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Broken World Part 5
20
In his private office, David heard his wife scream. He knocked over his chair as he jumped to his feet and rushed out of his office. He thrust his shoulder against the bedroom door and it opened to a horror scene. The mirror mounted on the back of their dresser drawer had been shattered, the lamps on the bedside tables had been tossed across the room. The blankets and sheets were ripped from the bed. The mattress was propped up against the wall with the blankets and sheets in a pile under it. He looked around the room, but he didn’t see Sarah.
He saw the sheets move, and he stepped towards them. He slowly pulled back the sheets and blankets. Sarah held up her .45, pointed at him with the hammer cocked back. Tears rolled down her cheeks with eyes not really seeing him. David held up his hands and whispered her name softly. He slowly backed out of their bedroom. In the hallway, he pulled out his cellphone.
“Dr. Baines, I need you to come to the house. I think Sarah has suffered through a night terror. She is in the corner of our bedroom with her .45 out. Please, hurry,” David slipped the cellphone in his pocket, as he stepped back into their bed room.
With his hands out in front of him, David slowly approached Sarah. She held the .45 out in front her, crying and shaking with fear. She glared at her husband, but her eyes didn’t appear to recognize him. He carefully squatted down in front of her.
“Sarah, baby, it’s okay,” he whispered as he reached for her.
“DON’T TOUCH ME! I WILL KILL YOU!” she yelled.
“Sarah, it’s your husband, David. Please, lower your gun,” begged David.
“David?” she slowly lowered the pistol.
“Yes, it’s me. You had a night terror,” he held out his hand and she slowly placed the pistol in his hand.
“I’m so scared,” she cried.
“I know, honey,” he set the pistol to the side.
He took her by the hand and they stood to their feet. She collapsed into his arms. He gently carried her into the guest bedroom and laid her in the bed.
21
David closed the guest bedroom door as he backed out into the hallway. Dr. Baines stood in the hallway with his hand on his chin. Dr. Baines received his message and immediately drove to the Mitchell’s house. David looked at the doctor while he leaned against the wall.
“The sedative I gave her should keep her out for about twelve hours. Did you get her prescription filled yet?" asked Dr. Baines.
“Not yet.”
“Get it filled as quick as possible. It will help immensely,” said Dr. Baines.
“I need to clean the destruction she created in our bedroom,” David stepped towards their bedroom.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?” asked David.
“It might be the realization that she needs to start up her sessions with me once more. Can you take time off from the DA’s office?”
“Yes.”
“Good. She needs you now more than ever,” suggested Dr. Baines.
22
Six weeks later…
The last six weeks saw Sarah Mitchell attend to her therapy sessions three times a week with Dr. Edward Baines. During those therapy sessions, she slowly opened up to her doctor about her life in the military and her life in general. Dr. Baines wanted to persuade her to discuss her deployment in Afghanistan because he felt that was where she suffered the trauma that caused her PTSD. She didn’t want to discuss it freely and he didn’t want to push her. However, he knew that if she wanted to be truly healed that she needed to discuss what happened to her overseas. A colleague of Dr. Baines suggested that Sarah might be refusing to discuss the traumatic event because she might not even remember what happened to her. In one of their sessions, he suggested to Sarah that hypnosis what benefit in helping her to recall any traumatic events her mind might’ve blocked. Her only response to his request was that she’d consider it.
Sarah pulled her SUV onto the parking lot for the World of Fitness. She parked her car, grabbed her gym bag and headed towards the main entrance of the fitness center. She pointed her keys towards her SUV while she walked across the parking lot. She pressed a button and her car lights flashed and it beeped once. Before her most recent deployment, Sarah seldom locked her car, but for some reason that had changed.
After a thirty-minute cardio workout, she showered and walked next door to Books by the Billions. She walked down the center aisle of the bookstore, looking for the medical reference section. She found the section a couple of rows from the racks of magazines at the back of the bookstore. She leisurely strolled down the row of medical reference books, reading each individual book title until she found the one she searched after. She picked up the book titled “Coping with PTSD” and she flipped through the pages. While she looked at the book her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Hello?” she said into her smart phone.
