The Dominus Blade

Place: Dr. Prichard's Office

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Time: Present Day, November 15th - 5 months before the first meeting with Vincent Thys

 Katherine sat in the waiting area of Dr. William Prichard, a Psychiatrist. She sat staring at the tropical fish swimming around and around their artificial barrier reef. One brilliant blue fish swam up and down in one corner of the tank, seemingly frantic to find a way back to its tropical ocean. Katherine watched the fish, mesmerized by it, and then suddenly she felt tears sting in her eyes. She identified with the blue fish. Katherine began her internal debate with herself whenever she slipped on the yoke of anxiety and began plowing over the same ground of anger. She fertilized it with self-pity and sadness. As soon as she realized she was sinking, she gave herself a mental shake and took a deep breath to clear the oppressive thoughts from her head. She looked away from the aquarium and down at her phone in her hands. She thumbed open a Solitaire game and began to focus on that instead of the futile efforts of the blue fish.

 Prichard's waiting area was separate from the main waiting room where the other junior therapists and counselors had their offices. Somewhere Taylor Ballard was counseling a man or woman, hands steepled under his chin listening attentively to their problems. She could not tolerate even looking in the direction of his office doors. She deliberately sat with her back to the main waiting area. It had been eight months since their breakup. It still hurt, but mostly because she was annoyed at herself for being rejected and still feeling betrayed. He blamed her for his indiscretions! There were other issues even before he had admitted to the affair with his office manager. The rising bubble of rage was trying to break the surface when the door of Prichard's office opened. 

 Margaret, the office manager came out. "Katherine, Dr. Prichard will see you now."

 Katherine gathered up her backpack and headed down the cool hallway to Prichard's office. When she entered the room, he rose from behind his desk. "Hello, Katherine." 

 "Hi Dr. Prichard," Katherine returned and shook his hand. It was always the same greeting between them. Same cool finger touch that masqueraded as a handshake. She sat down in the chair that faced his desk and he sat down behind his desk in his executive desk chair and opened her chart.

 "Margaret tells me this is your last visit. Why is that?" Prichard asked mildly. He never was anything but mild in his manner. 

 Katherine nodded. "Well, now that I'm no longer employed, I can't afford to take any more sessions with you." She felt the sting of tears in her eyes again, but she immediately pushed back the stir of emotions. "Once I find a new position at another school, I'll be back."

 "I see," Prichard said. "There are payment options, Katherine. Talk with Margaret and see if there is something you can do about continuing."

 "I will do that," Katherine answered.

 He seemed mollified by her answer and moved on to the next topic on his checklist, "How are you sleeping? Last time, you spoke to me about reoccurring night terrors. I prescribed a mild antidepressant, I see you stopped taking them?"

 "I'm sleeping fine now," Katherine replied. "I stopped taking the pills and didn't request a refill. The night terrors have changed and now I'm having these super vivid dreams. About people I've never met and places I've never been!"

 "What happens in these dreams?" Prichard asked.

 "Oh, well, I'm in a sort of palace, very opulent, and I have this terrific feeling of power! It's always kind of the same in these dreams. I am powerful and at first, it's scary, but I stay with it, and it feels great!" Katherine replied, remembering the dream she had experienced last night. 

 Prichard scratched notes with a pen in her chart and flipped back a couple of pages. "Of course, given your past experiences, would you say your dreams are an attempt to relieve the feelings you're having in reality?"

 "Hmm, maybe so," Katherine responded mildly, if she had any other kind of reaction, Prichard would want to analyze her further. "Other than terrific dreams, I feel pretty good."

 "Any good job prospects?" Prichard asked. 

 "I've applied at several schools," Katherine said. "Including out of state. I still do online tutoring."

 "Hobbies and interests?"

 "Book club once a month at the library, and I've started playing the piano again," Katherine told him. 

 "And personal relationships?" Prichard finally looked up from his notetaking to look at her over the rim of his glasses.

 She smiled tightly at him. "No. No personal relationships. I'd rather not get into anything like that – not if I end up having to move out of town."

 He stopped writing and put her file on the desk along with his glasses. "Have you spoken to Taylor recently?"

