"The Session" by Andrijana Ignjatovic

The session

”Welcome.” The man’s voice broke through the silence like a knife. His voice was dark and steady but in his eyes a light of amusement twinkled. He was seated in a black leather chair and at the huge desk in dark brown wood his fingers flew across the computer’s keyboard. Behind him the panorama-window showed a large silhouette of buildings. The night had once again lost in the futile battle over the electricity and lights that made the city bathe in eternal day. A soft dark brown carpet was on the floor and in front of him five chairs were arranged in an arch. Only one of them was empty. Today he had a group session. John Smith had successively treated patients for over twenty years. To him people from all over the world came, so that he could treat their fears and turn them into respected citizens of the world. Before him was his greatest challenge yet. He lived for challenges.

As Doctor Smith greeted his group of patients the door to his office opened and a man in a black robe entered. He let his hood drop and seated himself.

“Welcome Iladin.” The man smiled. His silver hair was short and although his face was that of a young attractive man, Iladin´s eyes burned with a light that made people think he was older. In fact he was very old.

“I´m sorry I am late. I had...dinner.” The man next to Iladin snorted.

“That’s one way to put it.”

Doctor Smith didn´t pay any attention to the two men. He scratched his head and typed something on his computer.

“Now, now, it’s okay. Never mind, Iladin.” Doctor Smith made a smile he thought was soothing. He always prized himself for having patience and today he was going to need all the patience he could muster. Doctor Smith’s therapy was that of conversation.  He believed that when you opened yourself up and revealed your fears to others, it was a cathartic feeling that made the whole spirit lighter. The people you opened up to were supposed to offer love, support and good advice and thus heal your difficulties. Some people made progress after only a few sessions, for others it took years. For the people sitting in front of him, it would take an eternity. At least that was his opinion.

 Doctor Smith clasped his hands together and looked at the man who had seated himself. He cleared his throat.

“Well, let’s begin. Today is our second group session. I hope that you all have given some thought to the questions I gave you the last time. Now, if Mr. Iladin cares to begin.”

The man with the silver hair was silent. His black robe made his hair and pale skin stand out even more. He sighed and looked at the doctor.

“Well…doctor. Time is that, which has occupied my mind for many years know. Everything is changing. Always. Constantly. People don’t believe in me anymore! I miss the times, when even the thought of me made people tremble. Nowadays I must flash my fangs and explain that I am of one the old ones, on of the vampires of Ancient days. I am there to make my victims tremble with fear, not there to tell them my whole life story. Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy what I do. I just feel a lack of excitement nowadays. What I don’t want is some nutcase begging me to turn him into one of the old ones“. The doctor nodded in agreement.

“So you feel that you need acknowledgment from your victims? Sucking out their blood isn’t enough?”

Iladin´s white eyebrows where wrinkled in thought. The man next to him looked scornfully at Iladin. His black shirt and black trousers gave him a stern and cold impression. He fingered at a blue ring that adorned his left hand and muttered something under his breath. Iladin turned towards the man, his eyes ablaze.

“I heard that, Rilan!” The man called Rilan looked at Iladin. He raised his right eyebrow in mock surprise and hissed:

“I know. You were meant to hear it.” Iladin´s eyes narrowed and he rose from his chair. He adjusted the hood so that only his green eyes, shining like emeralds could be seen. From a belt at his hips he put on a couple of black leather gloves and headed towards the exit.

“I deserve better than to be in this room, with this…this creature!” The doctor suddenly looked alarmed. He rose hastily from his chair and spoke.

“Now, Iladin, don’t do anything out of anger. Please sit down. I´m sure that Rilan didn´t mean it.

