Naya woke up on her bathroom floor. She was naked and curled up under the running shower
She sighed as she sat up, frustrated. She didn’t understand what was going on with her. It was the second time that month that it had happened. She struggled to her feet and winced. Her muscles were sore and her feet ached.
She grabbed her towel and went into her bedroom.
She paused at the door.
She frowned, Naya suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and keeping an impeccable house was a major part of her disorder. She not only had obsessions, she had compulsions as well. Things had to be in a particular order, all the time. That was her life.
She would have to talk to Dr Charles again. The black outs were getting worse. Before, they had happened once or twice a year. It was the third one she would have that month alone and the month wasn’t even over yet.
Compulsively, she started picking up her clothes and shoes and began to clean.
***
“Hey chic, I tagged you on Facebook and you are yet to like my pic what’s going on with you?” Lola broke into Naya chain of thoughts as she put herself unto one edge of Naya’s work desk, the next Friday.
Lola was Naya’s colleague whose life revolved around her Facebook account. Everything she did, she posted on there. One time, she had posted a selfie of herself witnessing her sister’s baby’s birth. She had forgotten to crop the picture and part of her sister’s vagina could be seen in the background.
“I’m kinda busy. In case you haven’t noticed” Naya replied casually, re-positioning the phone that Lola had flung unto her immaculate desk and resisting the urge to brush her off it.
“No you’re not. You were looking into space. I just know you’re thinking about him” Lola said with a wink
“Huh?” Naya asked, her mind had wandered again. The week had been exhausting and she hadn’t had the time to go and see Dr Charles like she was supposed to.
“You know. That guy I saw you with at the restaurant the other day, what’s his name again?”
“Itan”
“Yeah, Itan” Lola picked up her phone and stared into it.
Itan was Naya's on and off boyfriend of almost one year. He had a habit of breaking up with her as a way to get back at her whenever they had an argument, which usually, was about sex. They’d been off for almost a month.
“So how’s he? I haven’t seen him in a while” Lola asked as she continued to fiddle with her phone
“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him in a few days”
“Uh huh…wait what?” she looked up “why? You seemed really into him when I saw you guys together”
“I guess things weren’t going fast enough for him” Naya shrugged “told us to take a break”
“Really?”
“Yes” Naya said to Lucy who was momentarily lost in her phone, again, like she usually was, half of the time that they spoke “now that the gist has run dry. Will you allow me do some work?”
Silence.
“So….” Lola said after a while “got a club gig tonight, you up?”
Naya shook her head “do you ever get tired of clubbing? You’re going to be 30 soon”
Lola snapped her fingers “the more reason why I should. By the time I hit the big three oh, I have to get serious and start looking for a cute rich guy to hit so … coming or no?”
“no thanks” Naya shook her head smiling “wanna sleep in this Saturday”
***
Naya sat in Dr Charles' office pondering on what to reply to his question
Naya shifted in her sit “I don’t know. I mean they only became frequent recently when I took your advice to go out more with friends and improve my social life.”
“hmmmm”
“I mean, the nightmares have reduced, I only have them…once a week now I think. Sometimes a whole week goes by and I don’t have one.”
“Do you take your sleep medication?”
“Yes I do. Every night”
Dr Charles frowned “you are supposed to take them only when you have trouble sleeping”
“Yes I know” Naya nodded
“So you have trouble sleeping every night?”
“Yes” Naya shifted in her seat again, she couldn’t tell what Dr Charles was thinking, he had very unreadable, calm eyes. He'd told her specifically not to take the drugs unless she was having difficulty falling asleep but she had taken them every night anyway.
She liked the way she slept when she took the pills
“For how long have you been using it every night?”
“Two weeks. I think”
“And have you had any nightmares since then?”
“No”
“Hmmm” he looked thoughtful “do you think you are taking your sleep medication every night because you have difficulty sleeping or because it stops your nightmares?”
Pause
“I don’t know. Maybe”
Naya wasn’t sure what to think. She knew the answer she gave was vague, she didn’t even understand what it meant herself. What she did know was that she was scared of going to sleep every night because of the nightmares. The sleep medication always knocked her out and she was grateful for that but the black outs worried her. She didn’t like losing track of time at all.
“What are you thinking right now?”
Naya looked up to see Dr Charles looking at her intently. She cleared her throat as she rearranged her skirt for the fourth time since she sat down. Every time she went to move, the darn thing shifted and it disturbed her.
“I was thinking… the black outs became worse when I started going out more and taking the sleep medication. Before, I used to have them maybe once or twice a year. I’ve had two this month alone, the last one was last week Friday and the month is not even close to ending.”
“hmmm” Dr Charles said again and scribbled something in his pad “I would like to change your sleep medication. Something milder and see the results. You should only take them when you have trouble sleeping. Don’t take them in anticipation of not being able to sleep” He looked up at her
“okay”
“and even then as a last resort. Take a warm bath or shower, have a cup of tea, read a book. When all else fails, you take one.”
“okay”
Dr Charles watched as Naya exited his office. She had sought him out six months to that time when she had started falling asleep spontaneously due to lack of sleep from her nightmares and had suffered a very serious car accident after she had fallen asleep behind the wheel of her car. She had broken three ribs, her arm and had a minor skull fracture. She had been lucky. The car had been a complete write off. It had also taken her months to recuperate but as soon as she left the hospital, her nightmares returned.
Naya had no memory of her childhood. Nothing. She remembered everything after the age of 12 well but nothing before that. Not a glimmer.
Within the first few weeks of working with her, he had been able to establish that something terrible must have happened to her as a child, something that her brain had locked away as a coping/defensive mechanism for survival. He also knew that the nightmares had started after her mother’s death the year before.
Somehow, the nightmares and blackouts were linked but he didn’t know how. Without her being able to recall her childhood years, they may never progress past the point that they were. He had suggested hypnosis but she had refused. He would have to bring it up again. He concluded.
***
Naya ran, her heart pumping hard and fast, her breathing labored. She had to get away. If she didn’t, the pain would be excruciating, it would consume her.
It was horrific what they would do to her if they caught her. She couldn’t afford to slow down. Suddenly she tripped and fell to the ground. She screamed as her body hit the ground. The ground was covered in dirt and stone. Pain ripped through her as tiny pieces of stone cut into her flesh. She struggled to her feet and gagged. The sight of her life blood flowing from her body made her dizzy.
She tried to run but her feet felt heavy, they dragged beneath her body. Someone grabbed her hair and dragged her backwards, a pair of hands closed around her throat, stinking breath filtered through the air in front of her face as the sound of deep cackling laughter reached her ears.
Naya jerked awake, it took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room. She always slept with a night light. She switched on her beside lamp and chased the shadows away. She hugged her sweat soaked body, shivering.
Tears formed in her eyes. Why couldn’t she remember? Dr Charles had suggested she try hypnosis and she had refused. Truth was, she was scared of what the truth might reveal.
She needed to get out of the house. She looked at the time. It was 11:30pm. She got up and got in the shower. Lola would still be at the club. Tonight was her gig.
...to be continued
email: bbannesworld@gmail.com
twitter: @bbannesworld
Stories posted on this blog are fiction and a product of the writer's imagination. They do not refer to any person or persons. Similarities to real life characters are purely coincidental.
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