Chapter Five - Details

Melony and I walked to what looked to be an office. "I thought you'd appreciate not having to lay in that cot.", she said as she walked into the room. She gestured to one of two comfortable looking chairs facing the desk. On the other side of the desk was another chair a bit more lavish than the other two. I saw her walk over to it while I sat down. I thought she would sit in that bigger chair. Instead she just leaned over and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. She wrote something down and pulled out her wand. She spoke an incantation softly. The paper folded itself up and flew away like a bird.

"It just says that you're with me and that we're having a private conversation here. Not to disturb us." She shut the door. Melony adjusted the chair next to mine to be facing me and sat down. I quickly readjusted my chair to mirror hers.

"This office has privacy wards. No one outside this room will be able to hear us."

She made a gesture with her wand and summoned the remaining parchment and quill. She cast another spell I didn't recognize, and the quill and parchment took on a life of its own. That must be how she's going to record what I say.

Melony smiled her signature soft smile and spoke the que, "You can start whenever you're ready."

Thoomp Thoomp Thoomp Thoomp

I took a deep breath.

Thoomp Thoomp Thoomp

And another breath.

Thoomp Thoomp

I closed my eyes and began.

"Mike and I were outside playing. I had dropped my bag under a street lamp by accident. It had my wand, so I was about to go and grab it." I used details I remembered from my dream to come up with a plausible story. "I was about to come around to the front of my house when I heard the sound of apparition. With everything that happened last year in school, I decided to hide at the side of my house while I waited to see who it was. There were three of them." I paused, trying to think if I remembered anything about their appearance.

"There were three men. They wore black robes with hoods. It mostly covered their faces." From my angle in the dream, it was hard to see much of their appearances, but I did remember their clothes when I thought back.

"Mike asked me who they were. I tried to quiet him, but it got their attention. They ran toward us, and so I grabbed Mike and ran the other way…"

I continued my story with as much detail as possible. By the time I was done, I could barely speak anymore. Throughout my retelling, I had found myself lost in the smallest details. I had to stop a lot. The images I was conjuring up felt too real. I could feel myself trembling. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins at the perceived threat. Melony would try to calm me down and tell me I'm safe. She'd insist that I could stop. But I couldn't stop. And so I'd gather myself and continue. I needed her to hear it all, as if telling her would make all of it not mine anymore.

Melony had listened. I wonder if it was wrong of me to dump all of this on her.

"That's it.", I concluded. The enchanted quill stopped writing, its task completed. Melony disanimated the quill and carefully slid the parchment into an envelope. She was at the desk again. When did she get up?

"So, are we done?" I felt exhausted and just wanted to go lay down.

"If you want to be. But if I may ask… You described what happened, but you never mentioned how you felt." Melony sat back down.

"Well, it hurt.", I said, as if that was obvious. "I was terrified. I felt alone… I felt hopeless."

"Some of the ways you described things weren't from your perspective. Did you feel like you were outside of your body?"

I actually laughed. You could say that, I thought.

Melony raised her eyebrow at my oddly timed laughter. She probably wanted me to explain that. I didn't. Instead I replied, "Maybe".

"We will talk about this more, but we have been here for two hours already. You need to eat dinner and get some sleep."

Hmmph, more sleep? I've been sleeping 18 hours a day. Nothing else to do. Looking at Melony now, I think she needed the rest more than me.

"I don't want to see the mind healer.", I said conclusively.

"I'll see what I can do.", she assured. Together we walked back to my cot. I felt drained.

Even after eating and taking another calming draft, I couldn't fall asleep. The images I had conjured up were still flashing behind my eyes. I likely would have been up all night if Melony hadn't come in and given me a dreamless sleep potion. I didn't even need to ask for it.