11:22am
Anton circled the penlight in Peter's eyes until they went cross-eyed and closed. Peter fell into a deep trance.
"Peter, can you hear me?" Anton asked.
Peter groaned in response. He was hooked up to numerous machines; heart- and brain-wave monitors, scanners, respiratory rate sensors, and the like. The computer monitor beside his head glowed with charts and maps of his brain activity. This was the first of the tests Peter had agreed to doing in order to stop the nightmares.
"I want you to go back to the night you first had the nightmare. You are in the house with your family. What do you see?"
"I'm in the living room with my niece. She's opening the present I brought her." A smile played at the corners of his mouth. "She's been bugging her parents about it for the past three weeks. It's a doll. She really likes it. She's gone into the kitchen to show her mother. She wants me to come, too. My brother, Bob, and my sister-in-law are talking about something at the kitchen sink. I can't hear what they're talking about. Jessie, my niece, runs up to her mother saying 'look what Uncle Peter brought me!' She's so cute." Peter stopped talking, opened his eyes, and the smile disappeared.
"What happens next?" Anton inquired.
"There's something coming out of the wall behind them." Fear was apparent in his eyes, and it registered on the scans.
"Respiratory and heart rates increasing," Claire informed them.
Lindsay and Matt, who had been in the room since the beginning, watched Peter.
"What do you see?" Anton asked Peter cautiously.
"There's a bright light coming from the wall. No one sees it but me. I... I can't move. I can't talk. What's wrong with me?" Peter?oice began to show fear as well as his eyes. "They're just sitting there, talking about the doll. They don't see it. It's coming closer. It's getting brighter. They... they..."
"What's happening?"
"They're gone." Peter's voice was suddenly very calm and soft. Everyone was watching him. "Just... gone."
Everyone hesitated, then Matt spoke up. "Take him out, Anton. He's had enough."
"Peter, on the count of three, you will wake up and remember everything you saw."
"Is what the best thing to do, have him remember everything?" Lindsay asked, concerned.
"We'll be able to find out what the thing is that comes out of the wall. It might make his nightmares go away," Matt answered her question.
"Two... one..." Anton finished. "Peter?"
Peter blinked twice and shook his head. He looked around at everyone in the room, then down at his hands.
Lindsay left the room, unable to see her colleague like this. He looked drained and confused. It was depressing.
Peter sat back in the chair with his eyes closed while Anton took the small black sensors off his temples. He shuddered as he worked to get the memories of the nightmare out of his head. After the sensors were removed, he went outside for a walk in the fresh air.
He left the back room where he had been regressed. All the equipment Anton and Claire needed was back there, within easy access. He went through the living room of his friend's house and out the front door. 
Peter heard the blaring horn of the company Ford Expedition behind him. Matt came up to him, calling his name.
"Want a lift back?" Matt asked through the open passenger-side window.
"Not done walking," Peter answered, wanting to say the least possible.
Matt drove the truck over to the side of the road and parked. He got out, closed the door, and followed Peter down the road. Peter kept walking with his head down, watching his feet.
"What happened in there? Before the tests, you were happy as ever to get the regression done with. Now..." Matt trailed off.
"Just... seeing that again is so... depressing. I just can't think about losing my family like that," Peter said, rubbing his hand through his hair.
"I know. My aunt disappeared when I was a teenager, and nobody ever found out where she went or what happened to her," Matt lied.
"You're just trying to cheer me up, aren't you?"
"Yes."
They laughed briefly. Matt was uneasy around this, the new side of Peter, but they were still friends.
"I guess we should be heading back..." Peter admitted reluctantly.
"Yeah. Come on, I'll give you a lift in the truck."
They started heading back towards the Ford. After climbing in and buckling up, Peter asked, "Did Anton say he found anything on the scans?"
"We didn't get the results back yet. He should have them by the time we get back to the 'lab'," Matt informed him. "Which won't be too long. I just have to go into the village and get dinner. My treat tonight."
"Yeah, okay. Thanks."
They drove the rest of the trip in silence, each thinking about something. Peter was still trying to figure out the significance of the dream. Matt was just worried about what to get for food. |
