Chapter 2-1

"So, Evelyn..." Dr Patel began as she placed the steaming hot cup of coffee down onto the table in front of me, smiling comfortingly whilst settling into her favourite mustard armchair, "Why the surprise visit? Your next session wasn't scheduled till Tuesday." I sat forward, lacing my fingers together nervously as soft classical music trickled through from the kitchen. I was struggling to come up with a way to broach the subject, "I--ugh, I was actually hoping you could clear some stuff up for me... about the recent medication change you put me on?" "Of course," She replied surprised, sipping her coffee, "Fire away." Dr Patel had been my therapist for three years now. Initially, I was issued court mandated counselling in the UK after my discharge. It went well for the first few months, however upon my decision to relocate to the states I was promptly forgotten about by the British government and left to fend for myself. A couple of months into the move, I was barely able to function day-to-day without some sort of help. After much deliberation, I finally bit the bullet and utilised my significant hush-money to invest in a decent private therapist. Three and a bit years later, there I was. Sat in a well-dressed woman's New York townhouse, sipping well-made coffee and talking about my feelings for the umpteenth time. Eighteen-year-old me would have laughed at the thought. Dr Zayla Patel was a shorth, slender woman in her late fifties. She had cropped black hair and dressed smartly even when home alone. She immigrated from India with her parents in the 1980's and built herself a rather distinguished career before marrying and having children, both of which had since grown and moved on to college to build a life of their own. Dr Patel's husband was an architect, and between them they owned a town house in Manhattan that she worked out of. She felt offices could become too clinical, and therefore preferred to deal with her patients from the comfort of her own home; and it worked. In the years I'd spent visiting her and working on everything that was going on, it had weirdly brought me some comfort to associate such a homely place with healing. It was a safe haven, and I'd gradually built enough trust with Dr Patel to open up about a fair few things. Things I never thought I'd talk about. Of course, I couldn't bring up all the details for confidentiality reasons, but she got the general idea of what my previous line of work entailed. "I was just wondering with the lowering of the dosage, is it possible previous symptoms that weren't there originally could-- I don't know... manifest? Stuff that wasn't a problem before?" I asked, knowingly skirting around the issue. I'd been doing so well, and openly admitting that I was seeing things would set me back further than when I first started. Saying it aloud meant that it was real. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What sort of symptoms?" I picked up my cup and took a tentative sip, sitting up straighter in my seat as I paused to answer. Here goes nothing... "Is it possible you could hallucinate? As in, see things that aren't there?" Her face grew stern, "Evelyn, what happened?" "... I got mugged on Thursday." Her eyes widened in genuine concern, "Oh Sweetheart, I'm sorry—" "—It's fine, I'm okay," I interjected as she went to reach for my hand, "I got away, it's fine. It's just that... when it happened, I could've sworn that I saw the guy's face sort of... contort?" She blinked quizzically, placing her cup down on the coffee table between us before leaning back in her seat, "What do you mean contort?" "I mean it sort of changed into... a creature. With--" I explained, drawing blank as I subconsciously put down the cup and brought my hands up to my mouth; motion teeth with my two index fingers, "--fangs." I eventually realised what I was doing and awkwardly brought them down. Her eyebrows remained furrowed in thought, but she was calm as always, "That's mad... right?" It took a second, but she shook her head, "I'll give it to you, it is a bit of a strange one. But Evelyn, this was a pretty traumatic event. The first violent one I'd bet you've had in years. You need to remember that you're still recovering, and your mind is still fragile. Hallucinations are a symptom of PTSD, and it is pretty common." "But vampires? Surely, I should be imagining guns and bombsites-- not monsters that want to suck my blood?" "The brain is a strange thing. But you've been doing so well. Don't let this be a setback you can't get over. Have you seen anything since?" She enquired as I took another gulp of coffee. I shook my head in reply, "No, nothing. Well, nothing I'm aware of anyway..." "Okay, well we're going to keep an eye on this and make sure it's not a reoccurring event. Chances are with the progress you've been making in the last year it was just one set-back," She reassured, "I'm going to keep you on the lower dosage for now and see where we are in a couple of weeks, how does that sound?" I nodded, "...Yeah, that sounds good." "Great," she smiled, jotting down some notes in her book that she kept on a nearby side table, "Have you been keeping up with your dosages?" "Yeah," I nodded automatically, thinking back over the past week before blanking in sudden realisation, "Although... I may have forgotten a couple of days." She paused her writing, "How much is a couple?" I hissed slightly in guilt, "Like a solid four days..." "Evelyn..." She began to scold, putting her pen down in order to speak to me fully, "We've talked about this. You need to make more of an effort to take your pills. That probably contributed quite heavily on the episode, you know? Your brain's all out of whack." "I know," I replied shamefully, squeezing the cup in my palms, "Sorry. I've been doing good but with the deadline at work it fully slipped my mind." "Another contributor," She noted, pointing at me with her pen before noting it down, "See it's all coming together now. You've had a bad week, Eve. Just be sure to not let this faze you. You've been doing so well; you might as well see it to the end." I nodded, "Will do." "Now about this attack..." She proceeded, clicking her pen shut and bringing her whole attention back to me, "Have you been to the police?" "No. I haven't." "... Okay. Do you think you'll be going to the police?" "No," I sighed. The chances of anything coming out of my report were slim to none, thanks to the lack of evidence of an attempted mugging. I saw little to no point of getting them involved, "Nothing would come of it." "And if something did?" "Trust me, it wouldn't," I repeated, thinking over the attack and feeling my whole-body shiver from the experience, "Listen in all honesty I just want to forget about the whole thing and move on." She tilted her head to the side, "Okay, it's your decision. Have you told Sophia?" "No." "And why's that?" I felt my face contort slightly in disbelief, "Because she's sixteen, five months into a rough pregnancy and has exams coming up. The last thing she needs is to find out that her only legal guardian in America is one cake short of a tea-party." She sighed, "Okay, if you believe that's best..." I paused beneath her gaze, her eyes boring into mine as my chest began to tighten in frustration, "... You think I should tell her." "No, I think you should go to the police. But I'm your therapist not your parent so I can't tell you what to do. Although do know that if anything like this happens again, it is under my duty of care to report this myself on your behalf. Understood?" "Crystal."