Levi Harris: A Guide to Middle School

Episode 20: Emotions

‘Levi, I am telling you this because it is the only way to get rid of the problem. You have to accept the problem and in your case it’s Angelina. May I ask you, who usually stars in your dreams?’ she asked. I thought of the question for a second and I realized that I had to submit. She was right.

‘Angelina.’ I replied.

‘What are these nightmares about?’

‘Usually… Do I have the option not to tell you?’

‘In your case… You better tell me. If you were ever to make any recovery you would need to confide in me first.

‘It’s about Angelina cheating on me and then it’s usually a abstract dream so it doesn’t make sense but then all of a sudden it starts to take a toll on me.’

‘Who does she regularly cheat on?’ I struggled to answer her question but as she said, I had to confide in her.

‘My friend,’ when I replied she raised her eyebrow, obviously telling me to be more specific.

‘Mustafa.’ I said and suddenly I felt a burden fall of my back. I felt much more open and less constricted.

‘How am I sure that what I am telling you doesn’t leave this room?’ I asked her. She smiled at me, acknowledging that I asked a good question.

‘Hmm…’ she hummed before looking me in my eyes and saying: ‘You have my word.’

**********************     *********************

    September 14th 2009, If you love her…

    I had done three sessions with Mrs. Bwana and after around about two weeks through counseling, there was a huge recovery. I hadn’t gotten a nightmare since starting counseling and even though I hated Mrs. Bwana, I had to give her credit for helping me. We done a lot of mental training skills, which involved accepting the fear and trying to admit that the fear is false and one day, she had a mattress on the floor and asked me to sleep. After rejecting her offer of sleeping in her class at least thirty times. I finally gave up and lied down on the mattress. In the beginning I could not fall asleep and I had to pretend to sleep but after a while I dosed off. Miraculously, I hadn’t had a nightmare but odd enough, I had a dream about selling Asbach chocolate’s in Germany. My relationship with Angelina had gotten stronger and stronger until I had a deep, burning desire for her that had my heart always pumping furiously whenever I thought about her. I got a text message from Mrs. Bwana and it read:

    Dear Levi,

        Your Progress has been well and I have enjoyed your participation in every session. You learnt a lot in our brief period so I’m sad to say that today’s session will be the last. It might be abit hard for you but I think if you show your hard effort that I know you have we can go through this last session with success.

                Yours sincerely, Mrs. Bwana

    After school had ended that day and I gave Angelina a goodbye kiss, I headed to Mrs. Bwana’s office and as I passed Mrs. Bibiton, I realized she had no eyebrows. I laughed before pacing towards Mrs. Bwana’s office. That day, her office smelled of very expensive perfume. The office was decorated blue and I guessed that she had gotten over her pink phase. She was pacing around her office and staring out her window every five seconds before returning back to her stroll around her office.

‘Oh Levi… Sit down.’ She said and she gestured her arm to a black chair as high as hers. This time the chair was really close to her desk and in front of it was a basket filled with chocolates and there at the top was the Asbach chocolate’s I had dreamt about. It had a golden cover and unless your one of the millions who doesn’t know what Asbach is, it’s one of German’s oldest chocolate brands ever. I sat on the chair and I could smell the chocolate’s sensational smell and it entranced me. When she sat opposite me she smiled.

‘How are you?’ she asked and I smiled back.

‘Yeah… I am.’

‘Levi. Today I’m going to ask you to do something that might sound difficult but I believe you can do it.’

‘Ok. I like challenges.’ I wasn’t ready for what she was about to say. No one would. She smiled her creepy smile before saying:

‘Break up with Angelina.’ It came out demanding and firm and it got me feeling hollow at heart. My mind went buzzing and I started to feel sick.

‘But… what? Why?’ I asked her. I had nothing else today and I had to force a question.

‘Believe it or not but she pulls you down from your full potential. You could be something great but she puts you off. Also, I do not believe that you two are meant to be together.’ I opened my mouth and closed it again at least four times before spitting out: ‘But why? Wait your joking aren’t…’ I was interrupted before I could say ‘you’

‘Levi, our sessions are over. I am no longer your counselor and if you want to fully recover your going to have to follow the last step.’

‘but…’

‘Levi, our sessions are over! Please leave my office immediately.’ She was kind of harsh and I walked out of her office with my mouth open in amazement. I was at the main building’s entrance in no time and I could see Angelina standing in front of me.

‘That was a short session? What happened?’ she asked. I looked in her eyes and I knew what I had to do.

‘Angie, It’s… it’s… Angie, I…’