Chapter 2 01 Nightmare

From the LCD screen of the camera, a young woman can be seen sitting on the couch opposite, with a slightly disturbed expression.At this time, my partner was casually sitting on a chair not far behind her, flipping through the information book in his hand. After adjusting the camera, I sat back on the wide chair directly in front of the young woman, kept my body slightly forward, looked her in the eyes, and told her calmly, "Relax, just as I started to tell you like - relax." She obediently leaned back slowly, and her body gradually relaxed. "...very good...slowly close your eyes and try to imagine that you are in a spiral downward corridor..."

She closed her eyes and let out a very slow breath of relief. "That's it, very good, you walk down the stairs slowly, if you listen carefully, you will hear some familiar voices..." I saw her shoulders start to loosen too. "...that is a voice you are familiar with..." I slowed down my speech as much as possible and lowered my voice, "...at the end of the stairs is a wooden door, slowly push...slowly...push the door open ...you will return to the dreamland of last night..." She became more and more relaxed, and gradually slumped on the large sofa. "3..."

She lowered her head slowly, and her long, loose curly hair fell down, almost completely covering her beautiful but tired face. "2……" Her breathing became slow and even. "1……" After a few seconds, she let out a slight sigh. Me: "What did you see?" A month ago, after reading the psychiatrist's description, I thought it was like a ghost story. Since about a year ago, this young and beautiful woman has often been awakened by horrific screams in her sleep in the middle of the night.After waking up, the screaming sound disappeared immediately.This only happens when she sleeps alone.It is said that the voice was extremely miserable.She was terrified, and tried all kinds of methods - asking monks to perform rituals, asking Taoist priests to draw amulets, putting scissors under the pillow, and even ran to burn incense and worship Buddha, but to no avail.Later, she had to move several times.But every night, every time she fell asleep alone, the shrill screams would still sound, lingering.The terrifying voice almost drove her crazy, and she even had hallucinations because of it - in the middle of the night, she would see a middle-aged woman with a teenage boy standing in a corner of her room, facing Against the wall - only she can see.

She ran to a psychiatric clinic for help. After a few months, she wasn't getting any better, so a resigned therapist introduced her to me. "I heard that hypnosis might help me," she said as she handed me the portfolio with the description.I noticed the pigmentation around her eyes, it looked like a haze around the eyes. The next day, I handed the record to my partner and told him, "I got it yesterday and it looks like a ghost story. Take it?" My partner took it in silence, and began to look at it seriously with a frown.After a while, he closed those pages, raised his head and asked me, "What did you just say?"

"Like a ghost story." He remained silent, with a sly smile on his lips. I know, that look means we can take the job. Me: "Did you see anything?" Young Woman: "...a street...a street..." Me: "What kind of street?" Young Woman: "...dirty...narrow streets..." Me: "Is it a place you are familiar with?" Young Woman: "I...I don't know..." Me: "Is that a strange place?" Young Woman: "No...it's not..." After a quick exchange of glances with my partner, I asked, "Can you tell me what you saw?"

Young Woman: "Sewage...garbage...and people..." Me: "What kind of person?" Young woman: "...it's... a very ragged person..." Me: "Are they people you know?" Young Woman: "Don't know... maybe... I don't know..." Me: "Do they know you?" Young woman: "Yes." I sensed that she didn't hesitate this time. Me: "Is anyone watching you?" Young Woman: "Yes." Me: "Who is there?" Her: "...everyone..." Me: "Do you know why they look at you?" Young Woman: "I...don't know..."

At this time, my partner straightened up from the chair behind her, picked up his collar silently, and then stretched out a finger to point himself up and down.I understood what he meant. Me: "Is it because of your clothes?" The young woman hesitated for a moment: "... yes." Me: "What are you wearing?" Young Woman: "I... I'm wearing... a... tattered clothes... these are not my clothes..." Me: "Whose clothes are those?" Young Woman: "It's... Mom's clothes." Me: "Why are you wearing your mother's clothes?"

Young woman: "She asked me to wear it." There was no hesitation or hesitation when she expressed this sentence. Me: "Why did she let you wear her clothes?" Young Woman: "Because... there are no other clothes..." At this time, I suddenly thought of a question, so I asked: "How old are you?" Young woman: "6 years old." Behind her, my partner gave me a thumbs up and nodded with her mouth curled up. Through the contact some time ago, I learned about the general living conditions of this woman. She is a southerner living alone in the north.The current standard of living is very high, with no worries about food and clothing.There is a job with a stable salary, and the salary is much higher than that of her peers.As for personal feelings, she is currently single, not married, and has no boyfriend.My partner and I once analyzed it after observation, and both thought she was lying.Maybe she's been divorced or has some dark secret, because she's been a bit coy on the subject.Whenever we asked about "Snap at Midnight," she was terrified and trembling.

