Dr. Rao leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes. He cleared his throat to clear the tightness. “You said he was twelve?”
Dr. Granger had cried her tears when she was alone but felt her eyes prickle after disclosing the story to her colleague. Ben had been wide open during their morning session and she’d managed to get his account of the events leading up to the fateful night so many years ago with very little mental disturbance on Ben’s part. She looked at Dr. Rao and nodded.
“How old was Walter Cosburn?” he asked, unable to shake the image of the young man taking on the older man.
“He was 65 but a big bruiser,” Granger said.
“Shit.” He tapped his fingers against his chin as he thought. “Still it as remarkable Ben was able to open up so completely in the session!”
“His exhaustion from the previous night’s poor sleep may have helped weaken his resistance. He was in a highly receptive state. I was able to plant some suggestions for tomorrow’s session. Now that I know the root cause of the issue I can begin to work on counters for his misconceptions.”
“I’m uncomfortable with the rapidity of your approach. This is something that normally takes months if not years to resolve,” Dr. Rao said with trepidation.
“I’m not looking to cure him overnight. I’m just looking to defuse the time bomb in his psyche so he can build the tools to deal with his issue straight on. The memories cannot remain suppressed and he needs to be able to cope with them when they are exposed. When we last tried hypnotherapy we used a slower schedule and his subconscious resistance to the process built every day and caused him to develop a very antagonistic personality shift. We were just lucky this went away when he stopped the sessions. He reverted to his normal, friendly personality,” she explained.
He looked at her and nodded he understood.
She felt a little better about that. She wanted to fill Hannah in on the fact that they’d had a breakthrough today. Her boss could use a little good news.
Hannah was sitting in the living room at Ben’s place with a large group of neighbors. She was still trying to get used to the new addition. Ben collected strays too easily. This one, Gretchen, was very pretty but seemed more than a little lost and shaky without Ben. Tina and Lucy were doing their best to calm her but Hannah could see she was unraveling. She’d have to talk to Dr. Granger about when she could begin sessions with the woman. Maybe she could get the woman some visiting time with Ben? Unlikely.
“Tina, how are you doing?” she asked.
“We are worried for Ben but we are doing our best to remain brave and hopeful for a full recovery,” she said and Hannah knew her words were for Gretchen’s benefit too. She nodded to the small woman.
“Have you heard anything?” Trish asked anxiously.
Hannah bit her tongue before snapping at her friend. Of course if she’d had any information she would have shared it immediately. Trish knew that. She took a breath and opened her mouth to say it when her cell rang. The room went silent as she pulled it out. “It’s Dr. Granger!”
“Hello!” she said and listened to the woman’s report. The news was good. Remarkably good! She grinned and she felt the others leaning forward. “Thank you so much Dr. Granger! That is wonderful news! I’ll speak with you tomorrow! Thank you again for calling!” She hung up.
“Well?” Trish gasped.
Hannah sighed. “Very good news! Dr. Granger had a breakthrough with Ben today. She had three sessions with him yesterday which wore them both out. Ben had a very bad night sleep due to severe nightmares-”
“Geezus! Where’s the fucking good news in this?” Trish interrupted.
“Trish! Hush! I’m getting to it!” Hannah said in exasperation. The others glared at the redhead and she hushed as directed.
“Likely due to his fatigue, Dr. Granger was able to draw the complete story of the events surrounding his repressed memories! She now knows what is causing them!”
“What? What is it?” Trish asked.
“Trish! She can’t tell us that! Patient / Doctor Confidentiality!” Hannah barked.
“What does this breakthrough mean?” Tina asked.
Hannah turned to her. “It means because she knows what is causing the mental breaks she knows how to treat them! She’ll begin tomorrow!”
Catherine and Chanel had happy tears in their eyes and Cat’s parent’s looked relieved as well.
Beth was grinning at Hannah widely.
Karen and Penny hugged their boyfriends and the twins hugged Trish. There were a lot of smiles in the room after this news.
“When will we be able to see him?” Gretchen asked nervously.
Hannah had been expecting this question and wasn’t surprised who asked it. “I will speak with Dr. Granger after her session with Ben tomorrow to get an update on that. We have to be prepared to give her a little time,” Hannah warned them. Gretchen was trembling and Tina and Lucy’s comforting no longer appeared to be helping.