“Sarah, it’s Tanya.”
“Hey, Tanya. How’s it going?” Sarah said softly while she walked down the aisle.
“It’s going great. I wanted to see if you wanted to meet for some coffee?”
“Sounds good. Where and when?” questioned Sarah.
“Well, I am standing in the café of Books by the Billions. Do you want to meet there in, say thirty minutes?”
“Funny you should suggest that. I’m walking down the center aisle of that store, headed to the café. See you in one minute,” laughed Sarah.
Little did Sarah know, but someone had been following her for the last few days.
23
Cody Post pulled his motorcycle to a stop and he pulled off his closed-face helmet. He set the helmet on the handle-bars of his black and silver Ninja motorcycle as he climbed off it. His leather boots crunched gravel while he walked up to the entrance of the business known to the locals in Lake Shore as The Gentlemen’s Paradise. Very few people knew that this club was a front for a more dangerous enterprise.
Cody pressed the passcode on the keypad beside the glass double doors and he heard a click. He stepped through the double doors and he nodded to the guard that stood beside the doors. He quickly frisked Cody and motioned for him to continue down the corridor. The corridor led to the dance floor, but he quickly walked across the floor to a door behind the bar. It was still early in the day and the dance floor was empty, but the bartender stood behind the bar. He didn’t speak to the bartender as he stepped through the door behind the bar and descended down a set of stairs to the basement offices.
He tapped his knuckle on the glass door for the first office on the right. The large, muscular man that sat behind a desk motioned for Cody to enter the room. He spoke on a cell phone as he pointed to a chair in front of his desk. He pressed a button on his phone and set it on his desk. He leaned back in his chair with his massive hands clasped behind his head.
“What’s the latest?” questioned Mark Sweren, He stood at six feet five inches and he weighed a muscular two hundred thirty-nine pounds. The forty-three-year-old drug dealer had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a tight-fitting silk Armani suit.
“I’ve followed her the last few days and nothing seems to be out of place,” answered Cody. He stood at six feet two inches and he weighed two hundred twelve pounds. The twenty-nine-year-old private investigator had black hair and green eyes.
“Are you certain she hasn’t said anything to anyone, especially to her husband?” asked Mark.
“I haven’t heard anything over the bugs I planted in their house. She doesn’t go to many places. She goes to the grocery store, her therapy sessions, and back home. Today she went to the gym and to a bookstore. She sat in the bookstore’s café for nearly an hour talking to some girl.”
“What did the two women talk about?” wondered Mark.
“Nothing of importance.”
“What did they talk about?” Mark asked once again.
“Growing up. Apparently, they have been friends for a long time. They talked about how missed getting together and having a girl’s night. They planned to get together this weekend. Boring stuff.”
“What has she been saying to this…shrink?” questioned Mark.
“Dr. Baines?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. What has she been telling him?” asked Mark.
“To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get into his office to place some bugs.”
“So, it’s possible that she’s told him everything about what she discovered over in Afghanistan,” Mark stood to his feet.
“Yeah, I guess it’s possible, but doubtful.”
“Doubtful, you say?” Mark sat on the edge of his desk facing Cody.
“Yeah, I doubt she’s told him anything.”
“How can you be so certain?” questioned Mark.
“Because my connection with the National Guard unit out of Ruston haven’t said anything about a CID agent in town asking questions.”
“We need to know for certain she hasn’t said a word to her shrink,” Mark stood to his feet and he walked up to a bookshelf against one of the walls in his office. “I’ve built this business from nothing, just allow some little nosy army lieutenant to wreck it. I want to know for sure whether not she’s said anything.”
“And if she has?” Cody stood to his feet.
“Make her disappear,” answered Mark.