That's not fake, it's a real reaction. So, after discussing with our partner, we decided to start with her dreams.We all want to know what happened before she was awakened - so far, the answer can only be obtained from her dreams (as for those dreams, she herself has no memory). When she came today, she told us that last night, the scream woke her up again, and then she returned the camera to me—that was what I gave her when she came last time.I asked her to point the camera at the bed every night before she went to sleep and film everything. She did. But did not dare to look. We watched.

The most critical part of the video is not long. She had been asleep for more than an hour, very peaceful.However, from a certain moment, she began to turn over and twist repeatedly, and the movements became more and more intense, gradually turning into violent struggles.A few minutes later, she sat up suddenly, her whole face became extremely distorted... We have all seen that the screams that woke her up from her dream every time were made by herself. I went on to ask: "Is your home on this street?" The young woman's voice was so small it almost seemed to be whispering: "... yes..."

Me: "Can you take me there?" Young Woman: "Don't...go...don't go, Mommy...would...would...hit me..." Why do I?" Young Woman: "Because...because...Dad asked her to do this..." Me: "Why did your father treat you like this?" Young woman: "He...is not my father...he is my brother's father..." I understood what she meant: "Does he often hit you with his mother?" Young Woman: "...yeah...they all...hate me..." Me: "Besides being beaten, have you suffered any other injuries?" Young Woman: "They...don't...don't, don't!" I knew she was about to wake up, because if that scene could wake her up from a dream, it could also wake her up from a hypnosis, so I raised my voice and told her firmly and calmly: "When I On the count of '3', you will wake up." "1." Her hands began to tense, and she slowly covered her chest. "2." At this time, her body already had a strong spasm response. "3!" She sat up straight suddenly, staring at me with wide eyes. Looks like I'm timing it just right. At this time, she had already burst into tears. "Do you think her situation is just caused by being abused as a child?" My partner asked me in a low voice. I turned my head to look at the young woman in another room. She was curled up in a corner of the sofa, holding a cup of hot water in a daze.Obviously, the soft music in the room calmed her down a lot. I thought about it and shook my head. "Hmm...it's a little more complicated than I thought." The partner frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "However, I think...that fog has been cleared away, and maybe something will come out today." I said nothing, waiting for him to continue.My strength is putting patients into hypnosis and post-hypnotic induction, while my partner is good at questioning and reasoning when patients are awake.Although sometimes his analysis is so intuitive that it seems a bit unconstrained, but I must admit that it is not so much his intuition as it is his keenness and grasp of details - which is beyond my reach . He squinted his eyes and raised his head: "It seems that it's my turn to go out." We took the young woman out of the hypnosis chamber and into the study.It was my partner's idea to inquire about this in the study. "In the environment of the study room, the inquired will have a sense of respect for the inquirer, and the study room is more or less private, which makes it easier for people to open their hearts." He said so. In fact, I think the real reason is that he likes that sense of authority. Young Woman: "What did I just say?" Partner: "After everything is over, we will give you the video just now." Young woman: "Well...forget it, forget it." Partner: "Okay, then I'll ask you some questions, you can choose to answer or not to answer, the decision is yours, OK?" The young woman nodded. Partner: "Is your home environment not very good?" Young Woman: "Yeah." Partner: "So you ran to the north to live alone?" Young Woman: "Yeah." Partner: "Have you worked hard?" Young Woman: "It's okay...I'm used to it." Partner: "Has your work suffered a lot since you didn't sleep well?" He was careful to avoid words that would make her react strongly. Young woman: "Hmmm... ok..." Partner: "So, can you tell me what your profession is? All we know is that you work in finance." The young woman's eyes began to flicker: "I... generally speaking..." Partner: "Banking?" Young woman: "Almost." Partner: "Do you often face big clients?" The young woman nodded. Partner: "Are you stressed?" The young woman sighed: "It's bigger." Partner: "You are still single because you are under a lot of pressure and not because you are busy with work, right?" Young woman: "That's right." Partner: "Can I ask more about relationship issues?" Young Woman: "For example?" Partner: "For example, your last boyfriend." The young woman thought for a while, then shook her head: "I don't want to mention him." Partner: "Okay, then I won't ask that." Next, he asked some seemingly unrelated questions.For example: Do you have any hobbies?Are you close to your family?What's your favorite color?What do you feel most proud of about yourself?The young woman answered most of the questions, but I could see that she lied about some of the questions. The partner's expression is always pleasant and never changes. At the end of the inquiry, the partner looked at his watch pretendingly: "Well, let's go here, let's analyze these later, next week, right? Next week is still this time?" The young woman nodded. After seeing her off, we went back to the study. Me: "Didn't you say that the truth will come out today?" He sat back on the chair, looked down at the record in his hand: "Yes." Me: "Hmm what? What's the answer?" He looked up at me: "Let's discuss it? There are