Altered Images

Chapter Twenty Seven ~ The Imaginary Friend

"Hello again Skye. It's great to see you," Sandra said as I sat down in the chair.
"It's good to see you too!" I said cheerfully. This was the third time I had spoken to Sandra and she'd made me feel so much better.

"So how's the journal been working out for you?" Sandra asked as she opened up her notebook and turned to the next free page.
"Really good," I said truthfully. "I feel like I can let everything out in it and not have to worry about other people reading it."
"That's great to hear! Now I know it's a bit odd to bring this back up but...the first time we met you mentioned you used to go to a counsellor when you were younger?" Sandra said out of the blue.
"Oh yes when I was about 7 or 8." I was shocked. I hadn't expected her to bring that up again.
"I was just wondering if you knew why your parents sent you to go see her."

This felt strange. I hadn't really talked to anyone about this.
"Well my parents told me I had issues," I said bluntly.
"Do you know what kind of issues?" Sandra asked, looking intriuged.
"Well, when I was young I had this invisible friend and apparently I used to do crazy things and tell my parents that my friend told me to do it. It was nothing though, loads of kids have imaginary friends," I said.
Sandra suddenly looked up.
"Can you remember her name?" Sandra asked.
"Xara Wilde."

There was a long pause. Sandra continued writing in her book as I stared out the window. I was watching a bird who was perched precariously on the edge of a branch.
"Skye?" Sandra asked.
"Yes?" I replied quickly.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Um, yeah," I replied wearily.
"You seem a bit distant. You have for a while now, last week, this week. Is there something bothering you?"

I stopped to think. Is it too soon to tell Sandra? She is a counsellor so that is her job. But if I tell her about the book she'll just think I'm crazy. But no, I decided. I had to tell her, I had to get it off my chest.

So I told her.

I told her everything. From finding the book in Carols shop, to all 6 murders and the entries which kept appearing in the book. I told her about the dream and how it had felt so real. Then about how I thought that Carol was innocent and how I didn't know how to prove it. Sandra rarely moved. She just occasionally nodded, looked up then continued writing.

"And that's everything!" I said slightly out of breath.

Sandra didn't say anything. She just kept writing. I looked at her strangely, I thought she'd be looking at me like I was crazy or at least panicking a bit about all the murderers. But she just kept writing.

A few moments later she looked up and opened her mouth. But no words came out so she closed it and breathed deeply. She must have caught a glimpse of the time and suddenly said:

"Oh my, look at the time!" It was almost half past two. "Wow time really does fly!" She said.
I just kept staring at her, I couldn't understand it. Had she just blocked everything out and not listened to a word I'd said?

"Well that was a good session wasn't it?" Sandra said quickly. "I'll see you at the same time next week. Bye!" she said as she practically shoved me out the door.

As I walked home I thought about the session today. How strange it was. She seemed so intrigued about my imaginary friend but didn't seem to care about the fact that a mass murderer was writing entries in a book which I had. And how I keep having dreams where I feel like I'm the one killing all the people. If anything I have more on my mind now than before the session.

Maybe it was too soon to tell her.