FLASH FICTION:-- HORROR, SCI-FI, HUMOUR, CRIME, SLICE OF LIFE, ETC.

Friday 13 December 2013

Sleep disorder

He had come to me seeking help for a sleep disorder, the chap did look rather haggard and worn out, and I told him I would try my best to help. I did explain to him that hypnotherapy was not always successful, and that not everyone succumbed to the deep relaxation techniques used, and needed, to achieve satisfactory results. He said he still wished to give it a try, and so we discussed my fees, and made the first appointment for the following Tuesday.

Many sleep disorders originate in guilts and anxieties stemming from childhood fears, and that would be where I hoped to start my analysis.

He turned out to be one of those classic patients, sometimes it can take months or even years to take a patient to the levels he managed to reach in just three sessions.

Under deep relaxation he spoke openly and freely about his happy childhood, about his wonderful relationship with his parents and siblings. He spoke in great detail about his privileged teenage years and early adulthood, about his university days, and the ensuing successful career and the financial benefits it had brought him.

And he spoke freely about the other stuff.

About the abductions, the rapes, the torturings, the murders and dismemberments.

Even when deeply under, he had actually laughed out loud when he recounted the futile efforts of the authorities to apprehend him. Seventeen cases, male and female, and the police were still no nearer to finding him.

What I had heard here was inadmissible as evidence, and I would not break the doctor-patient confidence even if it were. I could do nothing to bring back any of his victims, nor relieve the sufferings of their families. For what I was about to do I would be going to prison, probably for the rest of my life, but I was willing to trade my liberty for the lives of the victims yet to come.

Quietly and gently I spoke to him.

“Today you will reach a level of relaxation far, far deeper than on any other occasion, do you understand me?”

“Yes.” He whispered. His eyes remained closed, his breathing deep and regular.

“All you can hear is my voice, soothing and gentle...

You will continue to breathe slowly and easily...

Breathe in... and out...

Breathe in... and out...

all the while going deeper... and deeper... and deeper...

I am going to count backwards from five, and as I do you will feel your whole mind and body drifting down, down, down, to a place far deeper than ever before.

Five... starting to drift deeper now...

Four... relaxing more and more...

Three... hearing my voice, soothing and relaxing...

Two... deeper and deeper now...

One... almost there...

And zero... totally relaxed now, completely at ease and calm.

Hearing my voice, absorbing and following the suggestions I make.

And slowly, breathe in... and out...

And in... and out...

And in... and out...

And in... and in... and in... and in... and in...”

There was a loud splat as his lungs exploded, blowing his chest and ribcage to smithereens. Globs of blood, skin, tissue, and fragments of bone peppered the walls, furniture, and myself.

I removed my spectacles and wiped them clean with my handkerchief, walked across the room, picked up the phone and dialled the police.

“Hello? My name is Doctor Pearson, and I would like to report a murder.”


©2013 Stephen. J. Green.

24 comments:

  1. Oh well I understand why the Dr. did it, I don't understand how he got his lungs to explode though - but who cares with a rat bag like that he deserved to go out with a bang ;)

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    1. Heheh!! yeah, he went out with a bang alright. Maybe too quick an ending for someone like him though. :-)

      How he got his lungs to explode? He was directing him to breathe slowly In... and out... But on the line 6th from last he instructed him to breathe in several times (without telling him to breathe out) until the pressure exploded his lungs like an overinflated balloon.

      Maybe I should have added a bit more detail there, but I was aiming to keep the word count as low as possible.

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  2. Wow! Can that really happen?! I think the good Doctor only did what was best.

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    1. Hi Laura, I'm pretty sure that this would be physically impossible, but I did like the idea for a storyline.

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  3. I had hypnotherapy for insomnia and it was scary. I was told to read something under hypnosis and then forget I ever read it. When he brought me out, he asked me if I remember reading something and even though I remember the words to this day - "Consumer advisory product services" (from the back of a leaflet) the effect of him having had me under his control meant even fully conscious I wanted to please him so I lied and said no... That was 30 years ago and I'm still an insomniac...