24
For the last six weeks, David Mitchell had placed his career on hold. He took some time away from work to aid Sarah in her treatment. During those six weeks, DA Leroy Smith stepped down from his position to concentrate on his bid for Governor of Louisiana. The mayor appointed David as interim DA until a special election could be held, so as soon as David returned to work he was swamped with work.
On the second day of his return to work, David sat at his desk reading a file, MPD Homicide Detective Kyle Burton sat in a chair in front of his desk. Detective Burton stood at five feet eleven inches and he weighed one hundred seventy-two pounds. The twenty-nine-year-old Midland Police Department homicide detective had brown hair and hazel eyes. He sipped coffee from a traveler’s mug while he waited on David.
“I though all you handled was homicides? Why are you investigating a robbery?” asked David.
“Believe it or not, Midland has been a little slow on murdering itself here lately. Besides, the department is called Robbery and Homicide. What do ya think?” the homicide detective pointed at the file in David’s hand.
“Evidence you have against your potential suspect is slim. According to the background check you ran, he doesn’t have a criminal past. I didn’t see a list of witness or anyone that might be able to place at the crime scene. This is flimsy,” David closed the file and handed it to Kyle.
“I am not asking for you to file charges. Yet. I just want to know if I have enough for a judge to sign off on a search warrant.”
“Have you check with a couple of the pawn shops around Midland and West Midland, maybe even as far out as Baker or Townsville?” questioned David.
“Now you sound like my lieutenant.”
“Smart man. Get one or two of the pawn shop owners say they saw your suspect pawning some high-priced items and I will get your warrant for you,” suggested David.
Detective Burton cursed under his breath as he stood to his feet and exited David’s office. David stood to his feet and walked up to a counter with a coffee pot and some cups on it. He poured some coffee, sugar and hazelnut creamer in a cup and stirred it. Someone knocked on his door as he turned towards his desk. He sighed a breath of annoyance at the interruption while he walked up to the office door. He opened the door to see Dr. Baines standing in the hall.
“Dr. Baines, to what do I owe this pleasure? Is everything alright with Sarah?” David opened the door wider so Dr. Baines could enter his office.
“She is doing better, but there is something I’d like to discuss with you. If you have the time.”
“Sure,” David closed his office door. “I always have time to discuss Sarah’s treatment,” he motioned to a chair in front of his desk. “You want some coffee?”
“No. I am fine,” Dr. Baines sat in the chair.
“What do you want to discuss?” David sat on the edge of his desk, facing Dr. Baines.
“For the last six weeks I have seen Sarah open up more with each session. However, the one thing she will not talk about is her last deployment.”
“Why is it important that she talks about her last deployment?” wondered David.
“Because I believe that’s when the trauma happened. If she doesn’t talk about it, she will never get past it.
“What do you suggest I do?” questioned David.
“It’s possible that she doesn’t even remember the traumatic event that happened to her.”
“Wait. How is that even possible?” asked David.
“Sometime when an event is so traumatic, our brains will do whatever it takes to protect us. One of the things that our brains choose to do in a traumatic situation is block it completely from our memories so we can’t recall it and live it over and over.”
“If Sarah’s brain has blocked a traumatic event from her memory, how is she supposed to talk about it, if she can’t remember it?” asked David.
“I can try to retrieve the memory through hypnosis.”
“Are you talking about hypnotizing her?” wondered David.
“Yes.”
“How will that help?” asked David.
“Well, simply put, hypnosis provides controlled access to memories that may otherwise be kept out of consciousness. New uses of hypnosis in the psychotherapy of PTSD victims involve coupling access to the dissociated traumatic memories with positive restricting of those memories,” answered Dr. Baines.
“Okay,” David sipped his coffee and set the cup on his desk. “Example it to me like I am a child.”
“Hypnosis can be used to help patients face and bear a traumatic experience by embedding it in a new context, acknowledging helplessness during the event, and yet linking that experience with re-moralizing memories such as efforts at self-protection, shared affection with friends who were killed, or the ability to control the environment at other times. In this way, hypnosis can be used to provide controlled access to memories that are then placed into a broader perspective. I can’t explain it any simpler than that,” suggested Dr. Baines.
