Jake’s POV

I reappeared back in my Mum’s house, in the room I had been staying in whenever I asked Suma to send me back to England. Because Suma was staying in another city at the moment, I had been here for a few nights, rather than my room at the base. At the moment, I was lying flat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I opened my phone and scrolled through the contacts until I saw Dr. Maxwell’s name. I pushed it, and waited for her to answer.

“Hello.” She said.

“Hey Doc. It’s Jake.”

“Hi Jake, how are you?” She asked. I stayed quiet for a moment; I honestly didn’t know how to respond.

“Do you have any appointments available for today?”

“Do you need to come in right now?” She asked, concerned.

“I… Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

“Okay, come anytime, I’ll stay late and send Veronica home.” I thanked her, and hung up, then drove to her office.

It was about five in the evening at this point, and because it was winter, the sun was already starting to set as I pulled into the carpark of her office. Walking in, I noticed most of the lights had already been turned off, and the receptionist was already gone. I walked to her office and knocked on the door.

“Jake?” She called out.

I opened the door, “Yeah. Thanks for letting me come so late.” Dr. Maxwell was sitting in a chair across from the couch, reading a magazine.

“It’s no problem. What’s going on?” She said.

I sat on the couch, “Suma suggested that I should come see you.”

“I’m glad to hear that she is keeping your wellbeing in mind. Did something happen?” She asked, and put the magazine down.

I sighed, “yeah, sort of.” I spent a few minutes explaining what happened, and the dream, and I even started talking about the problems with the detective. It was like as soon as I started talking about what was going on, everything just started pouring out of me all at once. When I finally finished, I felt better, lighter even.

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“Wow… I’d nearly forgotten how good it feels to come and talk with you. Thank you.” I said.

“I’m always happy to listen, but if you don’t mind, I do have a question.” Dr. Maxwell said. I nodded for her to go ahead. “I’d like for you to tell me more about this dream. Are you sure it was a memory, and not just that, a dream? I know you said that, in the past, you’ve been worried about what will happen when you do eventually go to war, and how it might affect you.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure it was a memory, and not just my imagination. Over the last two years, I’ve had to get pretty good at telling the difference. But yeah, I guess I’m still worried about that.”

“Jake, it’s okay to not fight. Not everyone has what it takes to be a soldier. I’m sure Suma would understand if you did ask to leave.” She said.

“I know she would, but I don’t want to leave Suma alone… I can’t.”

“Can’t? Can you explain what you mean by that?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe it’s because I’m her familiar, and that’s playing into it somehow, or maybe it’s just because we are friends, but the thought of leaving her behind… I just can’t do it.” Dr. Maxwell nodded her head, and wrote something down in a notebook she had on the coffee table beside her chair. “Do I sound crazy?” I asked.

“No Jake. That makes sense to me.” She put the notebook back down.

“Thank you again for letting me come so late.” I said.

“It’s no problem. Besides, it’s probably better to have these kinds of conversations alone.” She smiled. “Do you want to make an appointment for next week while you are here?”

“Sure,” I said, and we set a time for another appointment, one in which she would go to Suma’s world and talk with her too. After that, I drove home. Nearly three hours had passed since Suma sent me back to England, and night fell over an hour ago.

“Man,” I whispered to myself while driving, “I sure let time get away from me in there.” Eventually, I arrived back home, and noticed something was off. There was a grey Sedan parked outside the neighbor’s house. At first, I thought it was just that they had guests, but when I drove by, I saw someone in the passenger seat duck down. I couldn’t see into the car, but I could guess who it was. “That detective again.” I groaned. I thought about getting out of the car, and confronting her, but realized that was a bad idea. Instead, I pulled into my Mum’s driveway, went inside, and called the cops. About a minute and a half after I hung up with 999, the Sedan drove away, and three minutes later, the police arrived. They took my statement, asked a few questions, and even talked to the neighbor’s whose house the car was parked in front of. Apparently, a lady matching the detective’s description and saying she was a police officer told them that she was posted here for a few nights to watch out for someone who was breaking into houses in the area. The police then stationed a patrol car outside my house for the night, in case she returned. After all was said and done, I called my lawyer, Robert, and told him what happened.

“I’ll take care of this, Jake. You made the right decision calling me.” Robert said after I explained what happened. “She won’t get away with blatant harassment like this. Trust me on that.”