for me tonight, Krew, but hey, you’re not obligated to be my chauffeur or partner in crime fighting,” I finish with a soft laugh.
He remains serious. “What if I want to be obligated? What if I saw firsthand the damage done to you, and feel the need to help you figure it all out? You gonna kick me to the curb now?” He sounds almost hurt, but I’m not sure if he’s doing that for effect or not.
“Well, no,” I reply meekly. “But I know what I have to do next.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“Hypnotherapy. Got any recommendations?”
He reaches over and takes my hand in his, giving it a warm squeeze. “I just might have, Princess. Let me see what I can do.”
12
Removing the Band-Aid
Krew wasted no time in setting me up with some holistic hypnotherapy. As it turns out, when I show up at his office at one o’clock the following Sunday afternoon, he unlocks the door to the lobby, letting me inside and then locks it again.
I look around and see there’s nobody else here except for the two of us. I immediately feel a stab of apprehension.
“Umm . . . is the therapist here?” I ask tentatively.
“Right here,” he replies with a smile.
“What is this, Krew?” I blurt, my eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You invite me here on a day you’re closed, tell me to eat something before I leave my dorm, and allow no caffeine to pass my lips, which is the hardest part, and I get here and what?”
“I’m trained in holistic hypnotherapy,” he announces. “It’s just me and you for the next three hours.”
“Ohh–nooo,” I reply, “I’m not about to go through this hypnotherapy with you pushing the buttons!”
He looks at me with those golden-flecked hazel eyes and frowns. “Do you trust me Carson?” he asks.
I bite my lower lip. “It’s not a matter of trust, Krew. It’s the fear of this repressed whatever, not knowing how bad it is, being revealed with . . . you present.”
He helps me off with my jacket as if what I’ve just admitted is no big deal at all to him. “Listen,” he says softly, “there’s nothing you could say or reveal that would make me feel any differently about you. I’m not here with a Ouija Board, Princess. I’m a certified holistic hypnotherapy professional. I know you personally, I’ve worked with you professionally on the physical healing, and now I very much want to help with the emotional healing.”
I’m still not sure I want to continue. He sees my reluctance.
“How about this? We go into my comfort room, and I’ll lay out the process for you, from start to finish. If you decide against it, I’ll take you back to your dorm. Agreed?”
I exhale a sigh. “Yeah . . . I guess.”
“Great, follow me.”
We enter his comfort room, which I clearly see how it got its name. The lighting is soft; the walls are painted in pale shades of blue; the furnishings are upholstered in soft grey plush and match the thick carpet. There is a soothing water fountain in the corner, and some vanilla scented candles on the glass-top table next to the sofa.
“Take a seat,” Krew offers, his hand reaching out towards the sofa. The sofa has an array of pastel colored velvet toss pillows strewn about, and as I sink down onto it, I pull one of them against my torso hugging it like a child would a teddy bear.
“Nice,” I remark. “I see you know your stuff with the soothing, calming and stress-relieving decor.”
He takes a seat across from me on a matching love seat, and steeples his hands under his chin. “Carson, the important thing is that you feel comfortable and relaxed. Disregard any notions or preconceptions you might have on hypnotherapy, in particular, the holistic approach I use. You will be conscious, you will be in a deep state of relaxation, similar to when you might find yourself daydreaming during a class or maybe during a stakeout,” he says with a smile.
I return the smile, because already, his soft, deep, resonant voice has started delivering some calm. “Very funny,” I reply. “Please, by all means, continue.”
He does. He explains to me that 95% of our behavior is controlled by our subconscious rather than by our conscious mind, which yeah, kind of blows me away. He says the key for me is to allow my subconscious to come forth, and feed my conscious mind the information pertaining to the incident last October so