JASON! JASON!! JASON!!!
With a leap, Ghost jerked up from the couch, almost hitting the ground but pulled himself back and curled into the couch. He was panting like he just ran a million miles a second. Beads of sweat ran down his face, sliding into his clothes. He was a mess. Mumbling and almost panicking.
"What happened?" Dr. Studgens asked, kneeling in front of him. She was a woman in her 30s. Professional and his shrink. Her hands repeatedly rubbed his kneecap to try to get him to settle down.
She was a bit scared. Putting him under hypnosis was her idea. But seeing him like this afterward, it just might have been a bad idea.
Words eluded Ghost as he buried his head between his legs, waiting for the trembling to stop.
"Tell me. What did you see?" Dr. Studgens urged.
"Werewolves." Ghost muttered. Just like the nightmares he's been having these past two weeks, his trance right now was the same.
Don Carianno had given him a week off but he had taken two instead. To deal with his mental health and the insane nightmares that left him jacked up.
"Werewolves?" Dr. Studgens repeated with a gulp. "What exactly did you see? Tell me everything."
Ghost let out a wince. Everything? It was a mad flash of images and moments. There was a castle with a large sparse compound. It had an ethereal feeling. And then, he was standing in the middle. Talking. He looked…different. Glowing. Simple. It didn't feel like it was him.
And then, there was a room with a large table in the middle. He saw himself sitting around the table with a couple of men. He couldn't recall their faces. But they were all talking to someone.
"Ryder." His eyes widened as he recalled the name.
"Ryder?" Dr. Studgens repeated. "Was it a name from your trance?"
Ghost ignored her question, still pondering on the name. It was very vivid, no way could he be wrong. Ryder was there around the table. He didn't see his face but he was there. Standing. Like some fucking leader.
There were a couple of other vague memories and then the most horrific. The one that always left him almost without breath when he woke up.
It was a feral werewolf and it was tearing up the heart of a man. A fucking gruesome sight but the unnerving part was the dying man's scream.
He was repeatedly yelling out the name JASON. The werewolf tearing him apart was Jason. But why does he always feel the screams jab at his heart each time he has that nightmare? Who the hell was that werewolf to him? Who the hell was Jason to him?
"Do you really not remember anything?" Dr. Studgens asked impatiently. She'd been waiting for him to say something but he seemed buried in thoughts.
"No. I don't." It was a lie, but a very vital one. There was no way in hell he could narrate his horrific werewolf-filled trance to her. She would freak out. Think of him as a monster or shit like that.
"You want me to hypnotize you again? We could visit your trances again and –"
"No." Ghost replied vehemently. He got up from the couch, stepping to the window side and still letting out quick and short breaths.
Thankfully, there was a drink on the small table by the window and he poured himself a shot. It was too early to drink but his mind was fucked up. Whiskey was the cure.
"Why not?" Dr. Studgens was on her feet staring at his taut back. "They could be important."
"Important?" Ghost chuckled in a deep, hoarse voice. He gulped the rest of the drink, setting the glass down and turning to her.
"Yeah. Important." She reiterated firmly.
"How important could those creatures be to me?" Ghost asked with a bitter notch. "I fucking detest them and you know it. Seeing them in my nightmares these past weeks have been insane. And now they invade my trance. How important do they think they are for them to torture me like that?!"
He was venting but on the wrong person. It couldn't be helped. The situation has left him bare and distorted. Like a lunatic. He needed to let out the steam or he could explode.
"Maybe, what you see in your nightmares and what you just saw in the trance are fragments of your past. Maybe, they mean a lot more than you wanna let on. If we could only put you under hypnosis again…"
"I'm not doing that shit again. I already told you that." Ghost winced, rubbing his temples. His head was pounding erratically. He went to sit on the couch again, letting out a deep breath.
"What if you have an uncanny connection with the werewolves?" Dr. Studgens implied tactfully. She hated to stir him up but it was a possibility and it was her job to make him face all possibilities. Even the most gruesome.
"I don't…"
"What if you do?" Dr. Studgens egged on. "You have acute sight and hearing just like them…"
"Doesn't mean shit!" Ghost snapped.
"What if it does?" Dr. Studgens sat next to him, daring to put a hand on his shoulder. "What if you were something significant to them in your past life? What if there are people there missing you, looking for you, waiting for you to return to them?"
"That's bullshit." Ghost snarled.
"What if I'm right? If they are your past and you must make a choice, would you wanna go back to the life you had with them or the life you have now?"
It was an easy question. Ghost scoffed. He had no memories of whatever past life he might have had with the werewolves, so he was definitely gonna choose the life he had now.
"I'm forever a Carianno, Dr. Studgens." Ghost vowed. "I don't care what shitty past I had, I'm okay right where I am. I don't wish to go back."
He's always been okay and has been living his best life since he showed up here in Sicily. All this madness began the moment he met that damned girl. Ciara Macdonald. She could be dead right now, but that didn't stop her from invading his dreams and leaving him wet in the morning. A damned witch!
"But maybe you should undergo another hypnosis. Just to be sure of what you saw." Dr. Studgens pressed on. "There's a door in the deepest down of your mind. Behind it are a tsunami of memories. If we could unlock that door…"
"No, Doctor. That door stays fucking shut forever." Ghost stated matter of factly. "Some memories are better left forgotten. And I'm not gonna try to dig them up anymore."
"What about your nightmares?"
"I'm gonna be fine." Ghost was on his feet, ready to end this fucked-up meeting. "Thank you for everything, Doctor. This is our last session together. I won't be returning here anymore."
…for fear of finding out what lay behind that door. Ghost was more terrified than reluctant about his past. So this was him running away. It was a cowardly move but the only one he got. This was him choosing not to complicate his life. He was okay being just Ghost, the most dreaded Capo. That was more than enough. He wasn't asking for anything else.
"Let me know when you need me." Dr. Studgens nodded.
The door opened and they both looked in the direction. Ghost's low hiss reverberated in the room.
"Can we talk?" Camilla asked, standing at the spot. Ghost wasn't surprised to see her. She always had a thing for accosting him at places. She was always keeping a tail on him.
"I'll excuse you two." Dr. Studgens murmured and scurried out of the office. She wasn't a Carianno but she knew Camilla. She knew most of the members of the Carianno family.
"What is it?" Ghost sounded irritated. The only way he could feel with her around.
"We haven't seen each other in two weeks," Camilla said in a whisper, coming closer to him. "I can't visit your apartment 'cause you won't give me your address. You refused to meet me in the hotels too…"
"I wasn't in the mood." Ghost gruffed. She placed her hand on his chest, sizzling his anger.
"I missed you." She mouthed, leaning in and kissing his lips.
Ghost didn't budge. For a second there, he gave a chance to make him feel horny. To get his cock hard. To make him want her. But as seconds passed and nothing happened, he pushed her away.
"I'll be returning to the family tonight. I can fuck you in front of everyone and they'll see how much of a great couple we are. Till then, keep your fucking distance."
She let out a whimper but he brushed past her, grabbed his keys, and left. He was more excited about returning to the hood tonight for one reason. To find out what happened to Ciara.