Only in Her Dreams Read Free Page A

thing.” The doctor sat across from Lucessa. With her notebook and pen in hand, Dr. Applegate was always ready to start right into each session with her clients--even a session that wasn’t officially a session.
    Lucessa relaxed. “Well, thanks.”
    Dr. Applegate looked puzzled. “I’m surprised to see you today. I thought we were both comfortable with you moving on from therapy. It’s been six weeks, correct?”
    It was true. They had agreed almost six weeks prior that, as a grief counselor, Dr. Applegate had done all she could for Lucessa. She’d given her the tools to handle her grief and move forward in her life. The doctor was the only person she’d spoken to about Greg’s death, her mother’s sickness, and the car crash that took the life of her father. Well, besides Julie.
    Lucessa decided to break the silence and possibly provoke her psychologist to refer her to the psych ward at the local hospital. “I started seeing the man again.” The words tumbled from her mouth in a rush. Again, her finger sought the comfort of the defect in the couch.
    “We talked about this, Lucessa.” Dr. Applegate spoke slowly, pronouncing every word as if she were explaining the need for brushing one’s teeth to a toddler. “You knew the likelihood that you would dream about him again was fairly high. When a person like yourself conjures such an image,” she paused, “these figments of your imagination...that is a better term, are often there to take on a protective role in one’s life and act as a safeguard when one feels alone or vulnerable.”
    Dr. Applegate set her pen down on her pad of paper, apparently uninterested in recording anything further from Lucessa’s unofficial session.
    “No, I mean I actually saw him. At the coffee shop. He was wearing the same clothes from my dreams, and had the same intense stare.”
    With a lift of one meticulously groomed eyebrow, Dr. Applegate asked, “How did you react?”
    She asked the question as if she hadn’t heard a word Lucessa had said. As if she didn’t think Lucessa was crazy.
    “I was shocked, of course. I just stared. I felt paralyzed,” she sighed. Her shoulders slumped; a large weight settling on her. In the past, her appointments with Dr. Applegate had helped her put her life in perspective, ridding her of doubt, confusion, and loneliness. This session was different.
    “Then what happened? Did he speak to you?”
    “No, he got up and left, just like that. Not a word.” Standing, Lucessa began pacing the small room. “He’s haunted me since my father’s death, and when I come face-to-face with him, he walks out.”
    Dr. Applegate’s brow scrunched. “Why didn’t you approach him ?”
    “I-I-I couldn’t.” Lucessa took her seat, defeated. The idea was ludicrous. She didn’t relish the idea of making a fool of herself. What if she’d been imagining him? The seat could’ve been empty. She would’ve been talking to thin air. It was safer--easier--to sit and talk this through with a professional.
    “Then we’re right where we started,” she said, as she made to rise from her chair, officially ending the non-session.
    With a slight twisting in her belly, Lucessa realized the woman was right. She had the opportunity to find out who the man was and what he wanted with her. But she’d frozen, unable to ask a single question--resolving nothing. He was gone, but she had a sinking feeling he’d be back.
     
    # # #
     
    “What do you mean she recognized you?” Guy’s voice echoed through the room.
    “I mean she stared right at me, Guy!” Spittle flew from Maxim’s mouth, landing among the papers scattered across the large desk. He didn’t usually address his brother in such an informal way. “I thought you said humans do not remember when we visit in their dreams.”
    “They don’t.”
    “She clearly recognized me.”
    “That is impossible.” Guy rose from his seat behind his desk and walked to stand in front of the fire. His eyes gazed