Chapter 12

"Nice to see you again," she says as I walk into her office

"it's nice to see you too, Doctor Hougvarts."

"So tell me how you been, how are things going?" she asks as we take our seats.

"Well, I was admitted to the hospital and now I'm better. I stopped taking the pills because I actually found out that what that guy-James told me about the pills was true and I don't know about Lisa I'm still a little bit speculating about that. I just don't want to believe everything I hear you see, I want to also see some proof" I say as she is taking down notes, we remain silent for a while as she is going over her past notes as well and I patiently wait... twiddling my thumbs.

" How has your health been impacted after you stop taking those pills."

"Well, I haven't been having headaches or migraines but I have been losing time sometimes."

She looks at me with a confused expression.

"What do you mean by losing time?" she asks

It's a perfectly normal day and I'm listening to the lecture teach but for some reason, I black out and when I wake up again I don't know I'm in a different place- a restaurant in the opposite side of the city.

"That is quite odd, is that the only instance?"

"No some mornings I don't know, I go to sleep the night before and then I wake up, I'm on campus and I'm like when did I get to campus it's weird and it first started with me just passing out for a few minutes but now it's how it could go up to the whole day sometimes and I don't know what's going on with me, "I explain

"I am not certain yet, but right now I'm speculating that maybe you might be sleepwalking"

"Sleepwalking?"I felt a sea of anxiety deep down, and I could feel my nerves tingling like being tickled with a small feather.

"What you're describing, it sounds like a symptom for sleepwalking and you are saying you have no memory of what happens after you pass out and you wake up in a different place, so if you would let me I will prescribe some medicine for you for that"

"Why now?"

"Well it may be caused by a sleeping disorder, but I don't from what you've told me you don't seem to suffer from any sleepwalking- usually this occurs within children than adults and if you did experience it as a child and you should grow out of it as you grow up, but from what you saying, it does not make sense why you would all of a sudden start sleepwalking now- you already passed that age."

"Do you think it could be a side effect from taking those pills my dad has been giving me?"

"No, pills don't cause such a severe disorder like this."

I rest my head on my lap, this was quite stressful for me-first it was the headaches, then the migraine and now this. When will this end?

"Tell me out of all those times you were asleep, was an instance where you were holding something or had some information on you or there was something written on you, do you think maybe you were with somebody?"

"No, I'm mostly alone, I go to school then go back and if I'm not school I'll be with my girlfriend or studying so im usually alone," I say with a small smile

"So this has been happening how frequently?"

"Well so far it only happened three times, one day apart during this week."

"For now I'm going to prescribe you some sleeping pills just in case if you find that you are not being able to sleep properly just take them so that we can get your sleeping pattern back on schedule and maybe ask your girlfriend to check up on you after you take them or rather set up a video system?"

"Alright," I say while getting up.

"I have to go now, thank you, "I say with a small smile.

"If you would not mind, I just want to run some tests at the university hospital as well- so for now, I'm only gonna request you some blood samples."

I nod

"After here I need you to just go to the west wing and get your blood drawn by one of the nurses there and you will be notified once the results are back."

"Thanks"

"No problem sweety, just be safe," she says as I walk out.

After getting my blood drawn I walk out of the hospital building and rush to my next class.

As I am on my way to my next class I am suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and slammed against the wall, I felt as if I got the air knocked out of me due to the force the person used to shove me. This man that is towering over me and using his strength to keep me in place has brown hair that waves down to his ears. His eyes are a slightly darker shade of brown, like coffee. He's also about six foot with big ears and an adorable smile. He leans in as if to kiss me but I instinctively turn my head away trying to block , I start moving around trying to get out of his hold but to no prevail.

"What's wrong baby, you loved me touching you last time" he whispers to my ear and my eyes widen in shock. Last time? I don't know who he is. I start to look around to see if anyone is watching that might help but everyone is already inside the lecture halls. He moves closer to me and I feel his breath on my face which reaked of alcohol. Tears start streaming down my face as I realise I couldn't break from his hold, but suddenly he is ripped off of me.

