4 Doctor

With Adam gone for the business trip, Jessica was home alone. It never bothered her. She even liked the solace and freedom to some degree. She wasted a few hours rewatching the same TV shows that she had watched several times already. She felt a faint stingy feeling in her head. It was a precursor to a spell of excruciating headache if not tended to. It meant that it was time for her medication. She rushed to the fridge and pulled out the leftovers of the night before. When she was done with the meal, she took out her pills. Only the last of each pill remained. It was time to resupply. She winced. There went her dream of a lazy day. Jessica took the keys of her car and walked outside. 

The Beetle raced through the dark roads. For a moment she watched out for the suspicious black sedan but it never appeared. She was done glancing at the rearview mirror every now and then. It was way past the general office closure time so the roads were deserted. There was scarcely a car or two in view. The roads were dark. She drove over to the pharmacy in a matter of minutes. She stopped her car and deliberated for a moment. It occurred to her that it had been a while since she had paid a visit to her doctor. A visit was due soon. Since she had run out of pills, she decided that it would be better to visit him in case anything had changed. She started the car and drove on. The doctor was just a couple of blocks away from the pharmacy. 

Before long, she was inside the clinic. Dr Gupta had been an old friend and the family doctor of Adam. He was a fun guy. He always came up with ways to make his patients comfortable. And there was no doubt whatsoever regarding his expertise. Jessica sat in the waiting room, silently judging every patient sitting around her. A kid with a broken arm sat with a cast. The change in weather and the sudden rise of excitement in the children coming out of their houses to play, may have been the reason behind the cast. A few senior citizens awaited their turns. They didn't have any visible signs of distress. They were probably there for a routine checkup. A woman sat there with an infant. The baby slept like a log but Jessica could hear the baby’s chest gargle every time it breathed. It was going to take some waiting. After what felt like an eternity, it was finally Jessica’s turn. An older lady with short hair and horned glasses, who had worked as an assistant for Dr Gupta for as long as anyone could remember, emerged and peeked into the waiting room to see if there was anyone left. Jessica was the last one for the day. The old lady didn't bother to even pretend to love her job. 

“Come on in!” she shouted in a heavy and inhospitable tone. Her cold behavior was not new for Jessica. She brushed it off and went inside. 

Dr Gupta was a brown skinned bald man in his late forties. He was a thoroughly professional man. He wore a pair of rimless glasses that rested at the tip of his long nose. He could pacify  even the rowdiest of children with his numerous ways. When Jessica entered the room, he looked visibly exhausted but seeing her, gave his battery an extra bar. It had been a while. 

“Long time no see!” he exclaimed and welcomed her into the room. Dr Gupta was delighted to see her and the feeling was mutual. They shared a brief hug and Jessica went to the examination stool. Not an inch was deserted on the walls of his office. There were all sorts of anatomical charts, health infographics, art-works made by patients and his certificates hanging all over the room. There were also a dozen or so books scattered around on his table. One or two were about psychology and how the human mind works. 

“How’s Adam?” Dr Gupta asked casually. Jessica gave him an odd look and he got the hint.

“Oh! Pardon me! What brings you here today?” he rephrased. That was more like it. “Anything troubling you?” he added.

“No. It’s just that my pills ran out and it had been a while since you last examined me so I figured I should drop by,” Jessica responded. Dr Gupta looked away, in deep thought, and slowly nodded. He spent half his days preaching to his patients to get themselves checked as soon as they feel something odd. But this preventive visit troubled him. Jessica had been suffering with splitting headaches since her accident a year ago. In addition to the headaches, her memories from before the accident were cloudy. She could almost remember some things before they vanished. Adam had been instrumental in making her remember what she did but there was a lot that was beyond Adam’s help. There were nightmares that made no sense. There were gaps in memories. Faded voices out of nowhere. 

“Are there any new symptoms?” he asked after a long deliberation. 

“No.”

“Are the pills acting up?”

“No.”

“Any incident that I should know about?”

“Umm… No,” Jessica responded after a short pause. 

“The scars ache?”

“No.”

“Then there’s no need to change anything. Continue the same pills until something tells you otherwise,” Dr Gupta advised. Jessica seemed to concur. 

“And since I’ve now asked about your health, how’s Adam?” he said and snickered. Jessica rolled her eyes. Adam and Gupta had been high school mates. They were extremely close and hung out whenever they got a chance. 

“He’s fine too. He’s out on a business trip. He’ll be back in a few days,” Jessica responded. Dr Gupta shook his head. 

“Busy guy,” the doctor said. Jessica shrugged. There was a brief silence. 

“Any awkward dreams or nightmares lately?” the doctor asked like he always did. It hit Jessica like a truck. She had almost forgotten about it.

“Yeah. I’ve been having recurring dreams. Well, I don't know if they would count as recurring because they are not exactly the same but the setting is always similar,” Jessica explained like a motormouth. Dr Gupta was curious.

“What exactly do you see in those nightmares?”

“Not all of them are nightmares. Some even end on a good note but they are all on a corn field. There is some hut that desperately needs some renovation. There’s an old man and a couple of kids,” Jessica described. The doctor was deeply invested to the point of being anxious. 

“Did you read or watch something of that theme lately?” the doctor asked. It dawned on Jessica. The westerns that she watched with her husband on repeat, often had that theme. 

“I guess.Yeah.”

“So that settles the matter of the setting. But other than that, is there any message or hint in them?”

“Like what?”

“You know, being chased by something or walking around naked?” he elaborated.

“No. Nothing like that,” responded Jessica after a brief pause. The doctor slowly nodded. 

“Nothing to worry about. Just eat healthy, get eight hours of sleep and don't miss your pills. You’ll be fine,” Dr Gupta announced and stood up from his chair. He let out a noisy yawn as soon as he was on his feet. It had been a long day for him. Jessica took the yawn as a signal for her to hit the road. She said her goodbyes and left the clinic. She drove off. 

As soon as she was out of the clinic, the calm on Dr Gupta’s face faded away. He wanted to call his friend and tell him all about it but he decided to tell him to his face. He pulled out his diary and wrote down all the info he had recovered from his friend’s wife. He knew that it was going to be hard but he had no choice but to wait.