Chapter 39 : When In Session

Maureen's Office, The Runnels Building, Denver, Colorado...

Maureen seemed to be puzzled as she attempted to make sense of all that occurred following her latest session with her colleague Dr. Hadrian Rawsone. His apparent struggle with Dissociative Identity Disorder was something hidden even from him for a lot of years and the trigger point that brought it all out in the open was something to do with his recent disappearance. Maureen sighed unsure how best to proceed due to the nature of what was ailing her dearest friend and how serious it was becoming if Julia was living with a stranger and had no idea as to why. As she pondered in the quiet of her own office, she got a knock at the door signaling a new arrival. Once the door opened and Hadrian was revealed to have been standing on the other side, she didn't know what to think. Witnessing her friend become someone else before her very eyes were still unnerving despite her profession.

"You got a minute Reen?" asked Hadrian finding it difficult to get passed his odd behavior in the wake of returning following the shooting he could only remember due to the pain he suffered as a result of it.

"I...sure," she replied motioning for him to take a seat as she did the same. "What can I do for you, Hadrian?"

"Well..." he sighed unsure how best to proceed with the discussion. "I've been having strange dreams as of late...dreams about a woman I can't seem to recall her face but in the dreams she..."

"What does this woman do in the dreams?" asked Maureen fully invested.

"I don't know how to exactly explain it...I can never see her face, but I hear her voice...feel her touch...especially in places where she shouldn't be touching me," replied Hadrian feeling a bit nervous as a result of his confession. "Y-you think it's something from...you know when I was missing?"

Maureen sighed.

"Are these dreams or are they memories that you've managed to suppress?" she asked with an arched brow.

"I don't rightly know," replied Hadrian confused in his own right. "I try to make sense of it but...everything just goes blank."

Maureen nodded figuring something like this would happen and she knew why, but couldn't devolve the information to him at least not until she gathered more herself to make a reasonable diagnosis.

"How did the memory or for lack of a better term at the moment, how did the dream make you feel?" asked Maureen.

"I remember....the voice...it kept...taunting me almost," said Hadrian attempting to concentrate. "I remember feeling....angry mostly and then nothing."

"Why did you feel angry?" asked Maureen dutifully trying to gauge the situation.

"I...I don't know...because she was touching me...because she was touching someone else?" replied Hadrian confused. "I just remember the anger....and then nothing."

"Let's try something else," said Maureen. "What is your most fond childhood memory?"

Hadrian thought for a moment.

{The images of a man of apparent renown and wisdom sat in a large armchair in a moderately decorated office. The air was cold in this place but he seemed to be completely at ease like he'd been in full command of this place and when he opened his mouth to speak his words were soft yet controlled and almost father-like.}

"I remember having to visit an office, not so unlike this one," admitted Hadrian still confused by what he recalled.

"Your fondest childhood memory is of going to a psychiatrist's office?" asked Maureen with an arched brow. "Was the man you saw your father?"

"No...well...something like that," replied Hadrian unsure how to put it into words. "He was a child psychiatrist....Dr. H something...I liked him for some reason....he appeared to have been vastly intelligent and had come to the conclusion that I could not express myself in my daily life so he had me draw pictures for him in a bid to get everything that was causing me to explode into fits of rage out on paper."

"Interesting," said Maureen. "Go on."

"I used to draw all the time when I was a kid he had been something in the way of an art collector when it came to my various drawings," replied Hadrian. "I had always liked giving them to him."

"Do you recall what landed you in the doctor's office in the first place?" asked Maureen careful in her attempts to pry into the former upbringing of her dearest friend.

"They told me that I got into a fight at school," replied Hadrian casually. "They said I broke some obnoxious little boy's nose and my mother was furious...I kept trying to tell them that it wasn't me that did it...someone else had and I was being blamed for the whole thing."

"Do you believe you did it?" asked Maureen with an arched brow.

"No," replied Hadrian. "It was another boy that looked like me."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Maureen.

"Because I...I don't fight...alright not even when I was a boy..." replied Hadrian honestly. "You should know by now that I prefer to avoid confrontation whenever possible."

Maureen nodded finally understanding where the origins of her friend's more passive nature had come from.

"Alright...I think that's enough for one session...go home and get some rest and don't try and force anything," said Maureen with a stern tone. "Let it come to you and if something happens to make itself known don't hesitate to give me a call."

Hadrian nodded before getting to his feet.

"Thanks for this Reen," he said meaningfully. "You have no idea what it's been like since I got back.....this with me and Jules...they were complicated enough beforehand, but this strangeness is something else...anyway...thanks again."

"Don't mention it," replied Maureen with a sad smile in his direction. "We'll find a way to fix...whatever this is...together."

Hadrian nodded in agreement and took his leave of her.

Maureen sighed as the door closed behind him.

If only he had known about the things his wife had been getting up to both before and during his absence. She just hoped that whatever was ailing him could be cured or at the very least treated before he ever found out how deep the web of betrayal had gone. The last thing she needed was for him to have mistrust of her when they were attempting to get to the bottom of his strange condition. She'd been no fan of Julia once she learned about the affair she'd been having with her husband's best friend, but she knew it wasn't easy for her to live with Hadrian and his ever-fluctuating moods and thought processes.

Especially, when they didn't know what had been the cause of it all.