calm down please Mayor! I need you to be in a calm frame of mind to work this out." Touka nodded and began to lie down on the couch, taking deep breaths as she did her best to calm herself down.
Dr.Yura made his way to the lights and shut them off as well as placed on the door a sign saying "Hypnotherapy session in progress, do not disturb." on the door. He shut the curtains to give less light into the room and made his way back to the mayor.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"I am." she nodded. Dr. Yura made his way to the nearby armchair and began to open his notebook to write everything down.
"I need you to take a deep breath, slowly. And breath out slowly. That's it... focus your mind onto my voice, feel yourself falling into a deep sleep...breath in and out... continued to follow the sound of my voice..." Touka soon found herself losing consciousness as Dr.Yura continued to guide her through this therapy session.
"Good girl..." he breathed "Touka, can you hear me?"
"Yes." she replied in a monotone like voice.
"Good. Now continue to follow my voice. We are now going to go back to last night... you are outside your house... ready to go for a walk... what happened next?"
"I went for a walk... but... once I reached the corner of the street, I see nothing..."
"No Touka, you see the next street..."
"No, I don't remember reaching the end of the street." Dr.Invel began to write everything down vigorously, realizing something was preventing Touka from remembering.
"Touka, I need you to remember... did something happen while you were on the walk?"
Touka remained silent for a pure moment, as if to refuse to answer Dr.Yura. Dr.Yura looked in concern.
"Touka," he called out "did something happen on your walk?" no response again. Dr. Yura was now becoming worried.
"Touka?! Touka can you hear me?! Mayor White?!"
"She can't hear you fool." her voice suddenly changed to that of a more sinister, and mature voice. Not the dainty and sweet voice she always had. Ice ran through Dr. Yura's veins as he heard that. Dr.Yura watched as Touka opened her eyes, revealing a pale color over her normally brown eyes and she began to sit herself up as she studied the room. Dr.Yura looked in horror.
"So, the fool decided to visit a therapist." Touka replied "I knew the girl was beginning to grow suspicious of me for a while; but I thought it would've been a year or two from now until she figured out everything. Looks like I have to give her proper credit for figuring things out earlier. Or should I give them to you?" Touka looked over to Dr.Yura who stared at her in pure shock and horror, uncertain of how to proceed.
"W-Who the hell are you?!" he spoke out "Where's Mayor White?!"
"Oh so you're not as smart as you appear. I'm feeling rather kind and would like to give you three guesses on who I am. Fail and you die." Dr.Yura looked at this new person with pure fear before it finally hit him.
"Y-you're The White Mage!" he realized "You're the leader of Liberius." the woman called The White Mage clapped her hands in a somewhat sarcastic manner at his realization.
"Hmmm, maybe I discredited you too early." The White Mage replied "I apologize for that."
"Where's Mayor White?" he questioned The White Mage.
"Fast asleep as always." she shrugged "When I take over, I make sure she's put into a state of sleep. Similar to what you just did to wake me up. Which by the way, I'm not very pleased about."
"My God, The White Mage is just a split personality." he breathed "How did you form in the first place?"
"I didn't just form by normal means. I have always been with Touka, since she was born probably. I just bided my time to take over her once elections started. Touka is a woman who can't stand politics or fighting. Ever wonder how she decided to become mayor? I was the one who implanted that thought into her head."
Dr.Yura stood there in complete shock. This had to be the worst case he ever worked with.
"You have to stop all of this!" Dr.Yura spoke out "This isn't your body to control! This belongs to Touka!"
"Oh you really think such petty words would stop me?" she began to stand herself up and make her way to Dr.Yura "I'm not going anywhere. Once this town is Dyed White, I'll move on to the other cities and soon, I'll take on the world, until it's white as a blanket of fresh snow. And don't think you can get away from me, because I have servants everywhere and I will find you and give you rightfully what you-"
SNAP!
Touka's eyes returned to their normal shade of brown and she shook her head a few times, glancing around the room trying to figure out how she got there.
"W-what happened?" she asked "The last thing I remember was lying down on the couch, next thing I know, I'm standing in front of you doctor."
"It's worse than I imagined." Dr.Yura revealed, with a scared expression on his face "You have another personality. An evil one. It's The White Mage." Touka looked at Dr.Yura in pure horror.
"T-The White Mage?!" she swallowed "Are you certain?! I'm The White Mage?!"
"Positive. And she's extremely dangerous. She's been manifesting in you for ages, and started taking control in recent months. I-I'm sorry Mayor White, this is out of my expertise. She's plotting something big; world domination to be exact. I have dealt with cases of Multiple Personalities; but nothing this dangerous. I think it's best you check yourself into a hospital as soon as possible."
Touka swallowed hard at this revelation: she had another personality? And she was planning something dangerous? Touka thought about it for a moment and realized something: even if she went into the hospital, how would everything go in this city without their mayor? Let alone how would her reputation go?
"I can't!" Touka decided"I have a reputation to uphold! I even have a city to care for! The media will go into a frenzy hearing the mayor checked herself into a mental asylum!"
"You have to! The White Mage is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be on the streets!"
"Isn't there another way?"she pleaded "One that I can stay in office and receive treatment?" Dr.Yura looked at Touka, knowing how much this truly meant to her and gave a sigh.
"The only thing I can think of is sending you to a friend of mine. A doctor who specializes at the local hospital as a psychologist and is a member of their board. He could treat you as an out-patient and if asked, you can say you were having a few meetings with the hospital board to improve the budget. I can prescribe some medication to you as well-"
"Anything if it means all will be well!" she smiled "Oh thank you doctor!!!"
"Y-You're welcome." he smiled unevenly "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to close my practice- permanently. And tell my wife and children we're moving. Thank you for your time Mayor." Touka looked at him with pure confusion for a second before realizing what he meant and left the place as he placed a sign that said "Closed Permanently" on the front door of the practice.