 "I have no reason to speak to him," Katherine said, and she was careful to keep her voice neutral. "He's moved on and so have I."

 "I understand," Prichard replied as he closed her file and pulled open his desk drawer to take out a prescription pad. "I'm going to renew your prescriptions. I encourage you to have them filled and keep them on hand. You can take them as needed. And I might also suggest you should keep a dream diary – reoccurring themes in your dreams could give you solutions to whatever is troubling you. From what you describe, the symbolism your dream mind is conjuring is telling you that you do have control of yourself and how you react to outward influences, whether they are pleasant or not. You might like looking at Carl Jung's work on dreams."

 "I will do that, Dr. Prichard," Katherine said. 

 They finished their session, and she shook his hand, took the prescription sheet, and put it in her backpack. She walked out of his office and stopped to say goodbye to Margaret. The office manager was an older woman who had always been strictly business. She gave Katherine a few papers on reduced session prices, but they were still too expensive. But Katherine thanked Margaret and prepared to leave, "Katherine, here's my number," Margaret said, scribbling on a bright pink sticky note. "Call me and we'll talk if you ever want to chew on somebody's ear, okay?"

 Katherine grinned at Margaret, took the sticky note, and pressed it to her phone in the front pocket of her pack. "Thanks, Margaret, Talk to you soon!"

 She left and walked out to her SUV and got in. She started the engine and let it run a few minutes before she put it in reverse and drove out of the parking lot. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she turned onto the boulevard and headed home. She glanced in the rearview mirror then glanced at the digital clock and saw that the library was already closed for the evening. She could read up on Carl Jung online and put in her requests from her online account. She took the scenic route home and enjoyed the beginning fall colors of the trees. Finally, she drove up her street, turned, and rolled up into her driveway. It was dark, and the chill of the Georgia winter was a bit on the raw side. Now that she was pinching pennies, the thermostat of her central heating was set low that she had to layer up and keep a warm thermal blanket in the living room if she was up reading or playing the piano. She hurried into the house and decided to have Ramen noodle soup for supper. She would dress it up with a beaten egg and a few chopped chives she grew along with other cooking herbs on her kitchen windowsill. Like take-out!

 Katherine no longer had cable, but she still maintained her Internet, so she entertained herself by looking at videos and free streaming movies. She also took advantage of the free services available through the library. She watched old movies and took museum tours with different university notables. She searched Carl Jung and watched a free educational course on Symbolic Archetypes. As she sipped her broth and wrapped the long thin noodles around her fork in small balls of noodles she watched the first episodes of the study by Carl Jung. A British professor sat in a wingback chair in a cluttered office full of old books, astrolabes, and models of the human brain. "Jung regarded the psyche as made up of several separate but interacting systems. Jung labeled these archetypes the Self, the Persona, the Shadow, and the Anima/Animus."

 She watched the entire series and at the end, she began to think of her "Shadow". The animal side of her personality. The source of both her creative and destructive energies. She went to bed pondering her Katherine Shadow. She got up and dug through her box of supplies from her classroom and found a composition book. She liked a certain kind of pen and found one at the bottom of her backpack. She like how the cool silky metal felt in her fingers and decided that she would write her dreams down and see what her Katherine Shadow would reveal. 

 Almost like clockwork, her dream came. This time a part of her was aware of more details. She was standing in brilliant sunlight then a shadow began to swirl around her. She looked down at her hands. There were ropes of light wrapped around her wrists. She felt herself being pulled in different directions. No! None were worthy! She felt the bright warm sunlight glittering on the ropes of light and then there was a swirl of shadow weaving around her head. She looked up but could not make out any details. Then she felt it – the surge of power! She opened her arms wide and let it pour into her! A gift, she accepted the gift and cried with both sadness and happiness, this powerful gift was hers and he had given it to her! She tried to see his face, but it was only a shadow. The power of light and dark poured into her, and she was glorious! 

 She sat up wide awake! Someone had been calling her name, it was a voice that was very familiar sounding. She knew that voice! She looked at her hands, palms up. She half expected to see the ropes of light still around her wrists, but there was nothing. She grabbed her notebook and pen and started writing. She wrote everything she could remember down, but by the time she was done, it was only a partially remembered feeling of greatness.