“So, basically you are saying that through hypnosis you can help Sarah face and overcome her traumatic event?”
“Exactly.”
“I think that if it will help her, then she should do it. Did you suggest hypnosis to her?” asked David.
“I did,” replied Dr. Baines.
“And?”
“She said she would consider it,” answered Dr. Baines.
“When was that?”
“Almost two weeks ago,” replied Dr. Baines.
“Let me guess, you want me to talk her into the hypnosis treatment?” asked David.
“It will be the best way to help get past the traumatic event.”
“I will try my best.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Dr. Baines stood to his feet.
“Thank you, Dr. Baines, for all that you’re doing for her.”
“You bet,” Dr. Baines shook his hand and he exited his office.
25
“Your meds screw with your sex drive?” Tanya Anderson asked Sarah Mitchell while they sat in a corner booth of the crowded Cowboy’s Night Out.
“Say it a little louder. I don’t think Tim heard you,” Sarah motioned to the bartender.
Before her last deployment to Afghanistan, Sarah and Tanya met at the country bar on the skirts of West Midland on Highway 80. However, since her return, they haven’t had a girl’s night out. Sarah hated to admit it, but she missed it. Her and Tanya had been friends a long time, but Sarah never considered herself a girly girl. She liked to hunt, fish, camping…pretty much anything outdoors, where Tanya was more into the night life. She felt she could always talk to Tanya about things she couldn’t talk to David. Now she used this time to complain about her therapy sessions with Dr. Baines.
“So, you and David haven’t had sex since you’ve been back?” asked Tanya.
“No. It’s been a little over two months since I’ve been back. I was over there a year, so it’s been fourteen months since I’ve had sex,” she finished her beer and she motioned for the waitress to bring her another one.
“How long after you return does it usually take before you guys have sex?” questioned Tanya.
“Usually, the night I come home.”
“What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I am thinking about quitting them,” replied Sarah.
“Is that wise?”
“Probably not. I need to get some air, this smoke is killing my eyes,” Sarah stood to her feet and she walked out of the bar.
Tanya didn’t respond as Sarah disappeared through the crowd. She motioned for the waitress to bring her another mixed drink. Sarah wasn’t being honest with her friend. There wasn’t smoke in the bar to burn her eyes, in fact, it was illegal to smoke in the bar. The truth was the crowded bar was beginning to bother her. It had been a week since she quit taking her medication and she could tell the difference. For some reason, she felt paranoid. She needed to step out of the bar, so Tanya couldn’t see her hands twitching.
Sarah stepped out into the cool October night and into the lit parking lot. She started towards her car, but stopped when she heard someone talking. She held her hands out in front of her face and she saw their slight twitches. Did she really hear someone talking or was it a product of whatever was wrong with her? She walked towards the side of the bar and away from the parking lot. She stepped into the darkness and she could hear the talking once again.
At the back of the bar was a door where deliveries to the bar was made and a single light was mounted above the door. Sarah rounded the corner of the bar and she saw a man and woman standing near the dumpster. The woman seemed to be yelling at the man. Sarah turned to leave when she saw the man grab the woman and threw her up against the fence that surrounded the dumpster. Without thinking, she ran towards the couple.
Sarah jumped on the man’s back and began to punch on the side of his head. The woman screamed loudly and she fell to the hard concrete. The man reached for Sarah in an attempt to pull her off his back. Finally, he grabbed her and forced her off him. He staggered and tripped. As he hit the ground, the back of his head slammed against the sharp corner of the bar. The back of his head split open and blood poured from the cut.
The woman jumped to her feet and she ran to him. She fell to her knees and she began to cry. Sarah slowly pulled herself to her feet. She tried to process what had just happened. Her heart began to race as she stared at the blood pooling under the man’s head. She turned and ran across the parking lot to her car. She climbed into it and sspend away.
