Chapter 3

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Two days later we were sat in the waiting room of the doctors. The cold, hard chairs stucked to my butt and i cursed myself for not wearing longer shorts or pants. It was hot. Really hot. The doors were open and all the windows and the air con was on but people were still grabbing 'How to recognise the flu' leaflets from the table and wafting themselves. We sat on the back row of seats waiting for my name to be called.
"Don't be nervous" Dan said.
"Do I look nervous?" I asked.
"Not particularly but it'll be okay" He laughed.
"Who wants a game of 'Guess their life story'?" asked Phil.
"Yes! Okay, the woman over there with the sad looking child picking its nose" I pointed discreetly to a large woman wearing a brown knitted cardigan and green velvet looking skirt.
"The one with the floral hat?" Dan asked.
"Yeah"
"Well, she's grown up in London all her life, lives in a small flat. The child is her nephew. Her husband left her for a dancer 15 years ago and she now surrounds herself with floral printed clothes and birds" He said, "I'm just guessing"
"Pretty good" I laughed, "Now you have to go ask her about her life story"
"We're here to get you sorted not to ask old woman about their life stories" He laughed.
"He's just scared of being kicked out" Phil whispered to me and I giggled.

"Sophie Howell-Lester. Room 15" The receptionist called out. We walked down the hallway and into Room 15. The doctor was sat at a large wooden desk which was covered in papers and other equipment.
"Ah Sophie, please sit down" He said pointing to three cold, hard chairs sat in front of him, "So what is the issue?"
"Well, we adopted Sophie about a year ago and since she came to us she's been having these nightmares and they've increasingly gotten a lot more real and freaking her out a lot more" Dan spoke for me.
"How long have you been having these Sophie?" He asked.
"Since I can remember" I replied.
"Can you recall information from your dreams? If I were to ask then would you be able to tell me point for point your most recent one?" He asked. I thought about holding his dying hand, the funeral, that night.
"Yes"
"And do you fall back asleep easily after you have these dreams?"
"No, I just read or do something else" I said.
"What time do these nightmares happen?" He asked.
"Generally around 4-6am" I said.
"Right okay, so from what you're telling me this sounds like a Nightmare disorder which doctors call Parasomnia. This is basically when you're worried or distressed about something in the daytime and it causes disturbances when you sleep. There is nothing I can give you but to help but to make them less frequent make sure you get enough sleep, you have a relaxing bed time routine and you manage your stress" He said. I was taking all of this in. I suddenly felt more as ease that I knew what this was and how to help fix it, "What's been stressing you out?"
"Well, recently I was in hospital for a week or so and this was the focus point of her last dream" Phil said grabbing my hand.
"So now that that part is over, these dreams should become less frequent or less real" He said.

We left the Doctors feeling happier. I was so glad I knew what these were.

xxx

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