short stories

pyscho-logist (pt. 2)

Tara wakes up in a puddle of sweat. She's gasping for air, flinging her hands around, trying to find the button for assistance. There. She touches the small red button and slams her palm down on it. A faint buzzing is heard around the room and the lights flicker on. 

From across the hallway, Tara's caregivers Jen and Elijah sprint towards Tara's room, Usain Bolt style. They enter the passcode and step into Tara's room, where she's busy having an asthma attack. Jen reaches for the inhaler near Tara's desk and Elijah sits Tara up, prying her mouth open. Jen uses the inhaler on Tara and then puts it back where she found it. 

Elijah and Jen sit on chairs and wait patiently for Tara to start speaking. 

"Bad dream?" Jen asks, patting Tara on the head. "What was it?" Tara starts panting again, trying to form the words. 

"It was a dream about Toby." Tara begins to cry, as Jen and Elijah exchange looks. 

Elijah was originally Toby's caregiver. But after Toby was released, as he became an adult and was deemed able to take care of himself, he had committed suicide by overdosing on the pills prescribed to him. It was bound to happen, but it still hurt Elijah when he thought about it. He couldn't imagine the pain that Tara had to go through, as Toby was her only companion throughout childhood. 

"And also-" Tara hiccups, "he was in the dream also." This made Jen and Elijah shudder.

He, is what they called Tara's father, as he was not worthy of a name. He had abused Tara as a kid all the way up until she was 14. Tara and Toby were finally sent away to live at the mental hospital when he had brutally murdered their mother. He was messed up. Now, Tara's father would be spending the majority of his life in jail, whilst Tara would be spending many years recovering from the trauma. 

When Tara was first sent here, she would have nightmares every night. It got to the point where Jen moved an inflatable mattress to Tara's room and slept there with her until she felt comfortable in her surroundings. 

In the beginning, she was mute, scared to talk and speak. She would occasionally say a slur of words but that was about it. Tara was diagnosed with severe depression and spontaneous anger issues. She also had a tendency to self harm. Elijah had found out about this when Tara had unknowingly left the bathroom door open. 

Now that Tara was 17, she was brighter and even talked with other patients on game day. But she still had the occasional nightmares, where she would wake up screaming and in need of her inhaler. 

Ever since Toby had died, Elijah vowed to help Tara as much as possible. Toby and Tara's Mom had died sad deaths but Tara deserved to live. She was the families only hope. 

Now Elijah stared at Tara in pity, wondering why such a bright girl with such a bright future deserved to live like this, practically chained to her bed, living like a zombie on depression meds. 

As Tara was telling her nightmare to Jen, Elijah picked up a pen and began to jot down notes in her 'dream journal,' a journal that kept the millions of nightmares that Tara had. All her dreams were weird scenarios, always different scenarios involving her Mom being dead, her father and Toby. 

When Tara was done telling them about the dream, Elijah walked into her bathroom to get the sleeping pills and some bottled water. 

"Here." Elijah muttered, shoving the items into Jen's hand. Jen nodded and began to unscrew the bottle as Elijah took a pill out. Simultaneously, they both turned to Tara.

"Tara, this is a sleeping pill. We'll have you take it, okay?" Tara nodded and Elijah took over the rest.

"Tomorrow, when you're going on your daily walk with Jen, you two can discuss ways to prevent nightmares from happening, alrighty?" Elijah gave Tara a gentle nudge. She nodded and wiped away her remaining tears. 

"Sorry about that." Tara responded. "It doesn't happen that much anymore, but I hate bothering you guys." Tara let out a strangled sob and took the water and placed the pill on her tongue. She downed the water, along with the pill. 

"So are you fine sleeping again?" Jen asked, making sure that Tara was truly alright. Tara gave a small nod and snuggled back into her covers. Jen and Elijah nodded at each other and began to head to the door. 

"We'll see you in the morning then," Elijah muttered, earning a small grunt from Tara. As he closed the door, Jen let out a sigh and practically fell asleep on the way back to their respective rooms. 

In his room, Elijah began to tear up. It pained him to think that this girl had no more close family. Her Father in jail, her Mom and brother dead, there was no one there to catch her when she fell. So Elijah had vowed to help Tara heal and make sure that she had the successful life she deserved. 

It was the very least he could do.