"Ms. Robinson, we have been having sessions for over a year, yet I am unable to draw a conclusion. Are you sure you are not keeping anything from me? You do understand that the more secrets you keep, the harder it will be for me to give you a proper answer."
The lady in clear thick glasses throws a stern gaze to which Marina feels annoyed, "I have nothing to hide. And even if I did, what's the point of coming here and waste my money?"
In the end, all Marina receives is another dose of the usual pills and another session in the following month. She has been seeing this psychiatrist for so long and yet nothing is getting any better. She is having the same dream every time she sleeps, the same nightmare, the same person stabbing her till she opens her eyes to find herself sweating in her bed.
To think she wasted a leave just to get the same prescription is even more ridiculous in her opinion. "omw to Blobble's. Wanna join?" and sends the text before calling a cab to Rosella. It was almost time for lunch. She receives a notification.
"I thought you had an appointment?"
"Done"
"k coming"
As expected, Blobble's is packed with people. Hungry shoppers are swarming but after a glance at the crowd, they quickly change their minds. Marina and her friend did not have to go through the hassle, however. Some call it nepotism. They sit down at the table at the end of the cafe. A few moments later, they are joined by another person. This friend of theirs is the ticket to their seat.
"So? Who's gonna start talking?"
"I think I am gonna take a stake, with mashed potato and vegetable satute."
"And I will take fish and chips."
The owner sighs and calls for a waiter, "Usual for Marina, usual for Hannah, and usual for me"
"So one stake with mashed potato and vegetable saute, one fish and chips, and ...one espresso?"
"No! One mocha"
"Okay. Thanks for your order. It will take 15 to 20 minutes."
Marina gives her friend a look, "So, Maya... I can see only handsome faces in your cafe. Is this the new hiring criteria?"
"What? No... Your taste is deteriorating"
Maya and Hannah are Marina's closest souls. Hannah with her fancy fashion sense somehow or other always stands out. Her pink and white dress today matched the cafe interior. Compared to her, Marina and Maya are looking like homeless with loose jeans and t-shirts. After moving away from her family for her job, Marina became very homesick. In those times when the world felt like shades of grey, they brought colors and feelings to her. Other than that, these two are the only ones to know about her sleeping problems.
In the middle of their lunch, Hannah finally brings up the topic Marina has been anticipating since the start, "So what did your psychiatrist say?"
"Normal things."
"Yeah. Sure."
"Okay fine. She is suspecting that I am hiding something but I am not." She takes a bite out of the steak, "Gave me the same sleeping pills that never even work."
Hannah looks at her worried. She doesn't recall ever seeing her friend without the dark eye bags. She herself saw a few bad dreams but seeing them frequently for a year in a no-go.
Maya looks up from her blond blunt bangs, "Well? did you keep anything?"
"If I did then I can consider myself a psychic."
"Maybe... If you were knocked out cold then you won't get any nightmares?"
Marina thinks, "Hey! That's actually a good idea."
***
She finds herself running in a long dark hallway. A woman, draped in expensive gown and jewellaries, appears at the end and walks towards her slowly.
"You were banished.", says the woman. She was standing right in front yet her face was unrecognizable.
"Please. Just once. I am begging you"
A man appears from behind the woman. Something shines in his hand under the moonlight. She doesn't know what she is doing anymore. Her mouth is saying things and her body is moving on its own.
The man stabs her, warm liquid starts pooling around her. She feels a clutching pain in her heart. The man doesn't stop, and neither do her screams and pleas. But her ears are deafening with unknown noises. All she sees are the pair of grey eyes looking down at her coldly before everything goes black.
And then Marina wakes up. Her body is covered in sweat but she feels like she is covered in blood. Blood of the woman who dies in her dream, every day, in the same way. She wonders what that woman did, for them to kill her so cruelly.
Or was it Marina herself.
In another life.
She plops down on the bed again and messages her aching head. It is going to be another sleepless night of wondering who those people are.