Jonathan stared at Jodie for a while, unsure what to make of her. His insecurities and trust issues played up at this point, and he stood up from the chair and stepped back a bit, assessing her face for a sign of mischief.
"You face off monsters in people's minds for a living and you've been doing so for more than five years. Why would you run away from lil' ol' me now?"
Jonathan looked at her. "Because seeing another psychotherapist is a rare experience; we aren't even up to 20 in the entire world. So how and why did you find me?"
Jodie smirked. He was as skeptical and pessimistic as she expected. He'd been hurt, and he'd learned to guard his heart and his entire being from anyone to avoid getting hurt again. "It's not hard to find a renowned therapist who has thousands of five-star reviews and lives in the same state at you..."
He turned to her. "You also love in Brooklyn?"
"Yeah, Queens at that. Once I heard about you, I knew you had to be one. But I didn't know what made you so good - as a psychotherapist, you must have gone through a terrible experience to reach that level, and as such you should have your own monsters. I was curious as to how you managed to get so strong, even while battling your own demons."
"So your coming here to exorcise your demons also had a side mission of getting to know the source of my ability?"
"That and more. And I confirmed that it was negative emotions, just like I suspected. I know how you think you've tamed those monsters, but that's a cluster growing in you. More than two at that. They're draining you, Jonathan. Slowly, but surely, and you know this."
She was right. Over the years, his ability had reduced steadily. Even this previous battle had injured him, and he felt very dizzy. Sitting back in the chair, he looked at her.
"So what are you saying?"
"That you need to get rid of them."
"Why?"
"I can't. I'm not strong enough to..."
"I'm not the kind of person you can lie to, Jonathan." Jodie's smile vanished. "I'm not the kind of person you SHOULD be lying to either."
In an instant Jodie was within my subconscious, which was a huge cage. In a corner were seven mosnters, all fully humanoid with different variations. Wings, tentacles, multiple arms; they were more like demons.
Jonathan was shocked. Nobody should have been able to get inside his head like this, not this easy, with all the precautions he'd laid.
She was standing with him in the center of the room, and the demons went wild at the sight of her, while she just smiled.
"These monsters are still here because you do not want to let them go. You're not ready to address the issues that created these demons, are you?"
"It's impossible for me to forgive. I can't do that, so I'd rather become stronger with the demons inside..."
"Lies. I hate lies, Jonathan. You are just unwilling to forgive your father, that's all. That's why you keep on fighting this losing battle. Your father is dead, I know you must have heard it because you have followed him up this entire time, unable to approach him because of your hatred. But it's time to face these demons and get rid of them."
Jonathan turned to face her. "You're not a weakling either. So why did you come to me to exorcise you when you could do it yourself?"
"I really couldn't. I was unable to fight my demons because I was too sad, too weakened by the trauma to want to let go of what I felt was my mother's memory. I needed you to fix that up, and believe it or not, the talk we had was more effective than the whole action inside of me. And I got to see inside you too, so now I'll help you how you helped me."
She tried to face the demons.
"How can you do that?"
She smirked. "First, by revealing their true form."
She snapped her fingers, and the chains restraining the demons vanished. They lunged at her, but soon their movements were constricted, and they began to clump together, changing shape and becoming smaller as they moulded to form my worst nightmare.
Jeremiah Kane, his estranged father.
"You've finally come to handle me, haven't you? And look, you brought a little appetizer as well," he said in a guttural voice, smiling.
Jodie didn't look fazed as it approached.
Thebsecen began to change. Suddenly I was in what looked like tar, and I was sinking inside it. As Jonathan tried to release himself, all he saw in the reflections from the black tar were moments from his childhood, where he was sick, weak, sad, neglected and looking for attention that he would not get from his mother.
He couldn't struggle.
He was sinking.
Fainting.
Dying.
"Yes, that's the weight of your own despair. It's been a nice adventure battling you all this while, making you think that you could still fight for your life, that was already mine from the..."
"We'll be changing scenery now!" Jodie said.
In a second, we were in the wild rose garden. I was shocked. Were we in her her...
