No Fear!

“Doctor Goodfriend, please come in. My wife is very upset, and needs your help.”

She was sitting in a chair, a crumpled hanky in her hand. Her cheeks were puffy and smeared with mascara. Paul went to her and knelt down, showing his compassion to help relieve the anxiety that was plaguing her. “Susi, tell me what you saw so we can discuss it.”

Susi’s eyes filled with tears again, and her breaths became short, almost gasping at times. She played with the hanky, turning it around and around. “Doctor, I saw something dreadful.” Her body shuddered with short spasms. She looked up at Bobby and shook her head. “I can’t do this. I can’t say it, Bobby.”

“Doctor Goodfriend,” Bobby started, “My wife saw a woman holding a baby under water in a bathtub, and believes that it may have been her in a past life. The house she was in looked old, it seemed to be a long time ago. Doc, Susi hates water, she’s deathly afraid of it, won’t go near the waves out there.” He pointed toward the window as he spoke. “Like you said earlier, these experiences you put us through can determine why we have certain fears, so now she’s convinced that she hates the water because of the guilt of killing her own child.” Bobby struggled to continue. “We found out that Susi is pregnant a few weeks ago, Doc. But now she’s afraid she might try to harm the baby. Tell her that none of this is true, Doc. Make her understand that what she saw wasn’t her.”

“But it was me, Bobby!” Susi stood, and began pacing in the room, her anger setting in. “I felt the rage, I felt the fight, the thrashing of the baby. I felt the monster in the room.”