“Yes, I did.” Rilan said as Iladin seated himself next to him. Smith looked pleadingly towards Iladin, sighed and turned his attention towards the two figures seated next to Rilan. They were slender, well built and the most beautiful men John Smith had ever seen. The one named Sandarwyn had his fair hair in a braid and a black eye. His jaws were tightened and he sat rigid in his chair. Earlier he had expressed concern against sitting next to Rilan. The man made him uncomfortable. His brother Nitherem had dark hair and a bandage across his chest. His gaze was dark but the doctor noticed that he clenched and unclenched his fist absentmindedly.

“Do you want to share your story, Sandarwyn?” The fair-haired man didn´t seem to notice the doctor. He just stared with a blank expression at nothing. His brother Nitherem rose and made a gesture including the whole room. 

“This is the problem!” he cried out. The doctor was confused but after all he was a highly acclaimed psychologist so he said: “Yes, you said that something was a problem.” Nitherem didn´t notice the doctor’s helpful input. He rose from his chair, grinned badly and touched his bandage. He continued to shout out his difficulty.

“The problem is the lack of it!” he said triumphantly. Now Doctor Smith was very confused. He looked around the office. There where shelves behind the chairs bustled with very scientific and psychological books such as “Freud’s fraud”, “Jung lost in the jungle of dreams” and the twenty seven book long series “How your mommy and daddy screwed you up.” A dark leather chair stood alone next to the bookshelves and on a tiny table Bob the goldfish swam around, blissfully unaware of the strange visitors in the office. The blissful unawareness could also be explained by the fact that Bob was a goldfish and that his memory span was that of a mere three seconds.

“Would you care to define the lack of it?” John Smith said in his most serious and doctor like voice.

Nitherem looked at his brother who suddenly burst out in tears.

“Please“, Rilan muttered as he watched the spectacle with great amusement. Nitherem ignored Rilan´s comment and starred at the doctor with eyes huge of surprise.

“Where is all the green stuff?” John Smith raised an eyebrow and began writing something on his computer. Nitherem looked at him suspiciously.

“Stop writing. You are my psychologist. At least you can pretend to listen to me!” The doctor looked at Nitherem and stopped writing. “Very well”, he said. “Carry on.”

Nitherem made a grimace of pain as he slumped back into the seat. He patted his brother on the shoulder and began to speak.

“I can’t believe I have to point out the obvious. There are no greens! No flowers, no huge oak trees, and have you people ever heard of grass? It’s thick and soft to walk on, it smells of summer, and to my great surprise it’s also green!” Sandarwyn had finally calmed down but when Nitherem spoke of missing grass he snapped and began to cry again.

Next to him Rilan´s face turned dark. “For the love of the Morningstar!” Sandarwyn´s crying was interrupted by a cry of fear and pain. He turned his violet eyes towards Rilan.

“He pinched me!” Sandarwyn said with great indignation. “I have been pinched by this vile creature which worships darkness and all lawnmowers ever known to man.”

“Can´t you at least try to behave politely. I understand that you are a demon, the great Lord of Agony and Suffering, Torturer of all souls and all that. I know it’s hard for you to do…ehh, nice things. Just don’t forget our agreement.” Doctor Smith said. Rilan kept quiet but his jaws tightened with anger.

The doctor once again looked at the two elves. He thought for a moment on how he would ask them the question. Elves where apparently very touchy and sensitive creatures and if they imagined that he offended them in some way they would probably have a massive heart attack, or worse, burst out in song. John Smith took a deep breath.

“I see that your brother has got a black eye. And your chest, Nitherem, appear to be hurt. Did this happen on one of your rescue missions?” Sandarwyn rubbed his arm where the demon had pinched him and glared at Rilan.

“Yes”, he began. “We where leaving the greenhouse. But you know, plants and flowers are sensitive and we had to calm them down before leaving. To abrupt a leave would have traumatized the poor souls. “

Rilan interrupted the elf. “I know some poor creatures that already are traumatized.” Sandarwyn pretended not to hear and continued. “Anyway, we had heard rumors of a shop selling dead corpses bundled up in paper. How macabre and barbaric isn’t that?!” Nitherem nodded in agreement.

