Renowned psychiatrist Sebastian Stan is determined to find a way to help his patient work her way through the issues that have brought her to him.
Ellen O'Neil is desperate to find a way to be rid of the nightmares that plague her nights and have b...
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The heat of the day is oppressive. She walks across a field of delicate yellow flowers that stretches as far as the eye can see. The plants are bowing deeply, in need of water to revive their wilting stems. She can hear the constant crunch of the dry grass under her feet; tiny little bugs filling the air above and around her as each step she takes disturbs their rest in the afternoon heat.
She tries to work up enough saliva to wet her mouth and relieve the tightness of thirst in her throat. A drop of sweat runs from her forehead down to the bridge of her nose and into her eye, making her stop for a moment. She uses the back of her hand to wipe at it, only making things worse as the salty sweat that has risen there as well, only adds to her discomfort.
Grabbing the bottom of her t-shirt, she pulls it up and dabs at her eyes, then uses it as a towel to wipe her whole face. Looking upward, she is nearly blinded by the rays of the sun. Taking a deep breath she continues to walk. After a while, she comes to an abrupt stop. Her way is blocked by a tall, white picket fence, where no fence should be. It takes her a moment to process this odd development. She craves water desperately and can think of little else.
Looking left and then right, the fence stretches far and wide in both directions. No way to get around it, she reaches for the gate ... but stops, her hand suspended in the air, lost. She doesn't want to go on. She doesn't want to go through the gate...
"Ellen, this is Dr. Stan. Listen to my voice. You are perfectly safe. Go through the gate and I will be there with you."
Dr. Stan, Sebastian to his friends, has moved his chair to be closer to Ellie as she reclines in the big comfy leather chair. They have reached this gate often, only managing to move forward a couple of times in the 3 months that he has been treating her. He reaches out and takes her hand, resting his fingers lightly on her wrist. Her pulse is racing and her breath is ragged.
"Ellen, open the gate," he urges gently.
She whimpers softly, but pulls the bolt that locks it in place. Pulling on it, a strong breeze that has arisen from nowhere catches the gate and slams it all the way open, hitting the outside of the fence, the resounding 'bang!' making her jump and her skin crawl. A shadow passes over the field and she looks up to see clouds forming at an unnatural rate. Her knees trembling, Ellen takes several steps forward past the fence and shivers, the breeze sweeping across her hot skin and cooling the sweat that has gathered there. Suddenly, she hears the gate slam again and she moans in fear. She knows it has closed and locked behind her and that there is no way out.
Her only choice is in front of her and she continues to walk. No longer able to hear the grass crunching, she looks down to find that there is none beneath her feet. She is walking on a dusty trail. Looking forward she squints, seeing that it stretches on for as far as she can see.
