A New Essence

Chapter 5

If there was something which troubled Charlie, then it was the thought that Cora had gone through some kind of a trauma before her accident. Now that she said that she was feeling the lingering emptiness of a person meant nothing but trouble in big, bold letters.

"Someone is missing," Charlie repeated after her to confirm her sentence and she nodded.

"So, can you figure out if the person is a male or a female, so that we can have a little clarity on what you have in mind?" He probed. Who can be that person?

"I don't know," she simply said and Charlie slumped in his seat.

"Anything, Cora. Absolutely anything about that person will be fine!"

"I never saw a person, Charlie," she said looking scared. "I mean, I know that there is someone there, someone along with me when that incident is happening, but I can never see them. Do you understand?"

He did understand what she was trying to say. He has heard many patients of his tell him the same thing. They have memories of this person, but don't know who they are or how they look like. It is just a blur. But this syndrome arises only when the victim has gone through some kind of trauma with the person in their memories. The victim's brain often tried to suppress all the memories of that specific person because it wants to avoid the same kind of trauma to arise again. It was sometimes good for the patient, but often caused more troubles than benefits to the patient. Because, knowingly or unknowingly when the patient came into contact with the person in their memories, it triggered a serious response. Or that was the case until now with all the patients that he had dealt with.

Charlie smiled. "That is common, Cora. You don't have to try hard to remember this person. It will all come out naturally. So, how are you feeling apart from that? Did you adjust in your room?" He asked.

Cora knew that he was diverting the topic on purpose. No matter what he said, she was still stuck on that one memory which kept repeating as if in a loop. She was a child back then, she didn't remember all that much, but she was standing in one of those many balconies that their mansion had. Oprah called out her name, but when she turned, it wasn't Oprah who came towards her. It was someone else. That person had bright laughter which echoed melodiously throughout the place. When she tried to focus in on that memory at that specific person, her head hurt and the image which began appearing faded away. It was frustrating for her to see that it kept happening every single time she tried and her head was turning numb.

"What?" She said when she realized that he was blabbering away without her hearing anything.

"I said, if you follow a proper diet, then-" He didn't have a chance to complete what he was saying as she cut him off.

"Cut that out, Charlie. My head hurts." She said and he fell silent.

It was the first time someone stopped him mid speech and asked him to 'cut it out'. He was startled and kept staring at that woman in front of him. What was she? She was just so pale and petite in front of him. So fragile. Yet, she had the look of confidence in her, some sort of an arrogance which made him want to get closer to her. He really didn't like what she was wearing. He preferred women who were elegant and sexy. Tall and leggy blondes were more his type when it came to preference, but his taste lingered somewhere near his future sister-in-law, Caitlyn. She was elegant, classy and had the kind of composure which women and men alike craved for. But Cora wasn't even remotely close to the kind of women he liked. She was arrogant, rash, impulsive, stubborn and downright a spit fire. She made him want to strangle her at times, but at the same time he cared for her more than what was necessary in a doctor and patient relationship. He wanted to push all those kinds of thoughts away and concentrate on the business in hand, but the innocent girl inside that spit fire which begged him to help her gain her memories kept haunting him, clouding his head. 

"What are you staring at? Did you really miss me that much?" She smirked and he snapped back into reality. 

What was he thinking? He didn't like her one bit!

"Of course not," he smirked back. "I was just thinking of all the possible ways by which you can be cured as soon as possible so that you wouldn't have to step into this hospital again." When she narrowed her eyes, he continued, "about your headache you mentioned just now, how about I prescribe some medicines for you?"

She rolled her eyes yet remained silent. Soon, Charlie called in Audrey to speak to her about Cora and her session.

"Is there anything else you want to ask me, Mrs. Rhonda?" Charlie asked politely and Audrey fidgeted.

"Actually, Cora's father has a business party to host and it is mandatory that Cora should attend. Now that the news is out that Cora had recovered, everyone wants to see her. So, is it okay if she attends or should I ask him to cancel it?"

"As long as it is short and formal introductions without putting too much pressure on her to remember them from her past memories, it will all be good. Try not to stress her out and make sure that there is nothing or nobody in the people who are going to be present in the party to make her relive the trauma that she's been through. That much should be enough."

"Thank you, Dr. Baxter."

"Be good to all the people that come to greet you. If you feel anxious or tensed or suffocated, take this tablet immediately. Keep your emotions in control, okay?" He said and Cora gritted her teeth.

"My emotions are always in control," she sneered.

"I wish I could believe that," he sighed and turned towards Audrey. "If you think that the situation is going out of hand, then don't hesitate to call me right away, alright?"

"I'll trust you, Dr. Baxter. We'll take our leave then," she smiled and got up from her seat, whereas Cora simply huffed and walked away.

It was a few days after that when Charlie returned home from a long day of work that he met with a rather sticky situation at home. Jesse was beyond pissed and was pouting while staring at the blank television and Charlie could hear people speak from inside. When Jesse didn't reply to him when he asked what happened, Charlie made his way inside to find Jackie and his father discussing something over the dining table and Caitlyn helping out his mother in the kitchen.