“We went to the flower shop and demanded in the name of all that is good and green that the wicked human surrender his horrid profession and release the poor flowers and all other that blossom.” John Smith’s eyes widened in surprise and amazement.

“And how did the owner react?” Sandarwyn was reluctant to continue any further, so Nitherem spoke.

“Well, he smiled and then he punched my poor brother in the face! That was totally unnecessary. We would be happy if he’d only given us the sunflowers. When darkness came we returned to the store. We found a huge rock on the ground and smashed a window. We managed to salvage one hundred and three roses, forty sunflowers, four orchids and a turtle. The owner had installed a devious alarm, and just as we where heading back to the greenhouse he appeared with a riffle in his hands. I stood in front of him, and declared that we where there to rescue the green prisoners. ” Nitherem smiled vaguely. “The owner seemed to understand, he smiled and all! A split second after that he raised his riffle and hit me over the chest! How could he?” Nitherem began to sob.

“I am so beautiful, I am a creature of light and green and happiness. I don’t deserve all this misery in this wretched place called city.”

The doctor nodded. “I understand how you feel.”

In reality John Smith didn´t understand, but as he was a world-renowned psychologist he always said what his patients wanted to hear, for the most part anyway.

“But you must understand that you can’t steal people’s plants, let alone break into their stores and homes.” Nitherem watched the doctor with a sullen expression on his face. “I don’t”, he said.

John Smith decided to leave the two elves for now. He turned his attention towards the man sitting next to the elves. Kaleh Loth was an angel, an archangel he claimed. His mission was to spread joy and love across the planet. Kaleh had the most positive spirit that John Smith had ever met. Unfortunately the average person couldn’t stand a person who was all jolly and cheerful twenty-four seven. Kaleh Loth also had an aura of arrogance around him, but that was not so surprising though, after all he was God’s most favored teddy bear. John Smith decided to do something that most men in his line of profession didn´t do. That was simply telling the truth.

“Listen, Kaleh Loth. Or I can just call you Kaleh. Your situation I can’t do much about. Just stop being so damn cheerful! You’re worse than a freaking elf drunk on a tablespoon of Smirnoff’s. People hate persons who are happy all the time. “

Nitherem looked angrily at the doctor. “I am not used to drinking poison, “he cried. “And it only happened once!”

Iladin and Rilan both laughed, but after looking at each other they stopped. Neither of them looked happy about the fact that they had laughed at something the other man also found funny.

The angel widened his blue eyes and his golden wings trembled. “Where has the love gone?  I am not sensing the love, people! I try to preach about God’s glorious kingdom. People should always be ready to hear the truth with a capital T. And if they refuse to do so I will cut them down with GUM!” (Widely know as God’s Undeniable Mercy!) He pointed at the huge gilded double-egged sword that was leaning against his chair. Rilan snorted.

“Please, “he said with a smooth voice. “Is that your problem? I demand that we speak about my issue. “Rilan watched the doctor intently. John Smith coughed lightly and began to pluck imaginary dust from his sweater.

“Well…” he began and stopped playing with his sweater. “The thing is Rilan, that we have laws around here. You can’t go around killing everything you lay your hands on. I definitely can’t help you with that.”

Rilan´s eyes narrowed. He touched his black braided hair, and looked scornfully at the doctor. He rose and tock out a pink piece of paper. “I quote!” Rilan spat.

“Dear future patient. Do you feel like screaming all day long? Have you recently had disturbing pictures in your head of killing fluffy kittens? Do you get an un-normal rush from watching ´The Smurfs?´ If so feel free to visit Doctor John Smith, a world renowned psychologist who can solve all your problems before YOU can solve a Rubik’s cube.” He tossed the paper on the floor. “It said all your problems, “he hissed.

Kaleh Loth sensed the tension and screamed out his advice.

