‘DR. LORETTA TORRES.’
Julian stared at the name on the rectangular gold frame nailed to the door. Nancy had somehow managed to convince him to come here. After looking up different professionals on the internet, this was the only one they could get that was within town.
Parapsychologist? Each time Julian tried to roll it off his tongue, it sounded strange to him. Like an Arabic language. Where did Nancy get all these kind of ideas?
Julian did not realize he was staring at the door for almost five minutes until a voice called out to him.
“ I think she’s ready to see you now, Mr. Fernandez.”
Julian turned around to see the secretary by the desk. She had an amused look on her face. Probably wondering why he hadn’t gone in five minutes ago.
“Right. Thank you.” He replied.
He knocked twice before he entered the office.
A woman sat at the table looking over some papers. Julian deduced she was either in her late twenties or early thirties. Her hair was dark red. It almost reminded Julian of the color of blood. It was straight and flanked her slightly oval face which had pouty red lips and blue eyes underneath thin red eyebrows. It was clear that she was a natural redhead. He compared the color of her eyes to Nancy’s and deduced that hers were darker.
“Mr. Fernandez.” She stood up and offered him her hand. “It’s good to meet you.”
Julian took notice of her accent. It sounded Hispanic.
“The feeling is mutual.” He accepted her hand in a brief handshake.
“Please, sit.” She gestured to the seat at the opposite side of her desk.
Julian sat down and surveyed the office. There was a huge bookshelf beside them and a large refrigerator at the other end of her office.
“So, Mr. Fernandez. How may I be of help to you?” She sat down.
“It’s something that has been happening to me for the past two days.” Julian began. He stared at her and she nodded her head for him to go on.
“Of recent, I’ve been seeing something strange. A tattoo.” He added.
“A tattoo?” She propped her elbows on the table and leaned her chin on her fists, her interest piqued.
“Yes. It just randomly appears on people. People I know. The problem is no one sees it except for me.” Julian said.
“ Are you sure?” She raised her brow.
He nodded.
“And it gets worse. Less than twenty-four hours later, those people bearing the tattoo die. And in a gruesome fashion.”
“How gruesome are we talking about?” She asked.
“It’s very complicated. It’s like they burn from the inside. I never witnessed the incident with the first victim. But the second, I saw with my own eyes. I only saw the corpse though. But I know it was connected somehow." He said.
Loretta stared at him without saying anything. Julian could not tell if she was trying to scrutinize him, or she was just plain confused. She squinted her eyes as if she was trying to peer into his soul. Julian found it unnerving. After seconds that seemed like eternity, she leaned back into her seat.
"Mr. Fernandez, I'll have to admit this is the first time I've heard of a case like yours." She said.
Julian didn't know what to make of her statement. His left eye twitched suddenly as a slight frown appeared on his face.
"Wait just a minute," He said. "Are you insinuating I’m—"
"Far from it, Mr. Fernandez," She said calmly, raising her hands in surrender. "I would never have that kind of view against my clients. Especially one I'm just getting to know."
Her answer seemed to placate him, and the frown vanished from his face.
"Now concerning your case," She resumed. I have no doubts about your story. Just because it sounds bizarre doesn't mean it's not true. There can be only two ways we can handle this situation. The first one—"
Loretta paused and stood up abruptly. Walking towards a drawer beside the shelf, She opened the top layer and pulled out a pendant. Julian stared at it, raising his eyebrows in curious fashion. It was silver and had a small green ball at the end. Smiling slightly, she sat down and dangled it in front of his face.
"Hypnosis." She said.
"You're being serious right now?" Julian questioned.
"Believe me, Mr. Fernandez, some ways to deal with paranormal occurrences is to believe they don't exist. Once your mind becomes synchronized to a particular belief, it tends to ignore contradictions and set your emotions at ease."
Julian said nothing in response as he tried to process her words. The more he tried, the more they ended up not making any sense to him. However, since this was her profession, he had no choice but to wait and see how it all panned out.
"Now I need you to stay still and don't move." She instructed.
Julian obeyed and sat still. He kept his eyes open and looked straight at her.
"It is all an illusion," Loretta began, her voice sounding like a low drone as she dangled the pendant in front of his face. " It is not real. The tattoos you see are not real. You will leave this place after the session and go home in peace. You will have a great time at home and forget you ever saw them. It was all nothing but a dream. A very strange dream."
Loretta ended her action and speech and stared at Julian. He had a blank look on his face. It was almost like someone else was in control of him at the moment. A smile of triumph was about lighting up her face when he suddenly shook his head and blinked back to reality. He gave her a disappointed look.
"Well, that didn't work." He said.
"Are you sure?" Loretta was surprised.
He nodded.
Her look of shock gave way to a smile as her lips twitched upwards in amused fashion. She stood up and dropped the pendant on top of the drawer. Sitting down once again, she sent a studious glance his way.
"I'll have to admit that I'm quite surprised, Mr. Fernandez," She said. "That method usually worked for my clients."
"Probably because their cases were not as severe as mine." Julian said dryly.
"Okay then, we move to option two."
"And what's that?"
Loretta didn't reply at that moment. Instead, she stared at him with the smile still drawn on her lips. Julian rubbed his neck nervously at her gaze. Why did she keep giving him that look? As if deriving enjoyment from his discomfort, her smile widened.
"Option two," She finally broke the silence. " We talk more about this over dinner."
Julian almost fell off his seat in shock. Was she suggesting what he thought?
"I'm sorry, I wasn't sure I heard right, " He said, regaining his composure. "It's almost as if you're suggesting we go out on a date."
"That's because I am." She laughed.
"Mrs. Torres—" Julian began.
"It's Miss, actually." She corrected.
"Miss Torres," He continued. "Isn't this deviating from the very reason I'm here? It's almost as if you're not taking this serious."
"Of course, I'm taking this seriously," she replied, her smile lessening a bit. "Which is why I'm suggesting we talk more over this. I have a feeling your state of mind has something to do with this issue. I'm using this outing between us a means of a part time interview. "
"Isn't that what is happening right now?" He asked.
"Yes, " She replied. " But let's try a change of scenery. "
Julian shut his eyes tight as he contemplated her offer. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tried to see reason in her logic. How in heaven's name was a date going to solve his predicament? Was she trying to toy with his mind? He had never been on a date in his life. Was she aware of this? Because this was too soon. Way too soon. He finally opened his eyes to see her expectant gaze on him.
"Fine," He conceded. " Let's try option two."
"Wonderful." Loretta clasped her hands together in glee.
Julian gave her an inquisitive look and she quickly cleared her throat.
"Sorry," She giggled nervously. " I almost lost myself there."
She reached beneath her desk and pulled open a drawer. She picked up a card and handed it to him. Julian collected and inspected it. It was a complementary card.
"That's my number," She said. "I'll be expecting your call next week Saturday."
"Thank you, Miss Torres." He stood up and offered her his hand.
"Please, Mr. Fernandez," Loretta accepted his hand. "Call me Loretta."
Julian noticed his hand was still in her grip longer than normal.
"Right," He pulled his hand away abruptly and cleared his throat. "I'll see you next week Saturday."
Nodding curtly, he turned around and left her office. Outside he sighed and stared at the card containing the contact details in his hand. What was he getting himself into now?