"Close your eyes. Listen to the sound of my voice. You are calm. You are safe. You are going to remember.”
I am going to throat punch you. Jensen kept her sarcasm to herself, but struggled to keep her dissatisfaction from registering on her face. She spent a good deal of money on this appointment, so she needed to at least attempt to take it seriously.
Her friend recommended that she research hypnotherapy and the benefits for recovering memories and the results were widely varied. Jensen found testimonies that swore that hypnotherapy was the most effective practice in history; she also found several that debunked the whole foundation of hypnotherapy.
Paying for a session was really Jensen’s last ditch effort and her going out on a limb to try to figure out why she was experiencing so many blackouts as of late. Finding a tattoo on her wrist and a cracked rib scared her badly enough that she needed to find out what happened.
Jensen exhaled and let her mind drift, following the voice of the therapist. She imagined that she was walking through a thick fog that blocked out bright lights in the distance. She tried walking towards those lights, but found that her steps were sluggish. She felt as if she had shackles attached to her ankles and thick chains were holding her back as she trudged along.
Keep moving, she told herself. The nearest light seemed to glow brighter and a bit clearer as she approached.
A shadow darted past in her peripheral.
Jensen whipped her head around, but found nothing. She stood in place for a moment, but she could not hear anything but her own breathing. She turned to continue walking towards the light, but something stopped her. The shadow blocked her path and knocked her to the ground. It raised its arm and pushed with seemingly no effort, but Jensen flew several yards away.
She grunted in pain and rolled onto her side. A quick glance around revealed nothing but the thick fog blanketing the area around her.
“Jensen,” a voice called. It felt so familiar and sent a shiver down her spine as she returned to her feet.
“Who’s there?” She shouted. “Show yourself!”
“Oh, Jeeeeenny.” The voice sang with a laugh. It echoed around her, smothering her much like the fog.
Jensen spun around, frantically searching for the shadow.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” She screamed.
The shadow responded with a vicious laugh and kicked Jensen from behind, sending her flying again. She rolled across the ground, but before she could stand up, the shadow was above her. It hoisted her up by her long, dark hair. Her back was to the shadow as it tightened its grip on her.
“Where are you going, Jen? Looks to me like you’re stuck here.” The shadow whispered in her ear. She felt its cool tongue take the lobe of her ear into its mouth before it threw her again, further this time.
Jensen screamed; she was locked in a battle with a creature she had no hope to fight and she could think of no escape. She was going to die here in this fog where no one could find her.
“Wake up! Jensen, wake up!” Another voice called from above her. She latched onto it, following it like a rope back to the surface while the shadow approached her again. She pulled herself along the thread of the voice, refusing to look behind her. She was certain that if she glanced over her shoulder, the shadow would be right there and she would never leave.
“Jensen!” The therapist was above her, shaking her shoulders with concern etched all over her pretty olive features.
“What the hell?” Jensen’s eyes fluttered opened and she studied the woman. “Let go of me!” She slid from beneath the woman’s hands and rolled onto her feet from the leather couch she was lying on.
“Are you okay?”
A dark eyebrow arched upwards. “Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
The woman stood and ran a hand through her auburn hair. “Jensen, you were screaming. It sounded as if you were being attacked.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she shrugged. “I must have dozed. This hypnosis shit is for the birds.”
“No, Jensen. You saw something. Something else must have happened if you can’t remember it even after hypnosis.”
“Or maybe you’re just a con artist and you’re stealing people’s money. I’m out of here.”
Jensen wasted no time in fetching her bag and throwing the strap over her shoulder before she left the office. Not-Doctor Summo voiced her protest, but Jensen didn’t listen.