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In his private office, David heard his wife scream. He knocked over his chair as he jumped to his feet and rushed out of his office. He thrust his shoulder against the bedroom door and it opened to a horror scene. The mirror mounted on the back of their dresser drawer had been shattered, the lamps on the bedside tables had been tossed across the room. The blankets and sheets were ripped from the bed. The mattress was propped up against the wall with the blankets and sheets in a pile under it. He looked around the room, but he didn’t see Sarah.
He saw the sheets move, and he stepped towards them. He slowly pulled back the sheets and blankets. Sarah held up her .45, pointed at him with the hammer cocked back. Tears rolled down her cheeks with eyes not really seeing him. David held up his hands and whispered her name softly. He slowly backed out of their bedroom. In the hallway, he pulled out his cellphone.
“Dr. Baines, I need you to come to the house. I think Sarah has suffered through a night terror. She is in the corner of our bedroom with her .45 out. Please, hurry,” David slipped the cellphone in his pocket, as he stepped back into their bed room.
With his hands out in front of him, David slowly approached Sarah. She held the .45 out in front her, crying and shaking with fear. She glared at her husband, but her eyes didn’t appear to recognize him. He carefully squatted down in front of her.
“Sarah, baby, it’s okay,” he whispered as he reached for her.
“DON’T TOUCH ME! I WILL KILL YOU!” she yelled.
“Sarah, it’s your husband, David. Please, lower your gun,” begged David.
“David?” she slowly lowered the pistol.
“Yes, it’s me. You had a night terror,” he held out his hand and she slowly placed the pistol in his hand.
“I’m so scared,” she cried.
“I know, honey,” he set the pistol to the side.
He took her by the hand and they stood to their feet. She collapsed into his arms. He gently carried her into the guest bedroom and laid her in the bed.
21
David closed the guest bedroom door as he backed out into the hallway. Dr. Baines stood in the hallway with his hand on his chin. Dr. Baines received his message and immediately drove to the Mitchell’s house. David looked at the doctor while he leaned against the wall.
“The sedative I gave her should keep her out for about twelve hours. Did you get her prescription filled yet?" asked Dr. Baines.
“Not yet.”
“Get it filled as quick as possible. It will help immensely,” said Dr. Baines.
“I need to clean the destruction she created in our bedroom,” David stepped towards their bedroom.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?” asked David.
“It might be the realization that she needs to start up her sessions with me once more. Can you take time off from the DA’s office?”
“Yes.”
“Good. She needs you now more than ever,” suggested Dr. Baines.
22
Six weeks later…
The last six weeks saw Sarah Mitchell attend to her therapy sessions three times a week with Dr. Edward Baines. During those therapy sessions, she slowly opened up to her doctor about her life in the military and her life in general. Dr. Baines wanted to persuade her to discuss her deployment in Afghanistan because he felt that was where she suffered the trauma that caused her PTSD. She didn’t want to discuss it freely and he didn’t want to push her. However, he knew that if she wanted to be truly healed that she needed to discuss what happened to her overseas. A colleague of Dr. Baines suggested that Sarah might be refusing to discuss the traumatic event because she might not even remember what happened to her. In one of their sessions, he suggested to Sarah that hypnosis what benefit in helping her to recall any traumatic events her mind might’ve blocked. Her only response to his request was that she’d consider it.
Sarah pulled her SUV onto the parking lot for the World of Fitness. She parked her car, grabbed her gym bag and headed towards the main entrance of the fitness center. She pointed her keys towards her SUV while she walked across the parking lot. She pressed a button and her car lights flashed and it beeped once. Before her most recent deployment, Sarah seldom locked her car, but for some reason that had changed.
After a thirty-minute cardio workout, she showered and walked next door to Books by the Billions. She walked down the center aisle of the bookstore, looking for the medical reference section. She found the section a couple of rows from the racks of magazines at the back of the bookstore. She leisurely strolled down the row of medical reference books, reading each individual book title until she found the one she searched after. She picked up the book titled “Coping with PTSD” and she flipped through the pages. While she looked at the book her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Hello?” she said into her smart phone.
