Who Are You? What Do You Want?

Who Are You?
What Do You Want?

     Darlene suddenly sat up in her bed with a shocked look on her face. She didn’t say a word. But her husband, Jasper, could see what happened in the semi-darkness. The only light in that room came from the street lamp barely seeable just outside their bedroom window. Jasper sat up too. Then leaned on his elbow as he looked at his wife.

     “It happened again - didn’t it? That’s the second time tonight. You need to get some help. This has been going on for almost six months.”

     “It’s been a lot longer than that.” Darlene didn’t look back at Jasper when she said they. She just continued staring straight ahead – with blank look on her face now. “It’s been over a year since this all started.”

     “I’m talking about these dreams that you have been having. It was a couple of times a week when it first started. But now it’s two or three times a night.”

     “I don’t consider them just dreams anymore. They are more like nightmares now.”

     “What was this one about? You know it helps you calm down when you tell me about it.”

     Darlene didn’t say anything for about a minute. “I should be the one telling you that.”

     “I want to help you. But I can’t do that if you don’t let me.”

     “It’s not that I don’t want you to help me. I just don’t know how to tell you about this one.”

     Jasper rolled over onto his back. Then suddenly he sat up too. “This wasn’t your normal nightmare – was it?”

     “No, it wasn’t. I was in a dark alley when I heard it. Why I was there I don’t know. And that’s what I don’t know how to tell you.”

     “You were in an abandoned building in the dream you had earlier tonight. Now you’re in a dark alley. These dreams are getting worst with each one. There has got to be a reason why you are having them. We just need to figure out what that reason is.”

     “Don’t you think that’s what I have been trying to do. It was bad enough when wherever I went I would hear them. But now they have invaded my dreams too. And it’s driving me crazy.”

     “That’s why you need to talk to me about them. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me about them. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to me then you should go to another shrink.”

     “You know I hate it when you call us that. I’m a psychiatrist – not a shrink.”

     That time it was Jasper who didn’t say anything for about a minute. “I’m sorry. But you know how I am when I’m worried about you.”

     “Do you know what the worst part of all of this is? The whispering is so low that I’m not even sure if it’s a male or a female.”

     “Don’t change the subject. We are talking about you getting help in solving this problem.”

     “I’m not trying to change anything. I want to know what is going on as much, probably more, than you do. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about this latest one. Because I knew how you would re-act to it.”

     Neither one of them spoke for several minutes. They just started taking deep breaths to calm down. Jasper started it first. Then a few seconds later Darlene joined him. It was Jasper who finally spoke first. “See, I do listen to you. This is how you get your patients to relax when they start getting out of control.”

     Darlene suddenly stopped breathing. She stopped in mid-breath. Then she finished it as she looked over at Jasper. “I’m not losing control. The only reason why I started doing it was because you were doing it.”

     Jasper stopped breathing too – then smiled at Darlene. “I only did it because I knew you were going to do it too.”

     “You think you are so smart. But it’s not going to work. I’m not going to talk to another psychiatrist about this.”

     “I still think that you should. You said it yourself a few minutes ago, that you have been trying to figure this out. And you can’t do it. Maybe another shrink, I mean psychiatrist, can help you do that.”

     “That’s another reason why I didn’t want to tell you about this dream. I don’t need to talk to anyone. I’ll figure this out on my own. After all, I am a psychiatrist too. And I am a very good one.”

     “Yes, you are very good. But you are a Puberty Psychiatrist. You deal with children who are having trouble dealing with growing up.”

     “These whispers are coming to me. And like you said earlier too, there has got to be a reason why this is happening to me. That’s why I have to figure it out on my own.”

     Dead silence once again for several minutes. Then Jasper smiled. “I think I know why you are getting these whisperings. Do you remember that shipload of kids who disappeared about a year and a half ago?”

     “Yeah, I remember. So what does that have to do with me?”

     “Could one, or more, of those kids be a patient of yours? They were all around that age weren’t they? Maybe one of them have been trying to contact you for help.”

     “I guess that’s possible. But why are they whispering it to me. Why not just come right out and ask me for help?”

     “Maybe they can’t. They tried to do it everywhere you went. And that didn’t work. So they started doing it in your dreams.”

     “I’m not even sure any of those kids are my patients. And even if at least one of them were I don’t think they have psychic abilities. I am sure that would have come out during therapy.”

     Jasper had to think about that for a minute. “Maybe they don’t. But someone else taken might have that ability.”

     Darlene didn’t say a word. She just got up and went over to her computer. After sitting down she turned it on. Darlene didn’t even take the time to get dressed. Jasper, also without any clothing on, joined her a few seconds later. He stood behind her as she started taking her keyboard.

     “You really shouldn’t be standing over me like that. But since I’m not trying to access my patients I guess it’s okay.”

     “If you’re not accessing your patients then what are you trying to find. The way you jumped up and ran over here I thought for sure that’s what you were doing.”

     “I’m looking for a list of the children that disappeared. It’s a long shot. But you may be right about the whispering. I still don’t understand why they are trying to contact me through whispers though.”

     “I have also been thinking about that. And I think I know why they have been whispering too. Maybe they are whispering because they don’t have the power, strength, whatever do contact you directly.”

     “If that’s true then we have to find a way for them to talk to us without whispering.” Darlene suddenly smiled. “I found the list.”

     Darlene leaned for and started reading the list. She mumbled a little as she did it. After a few seconds she gasped. “You were right. Three of those kids were, was, my patients.”

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     It took about a month but those kids were found. Thanks mostly to Darlene – with a lot of help from Jasper. She also got a lot of assistances from the other Puberty Psychiatrist in the area. Darlene did that for several reasons. One of them was for them to check the list for their patients. Another was to find out if any of their patients were psychic. The biggest reason of all was that Darlene wanted to know if anyone else was getting any whisperings.

     Darlene not only learned she wasn’t the only one going crazy, but there was a young girl who was a psychic. She also learned that girl wasn’t a very strong one – yet. Which meant Jasper was right about that too. That did explain the whispering. That girl just wasn’t strong enough to speak above a whisper.

     They still had a very big problem though. How were they going to find those kids? Darlene had the answer to that one. She let herself be whisper to within her dreams. Only that time she didn’t try to pull away from it. Darlene instead tried to get that young girl to hear her. She told her how to communicate with them. And it worked too.

     All those kids had to do was to ban together to give that young girl the strength to be heard above a whisper. Those kids joined hands around her. Then closed their minds so that she could concentrate on being heard. With a lot of help from a group of adult psychics that girl was finally heard. And those kids were finally found.

     Those kids weren’t abduction by some sick person, or persons, and killed – or worse. Their one-day cruise turned out to be another Gilligan’s Island. Only instead of seven adults it was a little over a hundred children who had been living on an island not too far from where their ship went down – or from where they lived. The adults on that cruise tried to save those kids, and they did, but they all died trying to do it. Those kids have been on their own ever since then.

     There was an investigation into the disappearances. But it didn’t last long because everyone thought they were either dead, if they were luck, or taken. Thanks to Darlene, and Jasper too, that was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mysteries that small seaside community had ever had – and hopefully ever would have.

     Darlene, and Jasper, were there when the ship returned from rescuing the kids. The whole community was there – especially the families of those kids. All the children wanted to thank Darlene personally for rescuing them. So did the families too. Only they did it before the kids returned – and after. That day became Darlene’s Day. They celebrate that day every year. And they always would. Even after Darlene had passed away they would celebrate the day those kids returned home.