The Dreams

Chapter Thirty Five

Rina was startled by Dr. Charlotte's anger until she realized it was not anger at all. The doctor's frustration regarding the current situation rivaled Rina's own. Rina felt a bit nervous as she had never seen this side of her doctor and did not know what to expect.

"I'm sorry we've made things even more difficult for you, Rina. I promise you that was not our intention, but it was a possibility. Your boyfriend did the right thing by calling. We need to get to the bottom of this before anything else happens," Dr. Charlotte quickly explained.

"Should I ask Hibiki to come in? He might be able to help me explain," Rina asked.

"He already gave a pretty good description of your symptoms on the phone. If you're willing to take some drastic measures with me, it would probably be for the best if he waited outside the room. He might find it upsetting if he was here to watch."

"What do you have in mind?" Rina asked, feeling more than a little nervous to hear the next course of action described in such a way. She wanted to take decisive action, but what her doctor was describing now sounded pretty terrifying.

"I want to track down that voice you've been hearing, find its cause and get rid of it once and for all. It might be one of the newest of your symptoms, but I think it is actually a vital clue to solving your mystery condition. The fact that you've had such an abrupt regression back to your disordered sleep behavior after the strange events during yesterday's appointment makes me think we were on the right track but did not go far enough."

Both Rina's heart and mind were racing. She tried to process it all. She did not want to blindly agree to something with no understanding of the situation. As much as she trusted her doctor, her agitated state this morning gave Rina some pause. At least one of them needed to be calm while thinking about this. She just wished it did not have to be her.

"What's going to happen to me if this goes wrong?" she finally asked.

"If it goes wrong you will get worse. If we do nothing you will get worse. The only way I can see you improving at this point is if we can make this work."

"We? You're expecting me to help again? That didn't go so well last time."

"None of this will work without your complete cooperation."

"Is that what went wrong last time? Did I mess it up?"

"No. You didn't do anything wrong. We just ran into something entirely unanticipated."

"What if that happens again?"

"Well, I won't make the same mistake twice, and I'm not going to try anything that might unleash that angry side of your personality. Today isn't exploratory. I intend to correct matters."

The harsh determination in Dr. Charlotte's eyes gave Rina pause. She realized this was serious. It had felt serious to her from the start, but the doctor's expression gave validation to her belief. The knowledge made her uncomfortable. She realized just how bad this would be for her.

None of the possible outcomes seemed particularly appealing. Without doing anything she would only get worse. If she tried to get better there was still a chance things could go badly for her. The last thing she wanted was to cause more problems for the people around her.

Ignoring an opportunity to get well again solved nothing. She had to try to stop being such a burden on those around her. Being afraid would be a waste of her time at this point.

"Do you think it will work?" Rina asked with a great deal of hesitation.

"I can't say for sure, but it's the best chance you have at this point, and we can't wait around exploring other options anymore."