“Sarah, it’s Tanya.”
“Hey, Tanya. How’s it going?” Sarah said softly while she walked down the aisle.
“It’s going great. I wanted to see if you wanted to meet for some coffee?”
“Sounds good. Where and when?” questioned Sarah.
“Well, I am standing in the café of Books by the Billions. Do you want to meet there in, say thirty minutes?”
“Funny you should suggest that. I’m walking down the center aisle of that store, headed to the café. See you in one minute,” laughed Sarah.
Little did Sarah know, but someone had been following her for the last few days.
23
Cody Post pulled his motorcycle to a stop and he pulled off his closed-face helmet. He set the helmet on the handle-bars of his black and silver Ninja motorcycle as he climbed off it. His leather boots crunched gravel while he walked up to the entrance of the business known to the locals in Lake Shore as The Gentlemen’s Paradise. Very few people knew that this club was a front for a more dangerous enterprise.
Cody pressed the passcode on the keypad beside the glass double doors and he heard a click. He stepped through the double doors and he nodded to the guard that stood beside the doors. He quickly frisked Cody and motioned for him to continue down the corridor. The corridor led to the dance floor, but he quickly walked across the floor to a door behind the bar. It was still early in the day and the dance floor was empty, but the bartender stood behind the bar. He didn’t speak to the bartender as he stepped through the door behind the bar and descended down a set of stairs to the basement offices.
He tapped his knuckle on the glass door for the first office on the right. The large, muscular man that sat behind a desk motioned for Cody to enter the room. He spoke on a cell phone as he pointed to a chair in front of his desk. He pressed a button on his phone and set it on his desk. He leaned back in his chair with his massive hands clasped behind his head.
“What’s the latest?” questioned Mark Sweren, He stood at six feet five inches and he weighed a muscular two hundred thirty-nine pounds. The forty-three-year-old drug dealer had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a tight-fitting silk Armani suit.
“I’ve followed her the last few days and nothing seems to be out of place,” answered Cody. He stood at six feet two inches and he weighed two hundred twelve pounds. The twenty-nine-year-old private investigator had black hair and green eyes.
“Are you certain she hasn’t said anything to anyone, especially to her husband?” asked Mark.
“I haven’t heard anything over the bugs I planted in their house. She doesn’t go to many places. She goes to the grocery store, her therapy sessions, and back home. Today she went to the gym and to a bookstore. She sat in the bookstore’s café for nearly an hour talking to some girl.”
“What did the two women talk about?” wondered Mark.
“Nothing of importance.”
“What did they talk about?” Mark asked once again.
“Growing up. Apparently, they have been friends for a long time. They talked about how missed getting together and having a girl’s night. They planned to get together this weekend. Boring stuff.”
“What has she been saying to this…shrink?” questioned Mark.
“Dr. Baines?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. What has she been telling him?” asked Mark.
“To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get into his office to place some bugs.”
“So, it’s possible that she’s told him everything about what she discovered over in Afghanistan,” Mark stood to his feet.
“Yeah, I guess it’s possible, but doubtful.”
“Doubtful, you say?” Mark sat on the edge of his desk facing Cody.
“Yeah, I doubt she’s told him anything.”
“How can you be so certain?” questioned Mark.
“Because my connection with the National Guard unit out of Ruston haven’t said anything about a CID agent in town asking questions.”
“We need to know for certain she hasn’t said a word to her shrink,” Mark stood to his feet and he walked up to a bookshelf against one of the walls in his office. “I’ve built this business from nothing, just allow some little nosy army lieutenant to wreck it. I want to know for sure whether not she’s said anything.”
“And if she has?” Cody stood to his feet.
“Make her disappear,” answered Mark.
