Mystery Lights

Chapter 6

That vacation took place two years ago when he was nineteen and his first cousin was eighteen. His cousin's name was also Tanya.

"Huh?" Saint turned to Perth.

"I said we're here," Perth said, looking curiously at Saint, "Hello, earth to Saint!"

"Sorry," said Saint, unbuckling his seat belt and stepping out of his car.

"Were you having bright flashes just now?" Perth asked.

"No, no, I'm alright," Saint replied.

Saint's school day was relatively uneventful with only one almost disastrous moment at the cafeteria during lunch when he and Perth were carrying their lunch trays toward an empty table and Saint started to have the bright flashes.

"Stay where you are," Perth ordered, "gimme a chance to set my tray on the table then I will come back for you."

When Perth came back to Saint, he took Saint's tray and told Saint to hold him by the elbow and slowly they made their way to their table.

Apart from that one incident, everything else went smoothly and soon Perth was driving Saint back home.

Before Perth stepped out of the car, Saint turned to Perth.

"I have another appointment with my psychologist this coming Friday," Saint informed Perth, "do you think you could be the one to drive me there?"

"What time is your appointment?" Perth asked.

"It's gonna be in the early evening. I will be his last client for the day."

"That will be over time work hours for me," Perth reminded Saint.

"I will pay you the overtime rate," Saint assured Perth, "I will take it from my own allowance. I won't be bothering my dad for it."

"Okay, I will make sure to leave my schedule free after five o'clock," Perth said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning same time."

"You wanna have dinner with me before you leave?" Saint offered.

"No, thank you, you're alright," Perth declined politely, already walking towards his own car.

"What an uptight, stickler for rules, goody two shoes," Saint muttered under his breath before  going inside his house.

When Friday came, Perth drove Saint to his appointment with Zee. Saint introduced Perth to the receptionist and the receptionist told Perth to go and wait in the reception area.

"Can he come in with me?" Saint asked.

"No, your driver has to stay out here," the receptionist said firmly.

"Saint, I will go outside the building and look around the other establishments while you're having your consult," said Perth, "just give me a call when you're ready to be picked up. You have my contact number, right?"

"Yes, I do," Saint replied.

"I have yours as well," Perth assured Saint. "I'll see you later then."

Saint bowed to Zee in greeting when he stepped into Zee's office but Zee stood up from behind his desk and gave Saint a buddy hug.

"Let's go over to the couch and make ourselves comfortable," said Zee.

The session was comfortable and uneventful. Although Zee asked more questions than the previous time, they were questions that didn't make Saint uneasy at all.

Saint made sure not to mention his mountain vacation with his first cousin that took place two years ago. He was not yet ready to talk about that.

Soon Zee was looking at his watch and announced that their session was over and that he would see Saint again the following Friday.

Zee stepped out of his office with Saint.

"You came alone this time?" he asked Saint.

"No, my driver brought me here," Saint replied, "I'm gonna call him right now to let him know that I'm ready to leave."

"Sure," Zee said, "you can stay until he comes. I will just put together some papers and binders and put them away in my drawers. I will wait up for him with you, don't worry about it."

When Perth took Saint's call, he told Saint that he would quickly make his way back to the building where Saint was.

Zee was starting to look impatient when it took Perth almost twenty minutes to arrive at the clinic.

"Tell your driver next time not to leave you when you are in session so that this sort of incident doesn't happen again," Zee said to Saint in front of Perth while looking condescendingly at Perth.

Saint nodded, feeling a little embarrassed that he had to make Zee and his receptionist wait up for him and Perth.

Perth felt his cheeks growing warm. No one had ever made him feel small before for being a mere driver for someone.

"I got lost on my way back here," Perth explained to Saint in a small voice, "I mistook another building for this building and wasted precious time looking for your doctor's suite. I'm sorry, I won't ever leave you again while you're in session with him."

"Don't worry about it," said Saint, not feeling too happy that his psychologist seemed to be someone who looked down on people who were on the lower level of the financial spectrum.