I looked at my window. The rain has stopped and the sky is clear. The moist in the glass is visible as the sunshine approaches.
I checked the time on my phone. It's already six in the morning. I slept early last night and woke up early too. I feel so lazy to get up. Besides, it's the weekend and I don't have a class to attend to. I will just go back to sleep. I covered myself with the blanket and hugged my side pillow tight, then I closed my eyes.
Knock knock
"Colby?"
Shall I answer or pretend that I was asleep?
"Colby get up now! We have an appointment today! Get up!"
I get up fast as I heard that we have an appointment. I almost forgot it. Maybe aunt zild has contacted her friend.
"Coming!"
I arranged my bed and went to get showered. I moved as fast as I can cause, I'm so excited. I went down and I find aunt zild at the table sitting and reading the newspaper while taking her hot coffee. She had already dressed up.
"Take your breakfast now. We'll leave in a minute."
I nodded and sat down. I get two fried eggs and bacon. I took a slice of bread too. I finished my food within a minute and took a sip from my hot coffee.
"Done!"
Aunt zild looked at me.
"You're already done?" She seems shock.
I can't blame her, cause I literally finished my meal in just four or five minutes.
"You told me that we'll be living in a minute. I don't want to get late."
She smiled. "You're not that excited, aren't you?"
I giggled "Not so."
I stood up and went outside. The ground is still wet, but the sky is clear and there are no signs of gray clouds. I start the car and play my favorite song. This is the best way to begin my day.
Aunt zild is walking towards the car. She opened the door, sat and buckled up.
"So, where are we going madame."
She chuckled and checked her phone.
"Our appointment will start on 8:00 a.m. and we still have thirty minutes. Let's go the medical hospital."
I know where it locates and started driving. Medical Hospital is near from our village.
In less than 20 minutes we have reached the hospital.
"Lets go, we only have 10 minutes colby."
We rushed into the lobby of the hospital.
"Where are we going aunt zild?"
She did not answer me so I just followed her. She entered the elevator and press the number 4.
"Who's the doctor that we'll be meeting aunt zild?" She looked at.
"She's the one that my friend recommended me. A psychiatrist."
I was about to react but she added.
"Don't worry I know you're not insane but she can help you regarding to your sleep and dreams."
I almost react violently but she knew when to make me calm.
The elevator stopped and opens. Aunt zild went out and I followed her. I saw lots of people waiting outside of each door. I believe that this is the clinical area. We stopped at the glass door. She knocks on the glass and wave at the lady inside.
The lady opened the door and greeted us.
"Hi good morning, may I help you?"
"Ah, yeah. I'm the one who called yesterday. I'm Miss De Ville and this is my nephew. Yes we have an appointment with Doctor Gomez. Is she around?"
"Oh Yes ma'am, actually she just arrived. Please take a seat. I will just inform her."
We sat down and she went inside. We waited there. I looked around and I can say that it is clean and minimalist. All I can see here is color black and white. Interesting.
"Ma'am, the doctor is waiting for you"
And we went inside. It's a bit colder here. I looked around and saw the paintings. She has a good taste in art and I saw pictures of people, maybe it's a family picture. A woman in a white coat who is sitting at her desk, stands and greeted us.
"Good morning, l'm Doctor Heather Gomez. Please have a seat."
She shakes aunt zild's hand and reached for my hand. She's smiling. She seems nice , pleasant and pretty. Yes, she's pretty. I guess she's in early 30's.
"Doc, this is my nephew Colby ZoeDe Ville. He's the one that Doc Drake have told you."
"Oh yes, the recurring dreams."
She looked to me.
"How shall I address you? Colby or Zoe?"
"Just colby."
She get a pen and a paper.
"So tell me colby, how do you feel?"
"I'm fine, but I always have this same episodes of dreams. Actually, it bothers me."
She's writing.
"When does this recurring dream happen?"
"When I was 7."
She then stopped writing, looked at me questioning.
"It all starts after my father's death, I don't know, but one night I woke up in cold sweats, shaking and screaming. That's the first time I got to dream a scene of the killings. Then after that it haunts me till now."
"Does this happen everytime you sleep?"
I paused and think. It actually stopped when I was in 6th grade for no reason.
"No, it actually stopped before, but after 4 years, it came back again."
She wrote one on the paper.
"You said that it has stopped for four years, then after that what happened? What exactly happened to you? Maybe it's one of the reasons why it came back."
I paused again and think. I look at the ceiling. My aunt holds my hand to give support. I don't want to say this in front of aunt zild, but I have no choice. I took a deep breath.
"Ah, actually I don't know what exactly happened, why it stopped? But I think it started to happen again after my girlfriend and I broke up. Then I went to drink and almost hit by a car."
My aunt is shocked about my revelation.
"Why didn't you say to me?"
I just shrugged my shoulders and continued talking
"But it didn't happen cause someone grabbed me. Then I went home and sleep. The next thing I knew is that my aunt woke me up cause she said that I'm screaming and calling for help."
Aunt zild adding, "I am cooking that time and I just heard colby screaming for help then I went to his room. I saw him sweating and shaking. So I woke him up. Then he said that he dreamt the same thing again."
"There are times, don't want to sleep cause I might dream again, but sometimes I can manage it."
"Are you taking any medications or have you been to doctors before?"
"We have tried ones and nothing happens"
After the doctor heard everything. She's writing something on her paper. When she's finished, she clicked her pen and put it down.
"Based on you what you have said and experienced, I can see that you are suffering from PTSD or the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Since you said that it all started after your father's death and stopped for a long time and it happens again after you broke up which falls out to PTSD."
I'm not surprised cause my previous doctor say it too.
"These things that have experienced, are thought of as chronic nightmares that act as a symptom of PTSD. Symptoms such as sleeping disorder, recurring nightmares and stress. It usually happens to children ages 3 to 6 years old, but in your case, it's still possible to happen."
"So what can we do doc?"
"Ah, we can do some tests and therapies. If severe then I can prescribed medications."
"Doc, I have a question." I need to ask about oneirology
"What's oneirology"
She smiled and said, "Oh, it's the study about dreams. It is usually tested how dream works in our body. It usually test how dreams affect one's your brain and sleeping pattern, though I am not well versed about it. But for now, the best thing that I can advise is to avoid stress because it might be one of the reasons of it. Make yourself relax before going to bed and you can talk about it to your aunt or make journals so we can monitor the progress. I will just make a schedule for the next appointment."
We stood up. My aunt is still talking to her so I went outside first. There is something in me that is not fully convinced. I did not get what I wanted to hear.