"Are you ready for another session about your memories?" asked Dr. Williams with a soft smile. He put on his reading glasses and took a file from the blue table to his right.

"I think so, yes." I mumbled a quiet answer. I was fiddling around with the hem of my light blue shirt, not wanting to look him in the eyes. His glasses might reflect something.

"I’m glad to hear that, Timothy." He said in his deep and gentle voice. "Does the medication help you?"

"Maybe. A little. I don’t know." I answered him. It was unacceptable that I needed strong medication to even think straight. What would mother say if she found out?

"And never forget." Dr. Williams continued in a more serious voice. "Your mother isn’t here anymore. She has no power over you. These are just memories, and you are safe here. Just tell this to yourself like we practiced."

"We.. we did practice?" I asked him confusedly. Did we really? When was the last time I spoke to him?

"Yes Timothy. I know your memories trigger you, but we have to analyze them. You also want to know what happened to these people, right?" Dr. Williams told me while searching for eye contact with me.

I looked him in the eyes for a second and nodded. I really wanted to know.

"So then, let’s talk about your girlfriend. Tell me about what she said to you the day after…" he looked over his file again for a moment. "The day after Carl disappeared."

"You don’t look so well, my dear." Jasmine told me in a concerned voice. She even stood up from her reception desk and walked around it to hold my hand. It was excruciating. Why did she have to do this in public?

"I am fine." I told her with a smile while my stomach churned. "Why are you asking such a silly question?"

Jasmine looked a little startled and opened and closed her mouth for a few moments like a stupid fish. "But you…" she hesitated and looked over to Susan, who very obviously tried to listen to their conversation. Jasmine pulled me some distance away and started whispering. "You know, after you had to go home. Remember? Did you have a fight with Carl? I haven’t seen him since."

I grated my teeth and swallowed down the anger that bubbled up inside of me. "I didn’t have a fight with Carl. Why would you say something like this? Do you want to spread rumors about me?" I asked her with a disappointed look.

No, of course not." She said hastily while giving me a trembling smile. "I am so sorry. I just…" she bit her lip and smiled again. "I was just thinking… he followed you and also didn’t come back and…"

"I never thought you would think something like that about me. Carl and I are friends. I would never do something to him." I told her while backing away to a soothing distance.

No, I never…" she said in a panicked voice, but I had already turned around.

"Give me a moment for myself." I whispered in a sad voice and went over to the elevator. From the corner of my eye, I saw Susan hiding her smile with a document she held in front of her face. What a revolting person.

I went into the elevator and was luckily alone again. I crouched down and started breathing heavily. What did Jasmine talk about? What if other people thought the same? Would his good reputation just cease to exist?

I looked over to the mirror, sweat perling down my face. My mother stood towering right next to me. She was looking down at my crouched-down figure with disgust in her face. "You are a disappointment." She spat and slapped me in the face. Her sharp nails scratched over my cheek, and I felt the burning pain of freshly carved wounds.

"Fix it." She told me with barely contained rage while pulling me up to my feet.

"Yes m-mother." I stuttered, while at the same time dreading what would come next. Another slap hit me square in the face, ripping even more wounds into it. "And stop stuttering. You are no imbecile. You are MY child, and you will not embarrass ME."

"Yes mother." I pressed out, entirely focused on not making a single mistake. She let go of me with a scoff, right before the elevator doors opened. I hastily wiped the sweat from my forehead and put on a weak smile.

"Morning everyone!" I shouted into the room as usual. And as usual, the people cheerfully greeted me back. Most of them, at least. One or two looked at me with concerned looks. This had to stop.

My head and heart pounded while I joked around and smiled at people on my way to my office. Finally, at my office, my smile melted away like snow in the summer. I let out a shaky breath and started working.

First, I answered all the concerned emails from the participants of yesterday's meeting. I told them that it was probably something bad I ate. Jasmine was known as a terrible cook after she brought salty cookies to the office a few months ago. For a moment, I gritted my teeth in anger. Just thinking about this embarrassing memory made my stomach churn.

Luckily, nobody said anything about me having a fight with Carl. Which was very reassuring. My reputation might still be saveable.

With even more focus as usual, I started doing my work and commanded my secretary to reschedule my presentation. She knocked at my door, but I just ignored her. I didn’t have time for this disgusting person.

My day went by quickly after that. I was able to convince everyone who was concerned about me that it had just been a little indigestion. After the last one laughed with me again, I excused myself to go to my special place. I need some alone time now.

When I stepped into the empty toilet, I breathed a sigh of relief. It smelled bad in here, and it was horribly dirty. But I was alone. Nobody came in here.

I crouched down for a while to calm my nervous heart and steel my nerves. It was time to get evaluated.

I went over to the sink and took one last deep breath before looking into the mirror.

For a moment, I thought that my mother stood farther away than usual. But it wasn’t her.

An obese person was hanging in the air. Their limps were twisted at impossible angles, and bones were sticking out of open wounds. The face was so distorted and caved in that it was nearly impossible to tell who that was. But just nearly.

I wasn’t able to breathe anymore. With a gaping mouth, I turned around in horror. But there was nothing there.

I took a shuddering breath and walked to the center of the room. There was nothing there.

I tried to calm myself with a trembling breath. There was no way that Carl would be here. Especially not looking like this. My fantasy must have played a little trick on my mind again.