James threw his body weight behind the fist that edged closer to drunk guys face, it hit his jaw with such force that blood pooled into his mouth. Pain erupted from the point of impact. With James own two hands he grasped the guys head in his hands and brought his knee cap up to his nose, there was a blunt crack and James released the dark brown-haired head. Crimson leaked from both his nostrils and his nose was twisted right. He drew his fist back again and it ploughed into his stomach, it was like hitting a train head on. His guts smashed together, blood vessels bursting. He repaid this by punching his jaw, his facet collided with all his body weight. They continued this battering until he fell to the floor. His chest gently rose and sank with each shallow breath he drew.

"James, that's enough!" with my hands trembling in fear and with tears on my face, I call out to him. Seeing my state James steps away from that guy and rushes towards me.

"Are you okay?" he asks while assessing me for any bruises, I nod and I start to hear footsteps approaching.

"I think we should go before university personnel arrives, you might get in trouble," I say and we run towards the opposite direction. We ran all the way till we were outside the campus. We decide to sit by the park that is right next to the campus to catch a breath.

"So who was that guy," James asks

"I don't know, I have never seen him before-he said about me loving it when he touched me last time" as soon as I say that James facial expression changes from tired to stone cold.

"I swear, I don't know him and Lisa would have told me if I knew him"

James scoffs and gives me an unbelievable look, "you still trust her even now?"

"No, but I also don't trust you, I believe you with the pills but with Lisa..."

" I believe this will clear your doubts," He says as hands me his phone, with a confused look I take it to see a video paused.

"Before you play it, I want to make it clear that I followed Lisa this morning and you won't believe who she met up with."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

The video initially starts blurry but after a few seconds it starts to focus on a car, but not just any car but my dad's. I clearly see Lisa enter the car and for a while, it seems as if they are arguing, but about what? At some point, it seems as if my dad loses it and slams her face across the passenger window which causes it to crack-I put my hand over my mouth shocked at how violent my dad was with her. He proceeds to say something to her while putting more pressure on her face, he releases her and she bows her head down in submission. He suddenly grabs her dead and roughly pulls it down his lap and a few moments later I see her head bobbing up and down and he leans his seat back, eyes closed and with a smile on his face. Unable to continue watching I toss the phone towards James and crouch down.

"Why, why would she do that, with my dad with all people" I cry out as James sits right next to me and holds me.

"I don't know, so that's what you have to find out"

"No...I don't think I can do this-pretend like I don't know whats going on"

"I know its hard, but now we know that those two are definitely conspiring together,"he says as he continues to rub my back.

I bury my head further between my legs in despair.

"Listen, no matter what I will always be by your side- I will help you, you're not alone in this," he says and I look up at him with my bloodshot eyes and reach out to hug him.

"Thank you" I softly say as he hugs back.

After thirty minutes James suggests we go to his apartment so that I can apply some first aid on his knuckles as they were still badly bruised from the fight.

When we reach his apartment, I wait for him in the living room as he gets the kit from a different room. We spend another thirty minutes just talking as I apply some spirit on the bruises to make sure it doesn't get infected and rap up is hand.

"Where did you learn to fight so well?"I ask

"Well I did some MMA at a local gym back in high school"

"Did you also have fights?"

"Yea, I actually wanted to go into MMA professionally- even though I had a few fights, I won all of them but my folks were not having that so we made a deal, I first finish school then I can do whatever the hell I want. What is your dream?"

"I wanted to own my very own art studio, but my dad said accounting was a better path for me," I say while smiling as I finish I rapping his hands.

"It seems as if we are both bound by our parents," he says and I start to realise how close he was. My phone starts to ring and I check to see that it was Lisa, I decided to not answer it.

Third-person

He brushed his fingers across her shoulders, letting the straps of her t-shirt fall. Pulling her into a gentle embrace, his lips caressed hers as they tumbled onto the bed, her fair hair framing her perfect face. Running his hands down her curvaceous body, he looked deep into her emerald eyes and knew that he loved her more than anything. Slowly, they took turns to remove each other's clothing, until all that separated them was her excited breathing blowing gently on his chest.

Meanwhile, Dr Hougwarts who was still working on her computer, gets an email notification, as she reads through the content her face drains of her natural colour replaced by a pale one. She immediately reaches for her phone and speed dials a number - it rings twice before the person answers.

It takes her a while to catch her breath as her heart is racing-she says

"I've just confirmed it, it's her."