I'll Help You Hide From Them

Trust

After not long, I completely drift off, feeling safe with the thought that Dr. Illingworth is watching over me.

I'm mildly surprised when I start dreaming.

At first everything's black but I can hear a chillingly familiar laugh.

"I'm so glad you came back to me lamb. I think you might want to join me for my starter." Shane chuckles as everything starts coming into view. He seems to be wearing a tuxedo of some kind with a growing red stain at the end of his sleeves.

I'm terrified by the fact that I'm tied to a chair, at some disturbing dining table with sharp surgical knives laid out neatly next to me. The rest of the table is nearly laid out with a large worryingly shaped pot with the metal lid still on. To either side of me I can see other people seated at the table. I tug at the ropes binding me when I see my Captain on my left and Ryan to my right. The two of them seem completely blind but are smiling manically.

"Ryan! Laurence! What are you doing here?" I gasp.

"They wanted to try my cooking. I told them they might enjoy this meal. You certainly should." Shane purrs in my ear before biting it.

"N-no! I'm going to put you away!" I growl. "You're not ever going to eat human meat again!"

He pouts mockingly and tugs at my hair to breathe in my neck. "You can be the last thing I'll ever eat and I'll be more than satisfied." He taunts.

I instantly try to struggle to break out but Shane pinches one of my pressure points to get me to freeze up.

"Don't worry lamb, I'm not going to start with you. No one eats lamb as a starter." Shane laughs as he tucks a napkin into my collar to protect my clothes from the food with his other hand.

"Please, s-stop." I plead. "Shane, I know you want to kill me so just do it already." I whimper.

He tuts me quietly. "Don't be so rude, I don't want you dead, I only want to taste you." He tells me, licking my face. "Not to mention, you'll enjoy this starter, you loved his brother." Shane grins before lifting up the metal lid on the pot to reveal Kier's face.

I pounce awake at the sight, completely in tears at the thought that Shane could kill Kier.

"I need to find Kier!" I tell Dr. Illingworth, trying to get up but Luke carefully holds me down.

"It wasn't real Drew, you were dreaming." He keeps telling me.

"He had Kier's head on a plate! He was going to eat him!" I yell.

"You need to know, the correlation between what we see when we're asleep and what is real is more metaphorical than that. I can assure you, Kier is in an academy full of officers and trainee officers. He isn't in any danger. I promise." He tells me.

"I don't believe you!" I snap at him, still trying to get out.

Dr. Illingworth stops me by pinching a pressure point, making me freeze up.

"I can't let you leave unless I'm sure that you won't hurt anyone or get seriously hurt. What will you do if you find Shane? I know that you certainly aren't in a position to arrest him. To be honest, I have doubts that you'll even make it out alive if you did come across him. Please just calm down and we can talk through this." He tells me, waiting for my panicked state to slowly die down before letting go.

"How do you know how to do that?" I ask him quietly.

"I have training in self defence. Think of it this way, a lot of therapists get attacked by patients. Without training, we wouldn't stand a chance." He points out plainly.

I give him a surprised look, concerned by the fact that Shane pinched the same pressure point in the nightmare but it seems to make sense to me so I nod.

"Now, tell me in detail about what happened in your dream." He calmly tells me.

"I was tied to a chair of somekind while Shane was trying to feed me Kier." I honestly tell him.

"Can you remember any other details?" He carefully continues.

I give him an anxious look just thinking about. "There were surgical knives laid out next to me. He had Officer Ryan and Laurence at the table too." I recall. "He stopped me from struggling by going for the same pressure point you just did." I add, knowing that Dr. Illingworth could help me better understand it if I'm just honest with him.

He looks curious. "That's interesting that he did that and it must make it hard for you to trust me enough to admit that. It's very commendable." He praises.

"I just think it's better to be honest. If I don't trust you I'll make sure you'll know." I tell him bluntly.

"Do you trust me then?" He asks.

I give him an observant look, trying to analyse if he's still as trustworthy as I originally thought. I take a while trying to figure out his expression.

He's not at all nervous! Shouldn't he be if one of his patients don't trust him anymore?

No, if he was nervous that would mean he has something to hide. This is just a job to him. He knows that if I don't trust him I'll just be referred to another therapist.

"I trust you Dr. Illingworth." I tell him honestly.

He returns a friendly smile. "Thank you Drew, now let's get back to work."