Children of the Messengers: As Above, So Below...

The First Visitation

"I cannot think of anything else right now..." Marie Dublin muttered frustratingly.

She unconsciously clenched her thighs together while her psychiatrist looked on.

Marie embarrassingly chuckled when she realized he noticed her subtle attempts to quell the aching sensation she had been experiencing for the last few weeks since the first 'visitation'.

Dr. Robert Bergen smiled warmly and leaned back on his chair.

"What do you suggest in that case, Marie? Should I up your meds?" he suggested calmly.

"No! I mean...not if it's unnecessary, Doc. I cannot write when I'm doped up on that shit," she replied evenly.

Dr. Bergen took a deep contemplative breath and clasped his hands together while looking around the room.

His eyes lingered on his metal physics ball display on the shelf right next to him.

As if hearing his thoughts, Marie stood up and fiddled with it.

A loud clicking sound could then be heard as the ball dropped onto the others.

They both watched the back and forth motion of physics taking place as the end balls swung against the middle balls repeatedly.

All else was silent while Dr. Bergen considered his next choice of words before he spoke up again.

"We will have to come up with a viable solution for your...visions, Marie. Your PTSD is at an all-time high and your other conditions are worsening. You're not eating, sleeping, nor are you taking any of my advice to heart--"

"I know, I know, Doc. When I get manic like that, I'm supposed to tell myself...Self? You are safe and you are no longer in danger. Yeah, I get it," she muttered as she flopped back down onto the very cold red leather couch.

The vivid color gave her a headache and oddly, it was making her nauseous at the moment.

She could smell color at times to her shock and it was quite bizarre.

All of it started after the first visitation as she tried to shake the memory from her mind.

She was rubbing her temples while Dr. Bergen watched on.

"I see you are also still suffering from bouts of synesthesia. Have you at least been taking your Prazosin?" he inquired as he busily jotted down a few notes in his tablet.

"...Um. Well, yeah. When I remember--"

"It's very vital that you follow your medication regimen, Marie. Otherwise, I might have to push forward on that decision we discussed a few months back," urged Dr. Bergen.

Marie's eyes widened and soon chuckled humorously.

"You wouldn't dare, Doc. I'm in the middle of a book deal and I'm up to my armpits in an editing nightmare. My sister-in-law has cancer and she needs me to take her to her treatments and let's not forget that I'm the goddamn secretary for my husband's family! They would die without me. That's not even including what the rest of my family would do if my sorry ass was hospitalized. I wouldn't call that a sentence. It would actually be a vacation. Just saying," she laughed cynically.

Dr. Bergen chucked amusingly as well.

"So, it's been on your mind? All it takes is a phone call and it would be done. Sign, sealed, and delivered," he smiled.

Marie's eyebrows raised in subtle surprise.

"Ooh, shit. You were serious, Doc? Psh. I don't think so. Did you just hear what I said? They need me--"

"But what about you, Marie? What do you need? Obviously a vacation but what say you?"

Marie took a deep breath and looked out the window. 

She could see her Ford F-150 parked down below and at the moment wished for nothing more than to be driving away.

"Maybe it's time I told you about the visitation, Doc. Then you can recommend to me what the hell I should do," she responded quietly.

Dr. Bergen quickly flipped his recorder on in his pocket before Marie changed her mind.

But she noticed nonetheless.

She noticed a lot more than usual lately because she already dreamed he was going to do that.

The visitation was more than he realized.

After she explained the whole ordeal, Dr. Bergen was rubbing his own temples and without a care, took his concealed recorder out of his pocket and pushed pause before he placed it on the coffee table between them.

What he said next surprised Marie.

He then took a deep breath before pulling out his phone.

"I'm going to erase all of that, Marie. This cannot get out to the public. At least not yet," he replied worriedly while he started to text message an unknown source.

Marie simply blinked and shook her head in disbelief.

"That is SO not something I wanna be hearing right about now, Doc. Especially from you. So...you're saying I'm not crazy? Is that it?" she scoffed.

While he busily texted, he simply looked up and grinned warmly.

"Not unless the whole soul tribe is crazy, Marie. Welcome to the other side of the spectrum. I'll explain everything to you later. But first...there are some people I need you to meet," he replied.

Marie blinked and suddenly a deep tingling sensation hit her in the pit of her stomach before she simply bent over and vomited into a nearby trashcan.