    I'm curious why a serial killer, even one plagued by sleeplessness, would go to a hypnotherapist for salvation? In a similar way I accept my insomnia when my brain is whirring with story ideas, I would have thought the killer might have accepted the price of sleeplessness for constantly reliving his conquests in his mind?

    marc nash

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    1. Hi Marc, sorry to hear about the insomnia, I too suffer from that occasionally, as you say, things refusing to stop whirring around in your head., sodding nuisance when you need the sleep though, isn't it?

      I have heard it said that under hypnosis a person would not do anything they would not normally do when fully awake, I don't know how true that is, but I would never volunteer to take part in an act with a stage hypnotist, I find them quite frightening.

      I don't really believe a serial killer would seek help with hypnotherapy, their over sized ego would probably override any thoughts like that, but I just really liked the concept behind the story.

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  4. Creepy and icky! I've been watching Dexter for the first time, so I enjoyed this. :-) Nice work!

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth. Yes the idea is a bit scary, you wouldn't want the job of cleaning up afterwards either, would you? :-)

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  5. That ending was certainly surprising, it was clear the doctor intended to harm him but the phone call to the police I never expected.
    You have done such a fabulous job with the pace here Steve. Even though I wanted to rush to the end and find out what happened, I found myself slowing considerably as he counted down, as if I were being hypnotized myself (and no, I'd never consider it). :)

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    1. Deanna, that was exactly the response I was hoping for, it is really heartening when the reader hears the story in the same voice as the writer intends. Thank you for the lovely, confidence-boosting comment. :-)

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  6. I like how you subverted the presentation of your prose in attempts to calm a character down. That "other stuff" would mess up most of us.

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    1. Thank you John. I'm pretty sure that being in the hypnotherapist's position I wouldn't have listened to very much of the "other stuff" before I was phoning the cops.

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  7. I wondered what he was going to make him do. Simply keep on going down and never come up, or turn himself in, but I didn't see that coming! Nice and grisly end.

    I'm sure they couldn't prove it was the doctor that did it, but then if he didn't turn himself in would he be just as bad...?

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  8. Thanks John, I quite like the way this one turned out.

    It's good to hear from ya mate, I hope all is good with you too. :-)

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    1. I'm good. =) Trying (as always) to get some longer writing to stick. Working retail at this time of year isn't the most relaxing occupation though... ;)

      All well with you? =)

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    2. Yeah, I'm good thanks, looking forward to the Christmas break. :-)

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  9. Edgar Allen Poe would have loved this one (or been jealous of it).

    Very ethical of him to report a murder -- I suppose he couldn't fob it off as a suicide, though. Although, supposedly a hypnotist can't get you to do anything you wouldn't do on your own...

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    1. Thanks Katherine, for the very kind words.

      As John Xero commented, if he didn't admit to the murder, then it would, in his mind put him on the same level as the patient. He killed in order to save the lives of others, and was willing to accept the responsibility and the consequences for doing so.

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  10. I really like how this story tiptoed on the line between sane and insane.That doctor, rather calm wasn't he? And that patient, a bit of Jekyll and Hyde going on there, subconcious murders reflecting in sleep disorder? In another perspective maybe, the doctor made a concious crime stopping what might of been the ramblings of a sick man, strugling with his alter ego.

    Very neat story Steve. And exploding chests! Big bonus!

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    1. Hiya Cindy, it's lovely to hear from you, I hope all is good with you.

      You are so insightful, I did wonder if someone would say to me "Maybe he wasn't a murderer, and his subconscious was just making it up, and the Doctor killed an innocent man." And I was going to reply "errr..." (Heheh!!!)

      Thanks for the great comment Cindy, I liked the idea of the exploding chest, I have absolutely no idea where my muse grabbed this one from, but I like it. :-)

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  11. A very nice read. I wonder if another Dr might have just given him the suggestion to kill himself, but then we would miss out on exploding lungs, so good choice! :) lol.

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    1. Thanks Casey, I don't know if a hypnotist suggesting to someone that they keep on inhaling until their lungs exploded is a novel way of killing someone, but I like to think it might be. :-)

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  12. Hypnotists have always freaked me out...wonder if Derren Brown would go this far?

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    1. I can't see Derren Brown doing this Icy, the judge might put him in a cage that he couldn't trick his way out of :-)

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