Inside the Shadow

Chapter Thirteen: Chilled me to the bone -POV: Mairi

     "What symptoms are you having?" My new LCPC (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor), Liz Crane spoke calmly already prepared to be taking notes. My mom sat in the room next to me, which I preferred over my dad. I gazed towards her as she nodded me to look towards Crane, forcing me to answer for myself. "I feel as if some sort of inhuman dark being has attached itself to me, and they want to use me for an unimaginable agenda." I blurted out uncontrollably as if something from within had answered Crane's question for me. I leaned back into my wheelchair instead of having been practically in Dr. Crane's face done unintentionally as well. "Alright," she wrote on her notepad, not anything that I could personally see. "Does anyone in your family on either side, have a history of mental health struggles?" Crane implored bringing my Uncle Caleb who had overdosed at the age of thirty-nine to my train of thought. "Yes, her uncle, my husband's brother, he did. He is no longer with us." My mom replied for me understanding that this was an immensely sensitive topic for our entire family.

     "Ok, anyone else that you know of?" Crane muttered as she continued to write down more in her notepad. "No, not that I know of." I said before my mom could vocalize anything else. "Now how are you feeling today?" Crane said as she looked me in the eyes, her blonde bangs hanging over one of her baby blues. "Truthfully, I feel the same as I have since I left the hospital after my accident. They won't leave me alone until I do what they want." I stammered ready for all of this to be concluded. "So would you say that you are seeing these creatures in the room with you now?" Crane spoke as if she were just asking me this question to determine if she truly believed I was actually crazy and was just hallucinating or something. "Well, I guess you could word it that way, but I know these beings are real. I've seen stuff you would never believe." I responded hoping for somebody to just take me seriously or at least protect me from all of this even if they didn't understand why.

     "While I am not yet entirely sure what you are experiencing yet, I can assure you that while it all truly can feel real to you in the moment, I must make you aware that this cannot actually hurt you." Her words let a scoff slip my lips, as any sort of trust that I held for her vanished. "We'll start you off with a few therapy sessions and a prescription for Aripiprazole to help manage your symptoms until we can get you to where you feel back to normal." Crane motioned causing a slight panic because I specifically knew I didn't need to take this medicine, and these beings were focused on controlling me. "Oh, is the medicine necessary? She has never seen these things before, it has been a sudden event." My mom stated as she was on my side and knew that I wouldn't be making this up and that I am not insane. "Mrs. Noble, given her accident, she undoubtedly had a traumatic experience, and with my familiarity with this behavior, I come to see her symptoms being from her having an immensely negative response to the event. These beings, and her supposed encounters started after the incident, so as for now we'll begin with this prescription unless there are no improvements." Crane's words did provide me with some solace because of the fact that I knew the medicine wouldn't help so once they all figure that out I'll be hoping I will be taken seriously.

      "It's alright Mom, we know I won't need them, I know I'm not crazy and these beings are beyond human comprehension." I stammered to my mom attempting to reassure the both of us but the more I spoke, all the more Crane wrote in her notepad, so I decided it was time to shut my fat mouth and to get ourselves out of that place. "Ok, Mairi. Thank you, Dr., Crane", our pharmacy is at the Kroger, we can get it when it comes in." My mom commented quickly as if she also wanted to leave but I wondered if it was because she believed me, or if she didn't and needed to cut this off before it got worse. "Kroger pharmacy, ok, well I will set your next appointment and then you both can be on your way. "Crane replied as she opened a document or something on her computer. I sat there now completely unwilling to speak. I gazed towards the doorway as the outline of a figure appeared behind the semi-see-through door. In a sort of trance, over the sound of Crane and my mom discussing the dates, a different voice shrouded over my mind as if the creature was linked to me cognitively. "We will have you soon enough, your erratic behavior is our first action." The deep tone vibrated my chest like tumultuous music does. I proceeded to close my eyes just considering if everything I was facing could be simply my brain's reaction to what I had been through mentally and physically and was merely the cause for such hallucinations. But it was just a thought too good to be true however, they had attached themselves to me and won't give up without a fight. "Let's go Mairi, we're going home now." My mom's voice brought me to open my eyes, I now saw her standing before me prepared to wheel me out of the building.