Mental Therapy
Mental Therapy - By Aresues
I sat in my room, submerged in shock. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I have been accused of 'messing around' with my kid cousin by my uncle. The only thing is, everyone knows that he is the one who did it. Even though the lie is transparent at best, it still cuts me deep.
My family and friends tell me to ignore it and leave it alone, but I cannot do so. All I can think about is, why? Why did he accuse me? What was he thinking? The man is desperate enough to pin the blame on his own nephew. Sure, I have my faults, but this is a whole new level.
As I look around the room, trying to find comfort, my eyes come to rest on a picture stuck to my wall. It is a picture of Shayde, my yellow and black, katana-toting Labrador fursona. I smile, despite my internal pain. What would Shayde do in this situation? If only he could get out of my head and help me with this problem.
And with these questions running through my head, I slowly drift into troubled sleep.
I wake suddenly, and immediately wonder why. A second later, I hear a knock on my door. The knocking continues, and I get up grudgingly, wondering why someone is bothering me. I swing the door open, ready to snap at one of my sisters, but the comment dies on my tongue. For, standing before me, is Shayde.
'Hi there,' says the dog, grinning cheerfully, 'the name's Shayde.' He holds out a hand to shake. I step back in shock.
'I know,' I mutter, 'I made you.' Shayde continued to smile. 'Yeah, thanks for that.'
My mind had shut down. An imaginary character was standing in front of me, just as I'd always pictured him.
'This can't be real,' I murmur to myself, giving my head a little shake. 'This is a hallucination.'
Shayde tilted his head in that characteristic dog way. 'Oh, really? Well, if I'm not real, how can I do this?' He unsheathed his weapon, the silvery metal sliding free, glinting in the light from my desk-lamp, looking very real and sharp. He swung the blade around and I ducked instinctively. However, he simple dragged the blade down the wall, gouging a long hole in the wall.
A few seconds of silence later, he spoke again. 'So, am I real?' I nodded. 'Good. Glad we've reached that conclusion.'
I sat down on the bed, and Shayde sat down on the floor, looking quite comfortable. After looking around the room for a few seconds, he faced me, a kind expression on his face.
'So, what's the problem?' he asked
'Nothing,' I replied automatically. That's my standard reply to such a question.
Shayde raised his eyebrows, instantly sceptical. 'Yeah, right. I came from your head, remember. I know what's going on up there.' He tapped his head to indicate my mind.
I sighed deeply. 'It's just...I just don't understand why he said what he said about me.' I looked at my feet, not trusting myself to look up. It was kind of strange to be confessing things to a made-up character. I tried to keep a lid on my emotions, but suddenly it all boiled over.
'How COULD HE!' I shouted, jumping up and stalking around the room, pulling at my hair in frustration and anger. 'I mean, how could someone do that to their own son in the first place, but to then go and accuse someone else of the crime?! It's...it's just wrong. What did I ever do to him?!'
I continued on this topic for a while, venting my feelings to the dog sitting passively on the floor, watching my every movement, his blue eyes kind and calm.
Finally, I flopped back on the bed and stared dully ahead. I felt exhausted, but better, having finally let everything out.
Shayde rose and dusted his hands off. 'So. Let's go and see this uncle of yours. Maybe I can knock some sense into him .' He grinned and swung his katana around a few times. I stared at him for a few moments, and realised what sort of 'knocking' he was suggesting. Grinning slightly, I stood up. 'I'll get my keys.'
Driving with a regular dog in the car is hard enough. My beagle keeps going back and forth, sticking her head out the window and trying to sit on my lap. Driving with an anthro dog is worse. Though he didn't shift around, Shayde was fiddling with everything that moved; messing around with the radio, flipping through my CD's, and, at one point, changing the gears without my knowledge, almost sending me careening into a lamppost. I swear part of my gearbox is sitting on the road now.
Finally, we arrived outside my uncle's house. It was dark inside, not one light shining. Shayde and I got out and walked to the door, Shayde unsheathing his katana as he went. I tired the door, not expecting it to be unlocked, and it wasn't. I turned to Shayde.
'The door is locked. We can't get in.' Shayde snorted, sliding his blade between the door and the frame. He flicked it down, slicing right through the lock. Withdrawing the blade, he looked at me with a smile. 'Hey look. It's unlocked now.' He opened the door and waved me through.
We navigated our way through the dark out using my tiny key-light, sweeping the thin light through the gloom. Following the sounds of snoring, we eventually found the bedroom, where my uncle slept, annoyingly, peacefully.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward, only to be stopped by Shayde's paw. 'You'd better stay out here,' he said. 'It might get messy.'
'What are you going to do?' I asked, somewhat uneasily. I had dreamt Shayde up, and knew only too well his skills with the blade.
'Listen here,' he said, a low growl barely audible in his voice. 'I know what's been happening in your head. Everything was...relatively fine...until this jerk said this about you. Suddenly, the whole place is messed up. Think of this as a type of mental therapy.' He checked the edge of his katana on the wall, obviously satisfied with the peeled wall it left behind, then opened the door, and stepped inside. I grabbed his shoulder before he went.
'Just...don't kill him, okay?' I asked. Shayde rolled his eyes. 'Your empathy truly amazes me. This guy messes up his kid, and now you, and you still don't want full revenge?' I continued to stare at him. He sighed. 'Okay, okay. No killing.' He pulled free and closed the door after him.
For the next minute or so, a variety of cries, shouts and stifled screams issued from the room, accompanied by dull thuds every now and again. Finally, the door opened, and Shayde emerged, looking pleased with himself, his blade dappled with blood in a few places. I looked into the room and saw my uncle lying on the bed, a variety of cuts and slices adorning his body. Thankfully, I could see his chest rise and fall.
'Let's go, before he comes around,' said Shayde. I nodded, and we left.
Back home, Shayde cleaned his blade with his bandana, sheathing it when he was done.
'Well, that ought to sort things out,' he said. 'Hopefully things will be better now.'
I looked at the dog, and realised that I felt almost completely better. There was still something there, but it wasn't the all-consuming feeling it was before.
'Shayde, thank you. For everything.' Again, I was visited by the strange feeling of talking to a thing I made up. But Shayde was real for me now, not just a figure prowling the vast plains of my imagination.
Shayde smiled, and held out his hand. This time, I shook it, noting how firm the grip was.
'That's alright. I enjoyed it.' He looked towards the bedroom door. 'I think it's time for me to head back home now.' He turned back to me. 'Everything alright now?'
'Yes. Thanks for all your help. I don't know how to repay you, though.'
Shayde laughed. 'Well, you could start by not getting me hurt so much in those stories. It kind of detracts from me being a good bounty-hunter.'
I smiled and gave a little laugh as well. 'Fair enough,' I suddenly felt very tired, and I couldn't stop yawning, my eyes sliding shut. Shayde grabbed me before I collapsed, and placed me on the bed, before walking over to the bedroom door and opening it. He looked back at me.
'Goodbye for now. If ever you need me, I'm always here for you. All you need to do is ask.' With that, he stepped through the door, pulling it closed behind him.
I woke up slowly in the dawn light. I looked around the room, but try as I did, I could not find any sign of Shayde's presence during the night.
It was all a dream. I smiled to myself. A very good dream. And things were beginning to look good again.