"This girl is something..." The demon said. "But that can't do anything to... AARGH!"
Its groan of soon was explained when Jonathan looked at its feet. The rose had turned into a vine, wrapping itself around his feet and growing long thorns that pierced through his skin.
The roses around seemed to grow.
Was the bush draining him of...
"Yes. My wild roses drain core energy from whatever tried to manipulate this realm, whether it's negative or positive. That demon tried to manifest those memories in that sinking black tar again.
Jonathan's father tried to break free using energy, but the bush few and wrapped itself around his arms and then his torso and neck, biting into his flesh further and draining more energy. Soon, they began to see the effects, his legs changing back to tentacles.
"That was a huge amount, in such a little while. He's losing the humanoid transfiguration at an alarming rate."
Finally he broke through, but he could see that he'd lost a lot.
Jodie whispered. "While we're here, he can't access your life force. But I can't keep us here for so long, he's fighting my will and he's so strong."
"How long can you give us?"
"Three minutes."
"That's enough."
Jonathan's father looked at them with scorn, then jumped into the air before sending his tentacles crashing down. They managed to dodge all, but he kept retracting and attacking over and over, giving them no breathing space.
"Now would be a good time to use your power!"
"I'll need a tactic. Can your roses five me a boost?"
"Yeah!"
Jonathan's father looked at the two scurrying. He went for another attack, and he missed, but he lost sight of them in the scattering roses. When all settled, Jonathan wasn't there anymore.
"Where the.."
The whoosh behind him alerted him. Turning, he saw the psychotherapist being hurled at him by a rose whipped around his neck.
He couldn't bring the tentacles back fast enough.
"This is an expression of all I ever wanted to do. A meteor of the tears of loneliness!"
For the first time, Jonathan used positive energy. And it was brilliant. Flowing as tears from his eyes, they turned into several thousand needles, raining on the demon with force and crashing him to the ground.
Jonathan landed with a roll, surprised at the amount of positive energy he was able to summon.
Jodie looked. "It's not over. Yet, anyway."
His father's face was gone. The entire humanoid look was gone, with the tentacles. What was there was a seven-headed hydra. Its true form.
"Now that I've been reduced to this, I'll never let you go. You're weak, and so is the girl. Well soon be back where you belong. That place of despair, where I'll time and kill you!"
"How many minutes left?" Jonathan asked
"Two." Jodie said.
"Then I'll need you to put two minutes worth of energy into one attack"
"Why the..."
"Just do it. When I give the signal, cmake as many roses as you can wrap around him and drain him."
"That won't be enough to..."
"Trust me. Now!"
She snapped both of her hands and instantly, the vibes wrapped around the demon. The roses blossomed fiercely, and the demons screamed.
"Draining me? That won't work you piece of..."
That was when it saw Jonathan. With a sword. The sword he used, except this time it used positive energy. In one strike, it completely decapitated all seven heads of the hydra.
In that instant, they were back in his subconscious, with Jodie falling to the ground, tired.
There was only a mere, flickering shadow instead of a demon.
"H-How..." It started.
"I had let go of my father's memory and all he did by the first time Jodie attacked. That was why you started transforming back, and not because of the energy drain. You were just clinging to the reserves you had after draining me for years, but my bottled up positive energy was able to neutralise most of that. You're just a ghost of my past, and I'm ready to let go of you now. Begone!"
It faded away with a shriek, and Jonathan's subconscious seemed to melt. At last what remained was a clear lake and a bridge on which he and Jodie were standing.
"You're okay?" asked.
"I'm stronger than you know."
"Let's go..."
*****
They were back, and both sporting nosebleeds. Jonathan laughed, heading her a handkerchief from my pocket as he went to get some tissues.
"So..."
"So..."
She smirked.
"What do you want to do now you're free?" She asked, smiling.
"You know, I've never dated one a goth girl..."
She beamed now. "What better time to try than now?"
He finished. "And who better to try with than you?"
*****
I just felt that stories like this always needed romantically. How did you like it? Remember to leave comments and like!
😆😆😆Thanks.