Patient number 12d10, session two. After vanishing 10 minutes into her first session,

she reappeared minutes later only to briefly apologize and flee my office. I must admit,

I was surprised but very relieved when she made a second appointment.

Sam, it's lovely to see you. Why don't you come in?

Thank you for agreeing to see me again, Dr. Bright. I'm really, really sorry about last time.

It's okay, Sam. I'm very happy you wanted to see me again. You rushed off last time before we

could really talk. I know. I just... it was the first time someone had been there since...

Well, I just got freaked out. I wasn't sure how you would react.

I had hoped I made it pretty clear last session that I'm accustomed to some pretty strange stuff.

No, no, you did. It's just... it seemed a little bit too good to be true. I've never told anyone about

my trips before and I just... I panicked a little bit, I guess. I completely understand.

That's actually why I came back. I felt really nice to talk to someone about it. I didn't know

it could feel like that. What did it feel like? Like the pressure had been let out of my chest just

a little bit. It's been so long, so long of keeping this secret and I'm just... I'm very grateful.

Thank you. You don't need to thank me, Sam. I'm thankful that you were brave enough to share

your story with me. I can't imagine how difficult these past 15 years have been for you.

It definitely hasn't been a walk in the park. Why don't you tell me about it? Now that you finally

have someone to talk to, you must be bursting with stories. I guess I am. I've never really thought

about it. After a while, the trips became so stressful that I stopped seeing them as anything special.

But I don't know, thinking about them in the past week? Yeah, I guess it makes for some pretty

interesting party conversation. Well, if I could ever talk about them publicly, that is.

Pretend for a moment that you could. What would you say? I don't know.

...