“If we all say a prayer to God the Almighty, He will aid us! Because you are my most trusted friend Rilan, I’ll give you a discount on prayers! God will guarantee you an answer to your prayer…as soon as he can.” The angel grinned and almost gleamed of pride. “Now, let’s talk about world peace. It’s much more fun!” Rilan took one step forward towards the angel and slapped him across the face. Kaleh Loth looked sadly at the demon, but smiled again as he said:

“I´m sure that hurt you more than it hurt me.” Rilan said nothing. John Smith felt now was the proper time to intervene. “I do feel sympathy for you Rilan, I do, but when we put out the ad, we didn´t mean that killing too few men and women was a problem. In fact, that is actually a good thing.” Next to him Iladin adjusted his black hood. He smiled and glanced at the demon. Rilan turned towards the vampire.

“What are you smirking at?” he whispered. Iladin glanced back towards his brother of the dark.

“Nothing”, the man answered in a level tone. Suddenly he rose from his seat and pointed sharply at Rilan. The hood fell and revealed Iladin’s silver hair. Doctor Smith typed eagerly at the computer. Maybe he could put some of this neat stuff in his new book.

“That is enough! I will have you killed, wretched being. Stop whispering these things to me! I am telepathic you know!” As the vampire spoke Rilan threw himself at Iladin, nailing him with his own body against the wall. He whispered in Iladin’s ear. “You will do nothing! You filthy half breed.”

The angel was very upset and waving his huge sword. He couldn’t stand all the non-existing love that filled the room. He would have used his sword, but that wouldn’t have been very loving. Nobody took notice of him so he burst out on top of his lungs: “Think of peace and happy love, think of bliss and a white cute dove!” Kaleh Loth put on a happy face although nobody was impressed. Doctor Smith stopped writing and looked at the scene that was unfolding right in front of his eyes. This was not going according to his highly acclaimed psychologist plan. They should support each other…not kill each other. What should he do? Although Iladin was pinned to the wall by the evil demon-bastard he said angrily: “Shut up with your happy love song, Kaleh! This in not bloody Christmas and last time I checked you weren’t a bloody elf, where you!”

Both elves jumped as if being pinched. “Take that back! Why are everybody picking at us?” Nitherem spoke. “Elves don’t just sing and play with green things and flowers and are highly sensitive all the time. That is a prejudice against all elves! And besides, we only do it sometimes…Well, all the time to be truth to you. Well actually… all you said Iladin is true.” He looked alarmed at saying that so he ended his speech with: “But that is besides my point!”

Even Sandarwyn looked confused. Rilan had now a knife in his hand and was threatening to gut Iladin. Kaleh Loth was laughing and trying to spread his joy to those around him. The elves just looked like…beautiful elves. John Smith waved his hands in the air, while holding some papers. “The contract! You have all signed a non aggression pact. Now, please stop all the…aggression! This is not helpful at all!”

After some confusing minutes everything had calmed down. Sometimes one (Iladin) glared at another, or fists (Rilan´s) were clenching but all in all things where cool.

Smith sighed again, and clasped his hands together. That move always made him look professional, not that he needed to put on a roll. After all he was a professional.

“Now, my patients. You have all expressed your…ehh, concerns, to me, some more then others. I hope this process have been purifying for you.” Rilan touched his braids. “It would be more purifying if some blood did shed once in a while.” He smiled widely and looked at Iladin.

Doctor Smith ignored the input and gave them all a printed version of the contract they all had sighed when joining his therapy session. Once in a while a reminder couldn’t do any harm. He followed them to the door and waved them off.

“See you next week! Bring your must happy spirit.” Kaleh waved back. “We sure will doctor.” He turned to Rilan. “Ah, what a lovely day!” Rilan´s answer was just a hard fist in the angel’s stomach while murmuring something of brainwashing.

John Smith closed the door and dropped to the floor, exhausted. He felt like he needed therapy. After a moment he began writing on his computer again. He would cure them, even if it killed him.