A Secret on Raven Block - Raven City Part Two

17

Kendall spent the next week trying to research shapeshifters but couldn't find anything reliable. Everything she was finding was alleged since there wasn't much information about shapeshifters yet so she was left with nothing. She wanted to know more about them since she was neighbors with a family of them out of curiosity and to try to get to know more about them. 

She hadn't spoken to Kameron or Kayla since that night and had made sure to stay away from them. She always looked outside to make sure they weren't around before going outside and if they were out at the same time as her, she moved quickly and got away before they could say anything to her. She knew he wanted to say something to her because she always sensed him staring at her but she didn't want to talk to him. Now that she had calmed down after that night, she knew logically that Kameron or Kayla hadn't been trying to hurt her. If they had been planning to harm her, the woods would have been the perfect opportunity and they'd been kind enough to help her find her way back to her house. So it wasn't because she was scared of them that she was avoiding them.

She was embarrassed. She'd overreacted to the extreme and made a complete idiot out of herself. Sure, it was shocking and horrifying to see a shapeshifter, but it was the way she was running through the woods, screaming like a complete idiot, and got lost that made it hard for her to look him in the eye. She didn't think he had laughed at her freak out - at least she hoped he didn't - and he had apologized and was kind to her, but it didn't lessen the mortification.

She hadn't told her family or her friends about the Patterson family being shapeshifters. Kameron certainly hadn't tried to hide the fact from her but she didn't feel like it was hers to tell and with protestors still going on about banning supernaturals, she figured it would be safer to keep it to herself. Not that she thought her friends or family would go around gossiping about them or harassing them, but she still felt like she should keep this to herself.

She forced the whole situation from her mind as she turned on her computer so she could have her weekly session with Dr. Young. There were only two days of summer vacation left and she needed to try to enjoy her last two days of freedom before she began her junior year. ACTs, algebra, English, chemistry, deciding which college she wanted to go to. . . Yep, she was going to have a busy year.

She logged into her computer and clicked on the Zoom meeting with Dr. Young.

"Hi, Kendall," Dr. Young said with a bright smile when Kendall logged onto the Zoom meeting. "How are you?"

Kendall smiled back, happy to see her therapist. Kendall had been reluctant to see a therapist at first since she didn't like opening up to strangers, but from the very first meeting she felt like she could talk to Dr. Young and she always left their meetings feeling better. "I'm good, how are you?"

"Good. So what would you like to talk about today?"

Kendall launched into what had been going on with her this past week and told her how she felt about starting school. Their session went a lot quicker than she expected and was surprised to see they had only ten more minutes left and she hadn't told Dr. Young about her dreams.

"Is there anything you want to go over before we go?" asked Dr. Young.

Kendall hesitated, questioning whether or not she should talk about this, but decided she might as well since she kept having them. "This is going to sound weird, but I keep having this same dream over and over again. It's been going on for the past month and a half."

Dr. Young frowned. "Are they about when you were possessed? Have those nightmares come back?"

"No, these are completely different," Kendall told her every detail about the dream to the best of her ability. "And the thing is, it's always the same. Nothing's ever different and I have no idea why."

Dr. Young frowned. "That is unusual."

"Why do you think I keep having them? I'm confused and I don't know what to do."

Dr. Young thought about it for a moment. "Whenever someone has recurring dreams, it's a sign of a person that has unresolved difficulties and conflicts in their life. I would understand it if they were dreams about it being when you were possessed, but I'm confused about why it's about a shapeshifter and your neighbor. Have you had any problems with your neighbor?"

"No," Kendall said truthfully. "The few interactions we've had he's been nice to me."

"Do you have any negative emotions about shapeshifters?"

"No. I'm intrigued by them, even a little scared of them, but I don't have any hatred for them."

Dr. Young thought about it for a long moment. "Honestly, I have no idea what to think about this. I've never heard of something like this before."

"Do you think something's wrong with me?" Kendall asked nervously as she felt her anxiety start to rise.

"No, no," Dr. Young assured her. "Nothing like that. How about this? Let's not worry about it, okay? Try to relax and enjoy your first week of school and I'll try to think of an explanation of why this is happening. I'll try to come up with a solution by our next meeting."

"Okay," Kendall said hesitantly.

Dr. Young gave her a reassuring smile. "I promise, everything will be okay. I'll see you next week."

"Okay. Bye, Dr. Young."

"Goodbye, Kendall. Have a good evening."

"You too."

Kendall logged off and leaned back in her chair, thinking over what Dr. Young said. She hoped Dr. Young would be able to come up with an explanation about why these dreams kept happening and that it didn't mean anything was wrong with her.

She glanced outside her window and saw Kayla Patterson in her backyard playing with a soccer ball. Kendall watched her for a few minutes before reaching over and closing the curtain. She wanted to put the Pattersons out of her mind and forget about that night.