THE TERROR ZONE

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Good morning Kerry. Would you please try to reach George Chatterly on the phone? I would like to know why he missed his appointment yesterday and when his next appointment will be.”

“George is in the waiting room, Doctor.”

“George, I don’t appreciate your latest behavior. I am disappointed that you would miss your appointment without even a call or any notification of any kind. My time is too valuable to waste on someone who isn’t really interested in being helped. Besides, you know that my child’s life depends somewhat on your help, and I need you to be here when you are scheduled. Next time, I will have to take drastic measures and charge you for your appointment whether you show up or not. Do you understand that I cannot condone this kind of behavior?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said George.

I look at him a peculiar way, because he had never called me ma’am before. “All right then, let’s get down to business. Have you had any other dreams?”

“Dreams, ahem,” he said as he cleared his throat. “Yes. Well yes, of course, the dreams.”

“Yes, you’ve had more dreams, or yes you acknowledge the dreams?” I asked, confused by his reaction.

“Yes, I’ve had some dreams,” he said, almost as if asking a question.

“Are you okay, George?”

“What do you mean, Doctor?”

“You seem, I don’t know, distracted or not yourself today. George, why didn’t you show up for your appointment yesterday?” I asked, not wanting to sound apprehensive about his behavior.

“I forgot about it, until Ms. Kerry phoned and left a message reminding me that I had one.”

“How could you forget? I specifically told you I wanted to see you the day before.”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind, what with the dreams and my new brother and all. I guess it just slipped my mind!”

“Of course. How insensitive of me. Forgive me, George.”

“Yeah, sure, Doctor.”

“Let’s begin again, shall we?” I said, as I reached under my desk and flipped on the tape recorder. Can you tell me about these new dreams you’ve been having?”

“I dreamt about three women. They were locked up in a motel, down a laundry chute. They were hungry and close to death”

“We talked about that the day before yesterday, George. Do you remember we went to for a ride and rescued those women?”

“Sure, I remember. I just wanted to add something to the story.”

“Okay, George, go ahead.”

“I know who the fourth woman is. Her name is Angelica Howl. She was married to Mr. Kenneth Howl of the Sarasota Howls.”

“You mean the millionaire that’s all over the news?” I asked.

“Yes. The very same,” said George, matter-of-factly.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier, George? Why now?”

“I just remembered it,” he said, as he looked away from me.

“George, in all the time we’ve been doctor and patient, lets, see now, how long has it been?”

“Several weeks?” said George, almost inquisitorially.

“Yes, Several weeks. You’ve never forgotten anything we’ve discussed much less what was in your dreams. Why do you suppose you forgot Mrs. Howl’s name?”

“Because you didn’t ask me.”

“Okay, George. I am ready to hypnotize you, as we discussed in our last session. Are you ready?”

He looked up at me, as if he didn’t know anything about it, and then agreed.

“Yeah, Doctor, I’m ready.”

“You know the procedure, George. Watch the metronome. Don’t take your eyes off of it. You’re on a warm sandy beach, and the waves are splashing up onto your toes. The sun is shining bright and you are the only one lying there. You are very relaxed, and your eyelids are getting heavy. The only words you hear are mine, and you are falling fast asleep. Are you asleep, George? If you are asleep, nod your head for me.”

He nodded his head and then sat still.

“George, I want you to sit there and enjoy the sunshine on the beach. I’ll be back with you in a minute.” I said, as I reluctantly left the room.

“Kerry, I need to use your phone to check on something.”

“Okeechobee Police Department, Linda speaking. How may we help you?”

“This is Dr. Susan Skyler. I’d like to speak with Officer Beck please.”

“Hold on a minute Dr. Skyler, I’ll try to track him down.”

“Dr. Skyler, what a nice surprise. Why am I so lucky this morning? Don’t tell me you again are being chased?”

“No, nothing like that. I need to ask you some questions about the women found at the old motel. Did Forensics discover who the dead woman was?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Her name was Angelica Howl. She was Jonathan Howl’s wife, the millionaire. Why do you ask?”

“I can’t tell you right now. I don’t have much time. Did the DNA testing come back on Alex Finch and George Chatterly?”

“Yes. Their DNAs were a perfect match, and the dental charts are still being investigated. Their fingerprints are so closely related that it was almost impossible to be certain who is who. I know that sounds unbelievable, but like I said, they’re still working on it.”

“Did they say what she died of?”

“The autopsy shows bruises and blood loss. But they said, let me get the paperwork on her, I want to word it right!” He got back on the phone and said “They said she died of something neurological. Whatever that means.”

“What the hell does that mean, Officer?”

“I’m not sure. Just that something in her brain wasn’t exactly right.”

“Could you please look into it, Officer, and give me a call when you are sure of the results? I’m sorry I have to cut this short, but I need to get back to my client. Good-bye, Officer Beck.” I said, and hung up.

I went back into my office to question my client.

“What do you see, George?”

“I’m taking a bath with a little girl. She wants to play doctor. I tell her no, because we’ll get in trouble. She insists we play. She starts to wash my private area, and mother walks in.

“No,” the little girl yells. “No, don’t hurt him. It was my idea. I wanted to play,” she screamed.

“Mother is dragging me out of the tub as she’s yelling at me. She lets me go, and I slip on the floor and hit my head on the tub. The little girl is crying, and there’s blood everywhere. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” says George as he gasps for air.

“You’re okay George move on. George, calm down and go to when you were being held in your mother’s arms. George,” I said in desperation, as he was almost out of air. “When I say three, George, you will wake up and remember what we’ve talked about but feel absolutely refreshed and relaxed.” Then, I hurried and said the word, “Three.”

“How do you feel, George?”

“I’m winded but fine,” he answered.

“Can you remember any other dreams that involved you being punished?”

“Yes, ma’am, I can.”

“Can you tell me about them?”

“I think our time is up, Doctor,” he said sternly.

“Why, yes, I guess it is,” I said, as I glanced at my watch. “I will see you tomorrow as we scheduled, right, George?”

“Yes, of course, Doctor,” he said and walked out of my office.

When I felt George had left the building, I finally came out of my office, after pacing and feeling like I’d just been violated. “Kerry, I have just had the most frightening experience I’ve ever had involving a client.”

“What happened, Susan? You’re shaking.”

“You know I can’t tell you everything, but I had this terrible feeling, I wasn’t talking to George. He didn’t even talk like George. I think I need to pull out some of my old psychology books and refresh my memory on schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. I thought about it the first time George came into my office, but I shook it off because he had pretty much changed my mind, but today, well, today he scared the heebie jeebies out of me.

“Are you going to be all right Susan?” Here, why don’t you put your sweater on,” said Kerry.

“Thank you, Kerry. What would I do without you? Please remind me to give you a raise, effective next week honey.”

“Sweetie, please clear my schedule for today. I feel ill. I am going home,” I said, as if in a trance.

When I arrived home, I was trembling. I ran a hot bath, downed a sleeping pill and slept until the next morning.