Doctor's Touch

Chapter 16

A/N: Here's the song Sophie's grandmother used to sing to her whenever she had a nightmare. 

Dreams are such a dirty business, tricking you into believing they'll sanely behave, yet showing their true colors when pupils are closed. Peace is broken most of the time, resulting in endless screams.

"Hush, hush don't say a word

The faint cries can hardly be heard

A storm lies beyond the horizon, barely.

Don't stop Sweep through the days

Like children that can't stay awake

Stay here untainted and say

Stay while the melody's sung

Break like a wave on the run

I do be sure I can't say anymore

I just know that it won't last forever "

I wish I understood back then that nothing ever lasts forever. But to me, these words were just a lullaby, a spell my grandma casted on my mind to lure me to sleep. Again and Again. Whenever the demons' voices were too loud to be kept in my nightmares. It's true, grandma taught me how to escape from lucid dreams, but she forgot to clarify how to outrun nightmares in real life. She forgot to mention how they are plastered everywhere, like owls' eyes watching you from a hidden space. I had to figure it out on my own: you can never run from them, or they'll destroy you as soon as your back is turned.

At this moment, I'm living inside of a recurring nightmare. The waiter comes back holding the food in his hands, his gaze still pinning at me. I can't run. I can't move- just have to pretend my anxiety isn't eating me alive. He hands me my salad delicately, showing off how his shirt is more luxurious than my whole outfit. My teeth clench, tracing a smile barely reaching my ears, while whispering a small "thank you".

The arrogance diffusing from the waiter's attitude reminds me of him to the extent of sensing chills running deep down my muscles. To be honest, I find it funny that, whenever my eyes yearn to the sky, there are always people pulling me down. Just like he always does.

On the eve of my sixteen's birthday, I've decided to become a doctor to help little kids spend more time with their beloved relatives. As naïve as it seems now, this vision gave me the courage to go on and succeed back then. My grades started to pull up leaving the teachers stupefied at the jump. However, the pathway wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. The hardest complication was physics: no matter how hard I'd tried, there were always vanished formulas and dogmas lost in my brain.

The grief trailing behind my loss didn't let me give up, and I eventually got an A. That day, the joy was too overwhelming for a tiny girl like me. So, as soon as classes ended, I ran home to deliver the good news to my mother.

Upon entering the door, a tall figure standing behind the counter caught my attention. I called her out swiftly and shoved my exam's paper into her delicate face. She blinked her eyes twice, surprised by the score and trying to accept that it's really mine. Then, we both squealed in happiness and hugged each other.

"If I've aced physics, it means I can ace anything else. I'll be a doctor, saving lives, stopping people from dying," my voice excitedly spoke.

I should have known at that time that he would be sitting in the corner, watching us exchange dreams only to crash them all. Claps were echoing in the room as he stood up from his place to approach the counter. Slowly, slowly. Creating in his mind endless wicked ways to break his family apart more than he already did.