His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 219

#Chapter 219: Dr. Rhodes

Moana

By the next morning, Edrick had already called the therapist for me and I was scheduled to have my first session right there in the penthouse that very morning. I was nervous, but also excited in a strange way. I wanted to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences, not only to figure out why this knife seemed to be so prominent in my mind and to see if it had any real, tangible significance, but I also wanted to get better so I could return to work.

When the therapist walked into my room, I immediately noticed that he seemed like a nice man. He was older, tall and thin, and had a completely bald head with a gray mustache on his upper lip and a pair of round wire-rimmed glasses sitting on his nose. He had a warm smile on his face and wore a tweed suit, and carried a notebook in his thin hand.

“Hello, Moana,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Dr. Rhodes. Are you ready to get started?”

I nodded nervously. Edrick had moved a small loveseat into my room that was placed across from my armchair by the window, and I gestured for the therapist to sit on the armchair while I sat down on the loveseat. It felt strange to have a therapist in my bedroom, but it was also comforting to be doing this in a comfortable space that I knew well.

“So,” Dr. Rhodes said as he opened up his spiral-bound notebook, “can you start with telling me what’s been going on recently?”

I took in a shaky breath, then began.

“A few weeks ago, I was kidnapped and held at gunpoint…”

Over the course of the next half hour, I explained everything to Dr. Rhodes. I told him everything about the kidnapping, about Kelly and Ethan, about witnessing the fight between Ethan and Edrick, and about Edrick almost dying. I told him about Ethan choking me, the incident at the police station, and finally I told him about the dream that I had in the hospital. Of course, he asked a lot of questions about my relationship with Edrick. Earlier, Edrick had told me that it was okay to be completely truthful about our fake engagement with Dr. Rhodes, as it would be illegal for him to reveal the truth to anyone else. And so, by the end of the thirty minute mark, I had explained everything to Dr. Rhodes from beginning to end.

When I was finished, the therapist leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, processing what I told him while I nervously fiddled with my hands on the loveseat. When he finally opened his eyes again, he smiled at me.

“I think I’d like to hypnotize you,” he said. “If you’re comfortable with it, I mean.”

I nodded and took in a deep breath. “Will it help me figure out what that dream was about, and why I blacked out and drew those pictures?”

Dr. Rhodes shrugged lightly. “There are no guarantees,” he said. “Not everyone is susceptible to hypnosis. If you’re not open to it subconsciously, it might not get you anywhere. There’s also a possibility that the dream and the drawings don’t actually mean anything more than a simple machination of stress in your mind after the traumatic events. Perhaps you subconsciously view Edrick’s father as the last remaining threat to your physical safety now that Ethan and Kelly are behind bars. Or, maybe…”

“Maybe they’re visions?” I blurted out.

The therapist looked at me blankly for a few moments before standing. “I won’t say anything in regards to that just yet,” he said. “I don’t want to make assumptions before our session is done.”

I nodded uncomfortably. The therapist directed me to lie down on the loveseat. He closed the curtains and dimmed the lights in my bedroom, then began the session. He started by playing a low, droning tone on a singing bowl in his hand for a long time while he repeated a mantra, then had me repeat the same mantra for a long time while he circled around me with the singing bowl, causing the low tone to emanate around me from all directions. With my eyes closed, it felt a little disorienting. After that, he began to ask me questions.