The Coma Patient

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

          “Start when you’re ready,” Dr. Welsh said patiently.

          I bit my lip. After a month of heavy discussions and planning my mom set up my first appointment with Dr. Welsh. All for me to realize I really did not want to tell her about it, but at the same time I wanted to let everything fly out. I didn’t want to be crazy, but I didn’t know if I could handle it being real. Handle him being somewhere I can’t see him.

          “I’ve been on edge since the accident,” I finally said.

          “It’s perfectly reasonable for anyone to be nervous after something like that,” she told me.

          The rest of the session was full of that. Me making small sentences about what had been happening and her telling me some shrink-y thing that was somewhat comforting. Not once did I mention Christian. I wouldn’t dare. Once we’d finished she allowed my parents to come in.

          “I think the accident caused a tremendous amount of stress on her. Chastity is just trying to get her life back to the way it was before. She wants to forget about it. I think it would be best for her to continue to have sessions with me, it should help.”

          “What can we do?” my mother asked quickly.

          “Just help her get back into her old routine,” Dr. Welsh replied. “Try and move forward from the accident.” My mom nodded understandingly as a reply.

          “It felt like that whole thing lasted forever,” I groaned laying back on my bed.

          Belle laid her head on my stomach as she flipped through a magazine. “Well at least it’s over with now,” she offered.

          “I have to go back,” I replied.

          “Well you’re not easy to please are you?” she blurted in a high mocking voice. She cleared her throat and sat up, meeting my eyes with curiosity burning in hers. “Can I ask you a question?” Her voice was serious now. I nodded hesitantly. “When you were crying at school…you said something like ‘he promised he’d tell me everything’.” Dread curled in my stomach tightly. “Who is ‘he’?”

          I sat up slowly, raking my hair back. I had to tell someone. No, I had to tell my best friend. “When I was in the coma something happened….I…I don’t know if it was a dream or not but I saw so many things. I met someone.” The words had begun to spill from my mouth without me being able to stop them. “His name was Christian. He showed me these memories and he was helping me.”

          “Oh my gosh,” Belle said, her mouth wide. “You have feelings for this guy. You have feelings for a guy that doesn’t exist! Chas, that’s insane.”

“Thanks, Belle, because I needed my best friend to reaffirm the fact that I’m certifiably insane,” I replied sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, Chastity, but you sprung this crazy fucking story on me and I don’t know how to deal with it! You can’t just…you can’t expect me to act like it isn’t outrageous!”

          I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “You don’t think I know that?” I asked. “Gosh, Belle, of course I do. I know how stupid it is to believe that this could possibly be real. I know that it’s crazy to believe in a guy from a dream I had while in a coma. I just can’t believe that it’s not real! You weren’t there. You didn’t see him. You didn’t experience that. But I did. I felt every moment of it and I remember those things.”