24
For the last six weeks, David Mitchell had placed his career on hold. He took some time away from work to aid Sarah in her treatment. During those six weeks, DA Leroy Smith stepped down from his position to concentrate on his bid for Governor of Louisiana. The mayor appointed David as interim DA until a special election could be held, so as soon as David returned to work he was swamped with work.
On the second day of his return to work, David sat at his desk reading a file, MPD Homicide Detective Kyle Burton sat in a chair in front of his desk. Detective Burton stood at five feet eleven inches and he weighed one hundred seventy-two pounds. The twenty-nine-year-old Midland Police Department homicide detective had brown hair and hazel eyes. He sipped coffee from a traveler’s mug while he waited on David.
“I though all you handled was homicides? Why are you investigating a robbery?” asked David.
“Believe it or not, Midland has been a little slow on murdering itself here lately. Besides, the department is called Robbery and Homicide. What do ya think?” the homicide detective pointed at the file in David’s hand.
“Evidence you have against your potential suspect is slim. According to the background check you ran, he doesn’t have a criminal past. I didn’t see a list of witness or anyone that might be able to place at the crime scene. This is flimsy,” David closed the file and handed it to Kyle.
“I am not asking for you to file charges. Yet. I just want to know if I have enough for a judge to sign off on a search warrant.”
“Have you check with a couple of the pawn shops around Midland and West Midland, maybe even as far out as Baker or Townsville?” questioned David.
“Now you sound like my lieutenant.”
“Smart man. Get one or two of the pawn shop owners say they saw your suspect pawning some high-priced items and I will get your warrant for you,” suggested David.
Detective Burton cursed under his breath as he stood to his feet and exited David’s office. David stood to his feet and walked up to a counter with a coffee pot and some cups on it. He poured some coffee, sugar and hazelnut creamer in a cup and stirred it. Someone knocked on his door as he turned towards his desk. He sighed a breath of annoyance at the interruption while he walked up to the office door. He opened the door to see Dr. Baines standing in the hall.
“Dr. Baines, to what do I owe this pleasure? Is everything alright with Sarah?” David opened the door wider so Dr. Baines could enter his office.
“She is doing better, but there is something I’d like to discuss with you. If you have the time.”
“Sure,” David closed his office door. “I always have time to discuss Sarah’s treatment,” he motioned to a chair in front of his desk. “You want some coffee?”
“No. I am fine,” Dr. Baines sat in the chair.
“What do you want to discuss?” David sat on the edge of his desk, facing Dr. Baines.
“For the last six weeks I have seen Sarah open up more with each session. However, the one thing she will not talk about is her last deployment.”
“Why is it important that she talks about her last deployment?” wondered David.
“Because I believe that’s when the trauma happened. If she doesn’t talk about it, she will never get past it.
“What do you suggest I do?” questioned David.
“It’s possible that she doesn’t even remember the traumatic event that happened to her.”
“Wait. How is that even possible?” asked David.
“Sometime when an event is so traumatic, our brains will do whatever it takes to protect us. One of the things that our brains choose to do in a traumatic situation is block it completely from our memories so we can’t recall it and live it over and over.”
“If Sarah’s brain has blocked a traumatic event from her memory, how is she supposed to talk about it, if she can’t remember it?” asked David.
“I can try to retrieve the memory through hypnosis.”
“Are you talking about hypnotizing her?” wondered David.
“Yes.”
“How will that help?” asked David.
“Well, simply put, hypnosis provides controlled access to memories that may otherwise be kept out of consciousness. New uses of hypnosis in the psychotherapy of PTSD victims involve coupling access to the dissociated traumatic memories with positive restricting of those memories,” answered Dr. Baines.
“Okay,” David sipped his coffee and set the cup on his desk. “Example it to me like I am a child.”
“Hypnosis can be used to help patients face and bear a traumatic experience by embedding it in a new context, acknowledging helplessness during the event, and yet linking that experience with re-moralizing memories such as efforts at self-protection, shared affection with friends who were killed, or the ability to control the environment at other times. In this way, hypnosis can be used to provide controlled access to memories that are then placed into a broader perspective. I can’t explain it any simpler than that,” suggested Dr. Baines.
