Session Two:
Mequi stood just inside his office, having spent the past week listening to the recording of Chance talking about Mequi’s own life. There had been so many details that Mequi himself had never heard of, but, upon Mequi’s life reaching a point where his memory had become possible, the details came out crudely familiar. Somehow, Chance knew of Mequi’s life and the therapist was determined to find out, but he was also afraid to. Worst of all, though, was that Mequi did not know how to go about asking how Chance knew.
A gentle knock sounded on the door and the therapist stiffened before turning and opening the door for a stranger to enter. Startled, he nearly asked for the name of whomever it was that stood before him, until he realized that the “stranger” was actually Chance Kelly. He was surprised with what the young man wore.
Instead of a loose denim pair of blue jeans, he wore low-rise, slim-leg black jeans with a tight black t-shirt over a white and pink striped long-sleeved shirt of loose fabric. His shoes were pink converse all stars and he had forty different types of bracelets, from thin plastic wristlets to thick metal chains to studded leather bangles to cloth bands, around his tiny wrists. A white leather belt with silver beads all over it hung loosely around his hips and a spiky collar was around his neck. Even his ears had not escaped the strange fashion and were pierced with sharp earrings while his eyes were outlined with thick black eyeliner and mascara. He had even died a chunky strip of bang a bright red to go with his sudden reverse wardrobe. His eyes now stood out like brilliant orbs of green light that penetrated Mequi deeper than he would have ever desired to be penetrated.
In a bizarre way, the look was both stunning and attractive on Chance and he did not seem embarrassed to be dressed in the attire.
“I’m sorry.” Chance whispered as he came through the doorway, his voice holding a faint rasp. “I was busy and I could not change into something proper.”
“That is quite all right.” Mequi reassured the young man, but he was still shaken by the startling change. Chance had seemed so much more self-possessed than this and now it appeared to Mequi as if Chance had no self-control at all. It was not as if the young man did not have self-restraint, but his outfit seemed to hint at something feral and amok. “You may either sit or lie down on the couch, your choice. Would you like some water? I also have orange juice and strawberries if you would like.”
“Water sounds fine for now.” Chance stated as he sat down. “How are you?”
“I am fine.” Mequi stated as surely as possible. He had prepared himself for this day and was positive that he would not lose his mind again like he had the past session. “And you, Mr. Kelly?”
“I’m fine and you can just call me Chance.” The young man stated. “Mr. Kelly sounds like you’re talking to my dad.”
Mequi smiled at that statement. “I understand. Would you like to start?”
Chance took a deep breath and then lied down on the couch as Mequi took his seat and hit the recording button. “Well, I had left off with you on your first day of school under Vienza, posing as your new tutoring teacher. You enjoyed your days with Vienza and the first half of the school year flew by nearly flawlessly…but your life has always been one of tragedy…starting with this day…the day when your biological mother chose to finally make contact with you…”
~~*~~
A knock sounded jittery upon the door and Mequi stiffened from where he was in the kitchen, trying to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Vienza was sitting at the table examining the boy’s past arithmetic test and he perked up at the sound. Barbara rushed from her dressing room, wrapping a silky wine red robe around her body, as John jogged in from his study room to answer the door.
Mequi came out of the kitchen and peeked into the front parlor as his father opened the door. There stood a bubbly young woman with camouflaged cargo shorts hanging loosely off her hips and revealing the straps of her pink v-string underwear. She had on a black spaghetti-strapped top baring a pink butterfly on one breast and her lacey bra straps could also be seen. Her clunky black army boots were caked in fresh and old mud and her hair, a bright dyed red, was done up in a wild ponytail. Her eye shadow was a soft baby blue and her full lips were coated in a think layer of pink lip gloss that shone in the light of the chandelier. She wore little else as far as cosmetics and little else as far as jewelry save for a couple of gold charm bracelets on her left wrist.
“Hey, there!” She greeted John with an enthusiastic chirp in her voice. “Nice to see you again, Tobbinson! I’m Tammy, in case you don’t remember, and I’d like to take my son home with me now to live with me.”
Barbara’s hand whipped up to her mouth as Vienza stood and edged towards Mequi, waving the boy towards him when Mequi glanced in his direction. Mequi obeyed instantly, clinging to the man for protection as he eyed the woman suspiciously. Who was she?
“I’m sorry, Tammy.” John frowned as he tried to answer calmly. “That’s not how it works. Barbara and I adopted Mequi from you. He’s my son now. You can have visits, but you can’t keep him.”
“What?” The young woman’s eyes grew wide with his words. “No! He’s my son and I’m taking him home now! I was told I could! I was told that I could take him home as soon as I became an adult and found my own place!”