Hannah sighed tiredly. Truthfully she was exhausted as she hadn’t slept well since Ben had been admitted to her hospital.
“I’m going home to get some much needed sleep. I think everyone should do the same,” Hannah instructed and received nods from the group.
Everyone stood and hugged then made their way home.
Lucy closed and locked the door as the last guest left. She looked back at Tina and Gretchen and sagged with relief and exhaustion. “Hannah is right. We need to get to bed. I have school tomorrow.”
Tina nodded and began moving towards the master bedroom.
Lucy followed and looked back at Gretchen who was still standing in the hall. “Gretchen? Come to bed.” The woman had shared Ben’s bed with them since he’d gone into the hospital.
“I’m not tired so I will stay up a little and use my tablet to read the Internet,” the tall brunette replied. “I will come to bed shortly.
Lucy smiled at her comment about ‘reading the Internet’ and nodded. She turned and followed Tina down the hall.
Gretchen went to the living room and sat on the couch with her tablet. She poked around the websites Lucy had shown her as she kept an eye on the light under the master bedroom door. The moment the light went out, she used the search engine page Lucy had shown her to find a local cab company. She found the number and used the living room phone to order a cab.
She knew Tina left her purse in the kitchen so she walked into the room and took the cash from the wallet. The bank card was there but she didn’t know the PIN code.
Taking a look down the hall she saw the light was still off so she slipped to the front door and put on her coat and boots. She used the spare keys on the hook to lock the door behind herself and ran down the driveway as the taxi pulled around the loop.
“Western Mercy Hospital,” she said to the driver and he got them on their way.
The drive wasn’t long and she sighed with relief as she saw she had enough cash to pay the man. She gave him a bill large enough to cover it and left him the rest as a tip as she exited the taxi. She knew the floor Ben was on but she had to somehow get past the nurse’s station. She made her way into the stairwell and climbed up to his floor. Peeking out the door she saw there was very little traffic in the hall. She waited for the last nurse to return to the station then she slipped out into the hall after taking her boots off. She carried them down the hall, listening for the nurses as she began checking the rooms in her search for Ben. The first three weren’t his but on the fourth she heard his voice so she slipped inside, closing the door behind her and listened.
The room was dimly lit and she heard Ben talking in his sleep. Not more than mumbles but the sounds he was making were unsettling. She rushed across the room and dropped her boots on the floor and dumped her coat on the chair in the corner. She quickly stripped off her clothes and left them on the chair as well.
She pulled back the sheet and climbed up on the bed pulling the sheet back over her as she snuggled in beside him. She felt his large body begin to relax as she trembled against him, her head resting on his chest by his right shoulder.
Ben’s breathing slowed and he rubbed his face against the top of her head.
Gretchen relaxed for the first time in three days. Exhaustion dragged her under but she was content.
Hannah was an early riser and prepared breakfast for her son after she got herself ready for work. She wanted to get in early so she left him a note on the kitchen table with some hugs and kisses all over it and headed out to her car. She drove to the hospital and headed up to see Ben. She stopped at the nurse’s station to get a report. She saw the head nurse was Solange, one of their stars, and smiled. She smiled and nodded to the two other nurses at the station.
“Good morning Solange! How was the patient in 652? I understand he had a hard time the previous night,” she said.
Solange smiled at her boss. The staff were all well aware of the administrator’s interest in this particular patient. “Good morning! He had a much better night last night. Early on he was restless but in subsequent checks he was sleeping like a baby. I was about to go check on him again.”
“That’s ok, I’ll do it,” Hannah said and turned to head down the hall, missing the smiles the nurses traded with each other. They were happy their boss was happy as that made for a much sweeter environment for them.
Hannah made her way down the hall and gently pushed Ben’s door open. Solange was right, Ben was sleeping like a baby. The morning sun was lighting up the window blinds so she could see there was something odd about the sheets on Ben as she walked closer. Then she noticed the black hair poking out from under the sheet.
She froze in shock. “Oh my god!” she gasped aloud and the two occupants of the bed jolted awake.
Gretchen froze and didn’t move but Ben was suddenly aware that he wasn’t alone on the bed. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked over at Hannah.
“What? Who?” he began as Hannah stepped up to the bed and grabbed the sheet. She yanked it down then immediately yanked it back up as she saw Gretchen was naked. She left the woman’s face exposed.
“Gretchen! What are you doing here?!?” Hannah barked.