“So, basically you are saying that through hypnosis you can help Sarah face and overcome her traumatic event?”
“Exactly.”
“I think that if it will help her, then she should do it. Did you suggest hypnosis to her?” asked David.
“I did,” replied Dr. Baines.
“And?”
“She said she would consider it,” answered Dr. Baines.
“When was that?”
“Almost two weeks ago,” replied Dr. Baines.
“Let me guess, you want me to talk her into the hypnosis treatment?” asked David.
“It will be the best way to help get past the traumatic event.”
“I will try my best.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Dr. Baines stood to his feet.
“Thank you, Dr. Baines, for all that you’re doing for her.”
“You bet,” Dr. Baines shook his hand and he exited his office.
25
“Your meds screw with your sex drive?” Tanya Anderson asked Sarah Mitchell while they sat in a corner booth of the crowded Cowboy’s Night Out.
“Say it a little louder. I don’t think Tim heard you,” Sarah motioned to the bartender.
Before her last deployment to Afghanistan, Sarah and Tanya met at the country bar on the skirts of West Midland on Highway 80. However, since her return, they haven’t had a girl’s night out. Sarah hated to admit it, but she missed it. Her and Tanya had been friends a long time, but Sarah never considered herself a girly girl. She liked to hunt, fish, camping…pretty much anything outdoors, where Tanya was more into the night life. She felt she could always talk to Tanya about things she couldn’t talk to David. Now she used this time to complain about her therapy sessions with Dr. Baines.
“So, you and David haven’t had sex since you’ve been back?” asked Tanya.
“No. It’s been a little over two months since I’ve been back. I was over there a year, so it’s been fourteen months since I’ve had sex,” she finished her beer and she motioned for the waitress to bring her another one.
“How long after you return does it usually take before you guys have sex?” questioned Tanya.
“Usually, the night I come home.”
“What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I am thinking about quitting them,” replied Sarah.
“Is that wise?”
“Probably not. I need to get some air, this smoke is killing my eyes,” Sarah stood to her feet and she walked out of the bar.
Tanya didn’t respond as Sarah disappeared through the crowd. She motioned for the waitress to bring her another mixed drink. Sarah wasn’t being honest with her friend. There wasn’t smoke in the bar to burn her eyes, in fact, it was illegal to smoke in the bar. The truth was the crowded bar was beginning to bother her. It had been a week since she quit taking her medication and she could tell the difference. For some reason, she felt paranoid. She needed to step out of the bar, so Tanya couldn’t see her hands twitching.
Sarah stepped out into the cool October night and into the lit parking lot. She started towards her car, but stopped when she heard someone talking. She held her hands out in front of her face and she saw their slight twitches. Did she really hear someone talking or was it a product of whatever was wrong with her? She walked towards the side of the bar and away from the parking lot. She stepped into the darkness and she could hear the talking once again.
At the back of the bar was a door where deliveries to the bar was made and a single light was mounted above the door. Sarah rounded the corner of the bar and she saw a man and woman standing near the dumpster. The woman seemed to be yelling at the man. Sarah turned to leave when she saw the man grab the woman and threw her up against the fence that surrounded the dumpster. Without thinking, she ran towards the couple.
Sarah jumped on the man’s back and began to punch on the side of his head. The woman screamed loudly and she fell to the hard concrete. The man reached for Sarah in an attempt to pull her off his back. Finally, he grabbed her and forced her off him. He staggered and tripped. As he hit the ground, the back of his head slammed against the sharp corner of the bar. The back of his head split open and blood poured from the cut.
The woman jumped to her feet and she ran to him. She fell to her knees and she began to cry. Sarah slowly pulled herself to her feet. She tried to process what had just happened. Her heart began to race as she stared at the blood pooling under the man’s head. She turned and ran across the parking lot to her car. She climbed into it and sspend away.
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