“I’m sorry.” John shook his head as he began to harden his voice. “Whoever told you that was lying. Mequi’s my son and he’s not leaving. I’m sorry.”
“No…” Tammy’s eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”
“Mommy…” Mequi reached for Barbara at that moment, drawing the attention of the young woman in the doorway. “Who is that lady?”
“Ruri?” Tammy’s face was bright as she shoved by John and ran to the boy. As she fell before him, she threw her arms around him. “Ruri! My boy! My son!”
“Who…who are you?” Mequi asked innocently as his face contorted into panic.
Tammy cast Barbara an accusing glare. “You never told him about me?”
“You stopped even returning our letters when he was still one!” Barbara defended herself as John stepped closer to Tammy and Mequi.
Vienza seemed perplexed about the situation, but was tense and wary. The past few months of personally tutoring Mequi had caused him to grow extremely fond of him to such a degree that he was nearly as protective of him as a father should be.
“Oh, I see.” Tammy seemed to not have heard Barbara’s statement; either that or she ignored it. “This is all a conspiracy to keep me away from my own son! You’re just like my parents! You’re keeping me away from him! You don’t want me or him to be happy!”
“You are barely even his mother anymore!” John growled back, reaching to take Mequi away from her, but she shielded the boy with her body.
“He is my son!” Tammy screamed back at the man, gripping Mequi to her body then she held him at arm’s length to look into his eyes. “You’re my son, Ruri. Your real name is Ruri. It’s Japanese just like your father and like my mother. My name is Tammy Kastich and your real daddy is Tasumi Tohru, Tohru being his name. He wants to meet you and he’s waiting in the car. You want to see him, right? He wants to se you, but you have to come in the car with me.”
Mequi’s brows were pinched in deep concern as he looked up at John for support. “Is she my real mommy?”
John let out a heavy sigh as Vienza went to the door to peek out. The teacher stiffened visibly before disappearing out the front door.
“She is.” John had hesitated for almost a full minute in an attempt to steady his voice, but his words had still come out uncertain. “And your real father is Tohru…but we raised you, Mequi, because neither of them could. We are your real parents…on paper…but they…gave birth to you.”
Mequi’s eyes burned with tears. “Why…why didn’t you tell me?”
“We didn’t know how…” John replied uncertainly.
“So, you just lied?”
Vienza came back inside at that moment, his face pale. “Tohru left.”
“What?” Tammy whipped around to glare at the man. “Who’re you?”
“Vienza.” The man replied. “I’m Mequi’s tutor.”
“Tutor?” Tammy seemed momentarily confused and then she quickly picked Mequi up. “We’re going to go catch your daddy.”
“No.” Mequi tried to wiggle out of her arms, but Tammy was strong. “I want to stay here. Make him come here!”
“Come with me!” Tammy shrieked, anger in her eyes. “You should obey your mom! I’ll take you places! Great places! I’ll take you to Japan to see your grandparents! I’ll take you to see my parents! We can go anywhere!”
“I want to stay here!” Mequi complained, still struggling as Barbara rushed to the telephone to call the police and as both Vienza and John moved to pull Mequi away from Tammy.
“Just because these people are rich!” Tammy accused, slapping the boy across the face hard enough that hot tears rolled down his cheeks, but he would not reach for the afflicted place, even as it grew red, nor whimper out a sob, even though his throat was swelling with locked up emotion. His parents had taught him not to cry. “I’ll take you to Tohru!”
“Let go of him!” John shouted and, when she would not comply, grabbed her as Vienza tugged Mequi out of her arms, her nails slicing the boy’s tender skin as she tried to keep her hold on his slender wrists.
“Give him back!” Tammy screeched, kicking, punching, and biting as John wrestled her to keep her away from Mequi. “Give me my son!”
Mequi watched the whole scene as Vienza hunted in the nearby bathroom for a first aid kit.
Finally, John was able to pin Tammy to the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead. Tammy screamed in defeat and defiance.
“Rape! Rape! Help! Someone’s raping me!” She crowed, her face red as tears ran down her cheeks. “Rape! Rape!”
Vienza carried Mequi up the spiral stairs and away from the scene. Inside of Mequi’s bedroom, Tammy’s screams were nothing more than muffled squeaks. Mequi cried as Vienza cleaned, sanitized, and bandaged the cuts on the boy’s arms, but it wasn’t the pain that caused him to cry.
“I never knew.” He sobbed, his eyes puffy and red as he held an icepack to his cheek where Tammy had slapped him. Vienza held the boy tight as they sat on Mequi’s bed. “I have a different mommy and daddy…”
Vienza gripped Mequi closer to him. “Mequi…don’t be sad or angry. I don’t think they meant to keep it a secret. I think, they just didn’t know how to tell you and were probably scared to tell you.”