"Look whose at home! If it isn't our beautiful and stunning Caitlyn Mackarren!" Charlie smirked and walked towards her with his arms spread open to hug her and Jackie suddenly popped up between them and Charlie hugged his twin instead.

"This is the second time, Jackie! Do you really like hugging me so much?" Charlie yelled as he recoiled from the hug. Caitlyn simply shrugged and went back to doing whatever that she was doing before he came.

"It is the opposite, Charlie. But I want your hands off my woman, so I am forced to do this," he said with a straight face and Charlie scoffed.

"Please! I'm not hitting on your woman! I'm just warmly welcoming her!"

"Then I expect your warm welcome to be said from a distance and be appropriate," he narrowed his eyes and Charlie backed off.

"Get away from me, you possessive freak! You are not my twin at all!" He shoved him slightly and walked to his father in a rather dramatic manner.

"How I wish I wasn't. You would never know," Jackie sighed and followed him to where his father was sitting. Their father watched them with an amused expression and Jesse rolled her eyes at the same old pathetic fights that the twins had.

"Dad, you love me more than Jackie, don't you?" Charlie questioned and sat down beside his father, simultaneously picking up an apple and chewing down on it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jackie scoffed and turned to his father, "I will be with you if you think that the party is that important. I can always send in Caitlyn as my replacement to that other meeting. Will you be fine with that, Kitty?" He asked and she blushed at her nickname. She asked him more than a hundred times to not call her that while they were among people, but due to habit, he could never implement her request and always ended up calling her 'Kitty', which embarrassed her to the fullest.

"Yeah," she nodded as she tried to regain her composure and Jesse pretended to gag behind them. 

"Sure. Send in your girlfriend as your replacement, but don't use your own sister's proposal for the meeting. Such a nice brother I have," Jesse sneered.

"I already told you a thousand times, Jesse. I can't use your proposal for the meeting!" Jackie retorted.

"You can use the proposal that the newbie made and not mine? So you like that woman more than me? Is that what you are trying to say?"

"What newbie? Which newbie?" Charlie piped in enthusiastically.

"A woman joined in recently for the first time. She does not know the basics of the company, but Jackie accepted to use her proposal for the next meeting and not mine. I was the one who worked longer in the company! It is my proposal that he needs to accept!" Jesse thundered.

"What is this, Jackie? Betrayal of the blood?" Charlie smirked.

"Stop it, Jesse," Jackie warned.

"He won't even tell me the reason why he is not accepting my proposal! What am I supposed to do? Drown in depression and not ask a question?"

"I didn't accept it because it was way too childish! It doesn't have a detailed structure, it is abrupt and it didn't cover all the points. If I took your proposal, I wouldn't get a business deal. It is not about the woman being a newbie or not. If she knows what she is working on, that is more than enough for me to consider her work. You need to work on your skills a little more than this. I am your brother, Jesse. I feel guilty whenever I point your flaws. Try to be a little more understanding and a little more patient. Your first work is never the best one. Keep trying," Jackie said and Jesse lowered her head.

"Sorry," she squeaked and walked into her room quietly.

"There! You made her cry!" Lisa, Charlie's mother cried. "Go and get her! Both of you!"

"I hate doing this," Jackie muttered under his breath and got up from his chair.

"Why am I even involved in this thing?" Charlie mused and walked along with his twin into his sister's room. "Jesse! Are you there? Are you crying? Does it feel good? How many liters of water did you donate to this planet?"

"Shut up! Why did you tag along?" Jesse yelled.

"Because I am just too kind and I need to watch over the both of you. You see, we don't want you ripping each other's throats or creating a flood in the house, do we?" He grinned like a cheshire cat and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs in the room. "You may start the soap opera now. Entertain me."

"Ugh, just get out of here," Jesse cringed and looked at Jackie. "Look, I am sorry. I should have realized my mistake sooner and shouldn't have been adamant upon being selected. It is my bad. I apologize."

"That's good. That is how issues are resolved!" Charlie cheered. "Now, Jackie. Your turn."

"Would you just stop?" Jackie sighed and turned to Jesse with a small smile. "I appreciate it that you understand. I just hope that you will work harder from now on. How about it?"

"Brilliant!" Charlie got off his seat and started clapping. "That was brilliant! Only if my patients were so easy going as you both, my life would be so much better. In fact, the world would be a better place."

"Look who's talking," Jackie muttered under his breath and Charlie heard it.

"Oh, Caitlyn!~" Charlie called out. "How about we have a session right after dinner? Just the two of us in a locked room and no one else! Isn't that exciting? We won't let a certain Mr. Baxter inside at all!"

"Oh, shut up, Charlie!" Jackie yelled.

Looks like Jackie wasn't over with his trust issues with Charlie and it also looks like it was going to take a very long time or a lot of counselling from Charlie as a doctor, not as a brother to get him rid of all such issues.

Charlie chuckled. Jackie was always so amusing and it was so much fun to pull his leg. Although he really didn't understand why he always took everything so seriously. But then, just because he didn't understand why, he wasn't gonna stop doing that!