I turned around to look in the mirror again, not wanting to let my mother wait any longer. But there he was again. Hanging right beside me. I felt something cold and wet touch my cheek, and I jerked back while gagging.

I lost my balance and slipped to the ground. I landed with a quiet splash and hurried to get to my feet again. I looked down at myself, only to see that I was drenched in dark blood.

I gagged again and immediately swallowed the vomit that was coming up my throat. This was just my imagination. Just a little trick of the mind. My mother had to wait for a moment.

With a fluttering heart, I left the toilet again, leaving bloody footprints behind me.

This was just my imagination. This was just my imagination. This was just my imagination.

A scream shocked me out of my mantra, and I looked to the side. At the end of a hallway, my secretary looked at me with utter horror written on her face.

"That will never go out." I mumbled in disappointment while looking at the bloody stains on the driver's seat of my car. "I guess I’ll have to put a rug on it or something for the time being."

With a slight sigh, I closed up my car and hastily ran up to my apartment. It was in the middle of the night, but I still didn’t want anyone to see me all bloody. Not that one of my neighbors got the wrong idea about me.

When I came home, I pulled off my clothes as if they were on fire and stuffed them into a garbage bag. I grabbed my shoe brush and ran into the bathroom to wash myself.

I scrubbed myself with the rough brush until my skin felt like it would just peel off at any moment. But I was clean again.

With reddened and scratched-up skin, I came out of the shower. I finally felt clean again.

This day had been so exhausting. All this convinced me that everything was fine. My neck had probably never been more tense than on this day.

Lightly chuckling, I went into the kitchen to make myself a little snack before going to bed. But then the doorbell rang.

"Damn it, Jasmine." I swore in a quiet voice and went to open the door with a smile.

Jasmine stood there in a wide coat. She had made herself pretty. Her hair was artfully tied up, and she had put on some more make-up than usual. She smiled seductively, but this didn’t cover up the fact that her eyes were a little red and swollen.

"Can I come in?" she said in a sultry voice, her lips trembling a little.

"Sure." I told her with a smile and stepped to the side.

Jasmine hastily went inside the apartment and looked through every room. What a strange person.

She came back and looked me a bit sheepishly in the eyes. "You didn’t… meet your secretary after work, right?"

I couldn’t hold back a scoff, and my face contorted in disgust. "I would never. Are you accusing me of cheating on you?"

"No!" she said in a loud voice. I angrily stared at her, and she lowered the volume. No, I just… Never mind. I wanted to surprise you." She said with a hopeful gaze and opened up her coat.

I had to force myself not to jerk back when I saw that she wore lingerie underneath her. Only naughty girls wore something like that to seduce good boys. Luckily, there was no mirror in the entrance.

"I thought this might cheer you up." She said it again in a sultry voice while emphasizing her near-naked body.

"Why would I need to be cheered up?" I asked her with anger in my voice. I've barely held back by now.

Jasmine shrank together like my words had hit her physically. "I didn’t mean to…" she began, but was interrupted by me shouting at her.

"Is this your excuse? You always insult and question me, and you think you can make it up with sex?" I grabbed her by her neck and screamed directly into her ears. How else would she finally understand me.

"I am so sorry." She started sobbing and tried to pull my hand away. "Please, you are hurting me."

"Not good enough!" I screamed at her, while gripping her even harder.

"I just wanted to cheer you up. I heard you injured yourself!" she pleaded, crying like a child.

Her last sentence hit my mind like a truck. She heard I injured myself?

I ran into the bathroom and pulled off my clothes again. I checked my whole body, but there were no wounds.

"What happened to you? You are full of scratches. Don’t tell me, you and your secretary…" Jasmine spoke in a trembling voice while holding her bruised neck.

"Nothing!" I shouted back, trying to dress myself again.

"Please just tell me!" she said in a pleading voice, already starting to cry again.

"I said it was nothing!" I screamed while walking towards her with a cold rage inside of me.

"Good morning, everyone! Even though today is a beautiful day again, we have something more serious to discuss today. A man went missing the other day and…"

With a grunt, I switched off the radio alarm and sat up with a stiff body.

"Timothy." I heard a soft voice from my side. I looked over in confusion, only to see a strange man sitting in front of me. "I think we can stop here again."

"What?" I asked the man, pulling my sheets protectively over my body.

"You are not in your bed, Timothy. You are on a chair, right in front of me." The main said in his low voice.

I looked down in confusion, only to see that he was right. I really sat in a chair and even wore light blue clothes.

I looked up again, only to see a troubled expression on Dr. William’s face, which disappeared as soon as I saw it. He didn’t smile, and he also didn’t look relaxed anymore.

"Do you remember the moment when your mother died?" he asked me in a low voice.

"My what? My mother isn’t dead. What are you talking about?" I asked him angrily. That was extremely rude.

But he didn’t stop there. "You found your mother hanging in the bedroom of your parents. And your father was beating her with…"

He didn’t come any further because I jumped out of my chair and grabbed him by the collar. "Stop lying! That is not true!" I screamed into his face. Fear was openly visible in his eyes as he tried to push me away again.

"Stop lying! Stop lying! Stop lying!" I screamed at him over and over again before I felt a painful sting in my neck.

I turned around in confusion, only to see two men pulling me off of Dr. Williams.

My sight started to swim, and I could barely open my mouth. "What have you…?"