SPIDERWEB 2 Therapist's Office

Regan pushed herself away from Bella and bends over coughing trying to let the air around her fill up her lungs. Frantically Regan looks around checking to see if the stranger was anywhere in sight but all she could see was the crowded hallway of a high school and Bella staring back at her like she was an idiot. Was it all an illusion? Regan pondered, no way. Her legs still swayed from all the running she did, her hand shook from the fear she had faced, and the smell of blood lingered in the air. She could still feel the fingers of the stranger's wrapped around her neck squeezing it so tight that she felt so fragile in its arms. Her neck struggled to breathe in air and was so tight from being constricted for so long in the stranger's grasp. No illusion had ever felt this real to her, but now that it happened to her so frequently, she couldn't help but be overcome with fear whenever the hallways suddenly get dark and the thumps of an object hit the wall, as a reminder that her day-nightmare was taking over.

Bella was starting to get worried. As she watched Regan bend over and take deep breaths in and out as if she was low on air from simply walking, fear for what was happening to Regan took over her. It was normal to get freaked out when your close friend from childhood suddenly bends over and starts hyperventilating out of nowhere. But it becomes more of a worry when it starts happening more frequently especially if it started after your friend went through a life-threatening situation that left her in 2 days of a deep coma and amnesia of the situation. Just what had she gone through to leave her this shaken up?

"Are you ready for the session after school?" Bella asked.

"I mean sure?" Regan replied.

She had to admit, the therapy was long-awaited. Ever since that event, the illusions had only gotten worse, more vivid, more frequent. She couldn't even make it through the whole day without having one episode of them. Sometimes she could even feel it coming, the room darkening, her vision worsening and a sickening chill that is sent through her body. Finally, it was time to figure out exactly why she was like this and if it was fixable.

The two girls enter the therapist's office and walk toward the reception desk.

"May I help you?" The receptionist asked.

"Um.." Bella turned to Regan as if asking her for permission to speak.

Regan gave her a tiny nod.

"A 4:30 appointment with Mrs. Layla," Bella replied.

"Name?" the receptionist asked, not even looking up from her computer.

"Regan," Regan replied, "Regan Duran."

The receptionist looked up and locked eyes with Regan, "She'll be with you in a bit, it's the last room down the hall, 207,"

"Thank you," Bella replied.

The two of them walked down the hall and into room 207. After taking a seat, Regan took the time to look around the room. Two walls were the color peach while the other two were a combination of multiple colors smacked onto a wall. Just staring at them hurt her eyes. The furniture in the room was pretty scarce. An oriental rug spread from the door to the therapist's desk and a round table sat in the middle of the room. In front of one of the blank walls was the therapist's desk, accompanied by three chairs, two on one side and one on the other. In front of one of the multi-colored walls stood the weirdest furniture of all, a very large grandfather clock. Its clock laid in the top middle half of the clock with golden arms and numbers written in a fancy pattern. And a large gold pendulum hung from the grandfather clock and swung from side to side. The whole room looked like someone had mixed an 80s office look with an office out of a Dr. Seuss book.

"You ready?" Bella asked looking at her best friend with worried eyes.

"As ready as I can be," Regan replied.

The psychiatrist walked in right after Regan's comment and walked to the desk and sat down.

"h.e.l.lo ladies," The therapist smiled.

"h.e.l.lo," The girls replied.

"And one of you must be Regan?" The therapist asked her green eyes sending slightly piercing glances at the two.

"That," Regan spoke up, "Would be me."

"Good," The therapist replied as she began typing furiously on her computer, "May I ask you to leave?" The therapist requested as she locked eyes with Bella.

Bella immediately got up from her chair and prepared to go out, "Wish you luck," She whispered before disappearing behind the door.

All alone in the room with the therapist the slow ticks and tocks from the Grandfather clock started to get to her. Tick tock tick tock tick tick tick tock tock tock. The hypnotizing beat brought back memories of her day-nightmares, slow soft but fear striking just like the little taps the chaser liked to make in her nightmares. The room slowly dimmed and all Regan could hear was the ticks and tocks filling her head every second driving her to insanity.

"Regan?" A voice softly called. It seemed to peek in from somewhere outside her mind, lulling her into reality. "Regan?! REGAN."

Immediately Regan snapped back into reality to find herself clutching hard to her chair and trembling in fear of a fragment of her memories, one that constantly scratched her brain from the back of her mind. Cool sweat ran down Regan's forehead as the dark clouds blanketing her eyes finally let up and she could make out the therapist's figure beside her.

"Are you ok?" The therapist asked as she shook Regan once again.

"Hmm," Regan replied clutching her heart and quickly wiping away her sweat, "I'm fine."

The therapist lets out a brief sigh of relief, "I think it's about time we started."