Mequi closed his eyes tight. “Do you know my daddy?”
“Tohru?” Vienza smiled slightly as he gave Mequi a soft squeeze. “Yes. He’s a good man.”
“Why did he drive away?”
“Because he thought…that Tammy was telling the truth when she said that she could take you home to live with her from now on, but she was lying. He didn’t want to get in trouble.”
A shout erupted from downstairs and then there was the loud clomping of boots as someone quickly ascended the stairs.
~~*~~
“Are you all right, Mequi?” Chance asked as he looked at the trembling man. Mequi could not speak initially and could not unclench his hands. They were paralyzed in white fists. “Mequi…”
Chance leaned across the coffee table that divided them and placed his delicate hands on the therapist’s. Slowly, he pried them open and messaged them until their coloring came back and until they stopped quivering. “I’ll stop. I’m making you feel bad.”
“N…” Mequi tried to speak, but was forced to clear his throat first. “No…continue…”
Chance stared into the man’s eyes. “No…I’ll come back next week. My time is up anyway.”
Mequi twitchingly glanced at the clock and found that to be true. “Oh…”
Chance released his therapist’s hands and stood, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. “How much for this session and the other?”
“Pay me…” Mequi’s voice was tight. “Next week…”
Chance’s brows pinched. “But…”
“Please…” Mequi’s eyes begged Chance. “Please, go.”
The young man flinched at Mequi’s seriousness. “Yes…okay. I’ll see you next week then. Take care.”
With that, Chance left Mequi to wallow in his self-pity.
It took Mequi five minutes to move from his position seated in his giant black chair. He had to rethink all that Chance had said.
Why was it, when he had prepared so greatly for this, that he had suddenly lost all control at the mentioning of his mother? Subconsciously, he knew it was because he had shoved all remembrance of that occurrence from his mind, but he did not want to accept that as the logical reason. His brain kept searching for other reasons as to why he could be so greatly affected by Chance’s words.
He also could not understand how Chance could have seen the entirety of Mequi’s life and remember it so well in such great detail.
Had Chance experienced some form of impersonation? Had he dreamed all of this? Had he experienced something so rare for the human psychic that there was no recorded evidence in the history of mankind of it ever happening?
Mequi frowned as he gathered his notes, the recording, and his laptop. In his mind, he formulated a plan of first discovering exactly who Chance was and then planned to investigate all he could about impersonation, dreams, and anything that even hinted at what Chance had experienced. He would reach the bottom of this phenomenon and he knew that knowledge in and of itself would assist him in figuring out how to help both Chance and himself.
Greg Tells and Danielle Higgins both met him outside of his door. Greg was a strong man with a fanciful way of saying things. His brown hair was styled far more feral than Mequi thought was professional and his blazing eyes were cobalt in color. He could kill with a single glance if he had death on his mind.
“Are you all right?” Danielle asked as she placed a hand on Mequi’s arm. “You look pale.”
“I’m on a difficult client.” Mequi locked his office door behind himself. “That’s all.”
“Your client left looking better than when he went in.” Greg raised a brow as he glanced down the hallway through which Chance had passed earlier. “It’s almost as if he took off a massive load while talking to you.”
“Yup.” Mequi smiled good-naturedly. He would always be just a doctor or mediator for his clients and patients. “He took his load and laid it on me. His shoulders and back are too weak for it. I’m here to help him bare that load. He’s got a big one too…”
“It looks like it’s making you feel worse.” Danielle pointed out. “Are you sure you don’t want Greg or I to take this one for you?”
“Trust me.” Mequi tried to remain calm, but he wanted to be left alone. “He will do best with me.”
“One of those?” Danielle asked, her eyes worried.
Mequi took advantage of the opening she passed to him. “Yes, but you all know that, one, that’s my specialty and, two, all that goes on in that room is confidential…so…what do you do now?”
Danielle blushed. “Right. We’re all grown adults and we know what is right and wrong for our chosen career choice. You’re right, Mequi. Let’s all go out to eat then. I’m done with my work and I really want to have a lobster.”
“Sounds good to me.” Greg put in. “I’m in for steak!”
“I’m going to have to pass.” Mequi murmured as he started down the hall. “I’ve still got work to do and I’m not really in the mood to go out. Thank you, though. Maybe, next time.”
“Mequi!” Danielle called out in complaint. “Hey! Mequi!”
He ignored her as he walked down the hallway and out the front door. He had to do his research as soon as he got home or he would never again get his courage up to do so later.