You work as a doctor at a hospital. Having graduated from a prestigious medical university from overseas with a stunning PhD in Psychology, you were immediately recommended to a famous hospital in Beijing once you were back from your studies.

Truthfully, you worked because your aim was to help people recover, not because the pay was high. As time passes by, new diseases were discovered and more people would get sick. Even though you knew you couldn’t stop death, but at least you tried to save lives. Your parents had once opposed your decision of being a doctor because to them, being a doctor meant that you were responsible of countless lives which is a very huge burden.

You went abroad and studied nonetheless, it was your dream to save people after all and how could you say ‘no’ to a scholarship? And now, after years of working, you have met all sorts of patients with different types of sickness. Whenever you look at them, you’d feel the need to spare them of the misery that has bound them to the confines of the hospital like invisible shackles.

‘Sir, I believe you are experiencing trauma.’ The doctor said. Kris had been dreaming and having flashbacks about his violent past for the past few days, he had resorted to seeing a doctor when he couldn’t take it anymore. He had red eyes, dark circles and his skin was pale as if he had seen a ghost. Even his hair had lost its shine.

‘I cannot prescribe any medications for you since it was ineffective but what I can do is refer you to a friend of mine who’s a psychologist, maybe she will be able to help you with your condition.’ Kris just sat there silently, not a word escaped his chapped lips. He was too tired to move his muscles after all that’s happened. The doctor gave him an envelope that contained the reference letter and told him to go home and rest, Kris obeyed and thanked him then left.

The next day, Kris woke up when the sun was already high in the sky. He hadn’t gotten much rest and sleep was a luxury he couldn’t afford since his past came back to haunt him. Deciding to pay a visit to the hospital, he showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes and grabbed his car key and the reference letter. Fortunately, the hospital wasn’t far away from his home and parked his car once he arrived. Once inside, he got registered and waited patiently for his turn.

You were in your office, doing your paperwork once you were done doing rounds at the wards when a nurse came in and told you that a patient was here to see you, you nodded and the nurse went out. She brought in a man in his late twenties, his hair was unkempt, his skin was pale and his eyes were red. You could tell from the looks of it that he was deprived of sleep.

You gestured for him to set down, he did so and gave you an envelope. Inside, you found a letter from your friend that you had met when you were studying for your degree. You put the letter down and looked at him, getting ready to converse with him.

‘Uhh… Mr Kris, is it? Would you mind telling me what happened these last few days before you came to see me?’ You asked him. ‘Just calling me ‘Kris’ would do. I haven’t been able to sleep for these past few days and I’ve been having the same nightmare over and over again whenever I close my eyes.’ He explained.

‘Could you please tell me what those nightmares are consisted of?’ Kris stared at you with those tired red eyes of his before telling you every detail of it. ‘It would always start with me being alone in a cold, dark basement. I don’t know what I was doing there in the first place but I found myself chained there, not able to move but there were dirty, unwashed plates and bottles of unfinished water. The bleak, grey walls then started to ooze out some kind of thick and viscous black fluid, since I couldn’t move, I was choking on it and the next minute, I found myself in my old school.’

‘It was still the same and it was evening but the sun was red as blood, casting everything into a shade of an unsettling red. I was wearing a school uniform, I started walking and all of a sudden, girls started to come from everywhere. I was being harassed ually, they were touching me everywhere and even parts where they shouldn’t have. I grew uncomfortable and tried to escape but they wouldn’t let me pass. The girls then changed into some kind of horrifying monster with long bronze claws and blood started to seep out of their crazed eyes.’

‘They’d ask me where I was going and then they overwhelmed me, leaving me screaming when they clawed through my skin and my blood gushing out. Every time I would wake up with fresh scars overlapping my old ones on my skin and I don’t know if I actually did that to myself. Please help me doctor, I don’t know what to do anymore…’ He trailed off, tears were falling off his face as he pleaded. Your heart softened and you were determined to help him.

‘I will see to it that you are freed of your nightmare, I will help you with everything I know. I will be your physician and everything you tell me will be a secret, discretion is part of a requirement but for that, I need you to tell me everything including your past, can you do that for me?’ You asked him. Kris just stared at you, he seemed to be thinking whether or not should he reveal his past to you. After contemplating for a long time, he gave you a short nod, indicating that he agrees to do what you had ask of him.

‘Right, I will