some small details I'm not 100% sure about." I sat on another chair diagonally across from him: "Let's get started." Partner: "You don't need to count down?" Me: "Go away, get down to business." The partner smiled: "It's certain that she was abused as a child. We guessed it before hypnosis, right?" Me: "Yes, I remember that we analyzed her personality, dress, manners, and facial expressions at that time. She should have that kind of repressed personality. Her repression itself is a bit distorted, and most of it comes from some kind of childhood. environment or painful memory." Partner: "Well, childhood abuse is very important, and it is an integral part. Without this factor, I am afraid many of my speculations cannot be established." Me: "You mean psychological deficiency?" Partner: "Yes. We all know that the psychological deficiency caused by childhood will be magnified in adulthood, and the specific degree is directly proportional to the degree of childhood deficiency. This girl's problem is relatively serious. Generally speaking, the father is a woman The first trustworthy opposite sex in your life, but she doesn't have this kind of environment, does she?" I seemed to vaguely understand what problem my partner was pointing at, but I didn't think clearly about what it was, so I just nodded hesitantly. Partner: "In this case, if she lacks this part, she will find a way to make up for it..." Me: "You mean, she will tend to find a love partner who is much older than herself to make up for this part of the lack?" Partner: "That's right. However, she never admits that she has a boyfriend, and refuses to talk about her ex-boyfriend...I don't think she...has an ex-boyfriend." I thought for a while: "It's possible, then what?" Partner: "From her faltering attitude, she should have a boyfriend who is much older than her, probably more than twice as old, and a married man." Me: "How can you be sure about this last point?" Partner: "Leave this question aside for now, I'll explain it later. Let's move on to the part about her childhood." Me: "No problem, continue." Partner: "Do you remember that the dream she repeated through hypnosis just now was the dream in which she was awakened by her own scream. But what part of that dream could make her make such a terrifying sound?" I thought about it carefully: "Uh...she...repeated 'no' at the end...Is this it?" Partner: "Don't you think there's something wrong with that? Seems like her dream skipped something." Me: "You want to say that she was raped by her stepfather when she was a child? Although in some ways she has an emotional reaction, she doesn't have any sexual trauma characteristics, so I don't think she has sexual..." Partner: "No no, that's not what I meant. Look, here it is: At the beginning, she repeatedly emphasized that her clothes were shabby, and then explained that it was her mother who made it. Next, it was her stepfather who asked her to Mother treated her badly. From a normal point of view, a biological mother would not treat her child like this, right? And there should be only one reason why her mother did this..." Me: "Hmm... let me think about... stress?" Partner: "Yes, life is stressful. Maybe her mother can't work for some reason... because of illness? It's probably because of the illness that she can't work, and there is no support from relatives, so the family's source of income depends on that man, so she Mother had to obey." I see……" Partner: "Besides, through questioning, I also confirmed that her family environment was not good when she was a child, and she was even struggling. Therefore, she puts more emphasis on the question of whether she has money, because having money gives her a certain kind of stability. Feelings — which came from distorted memories of her mother being subservient to her stepfather because she couldn’t afford it — she became a direct victim.” Me: "Well... According to the recurring dream, she has an unusual fear of poverty." Partner: "There are still some small details that point to another question: when I asked just now, she said that her hobby is playing the piano, and it is said that she plays the piano well. Given her family background, playing the piano is definitely not something she learned in childhood. Yes, she should have learned it after living independently. She is in her early 20s now, and it would be nice to have a job with a good income, how can she master the kind of pastime that takes a lot of time?" I nodded: "It makes sense, it does take a lot of time and effort to learn how to play the piano." Partner: "I think you should also see that at first she just vaguely said that she was engaged in the financial industry, and I deliberately induced the banking industry, and she followed suit. Really? Engaged in the banking industry at a young age? Still facing big customers? How is it possible?" Me: "You mean... her source of income should be... her boyfriend?" The partner nodded: "That married man." I carefully followed his train of thought for a while, and this is indeed a reasonable explanation. Partner: "Okay, now we can sort it out. First of all, it can be concluded that she is being taken care of by a rich married man. That man is much older than her and is also her first man. Because she thinks The tragic childhood experience was due to her mother's lack of financial means, so she was extremely dependent on the "stability" that money could bring. Coupled with the lack of fatherly love in childhood, and that man just happened to be able to make up for this part, Therefore, there is a result: under the double factors, she probably has a deep affection for the married man. And I guess, she must also realize that her current situation is actually the same as her mother's situation at the beginning, She has no leading ability in relationship issues and life issues... Oh, yes, this can be seen from her dream of wearing her mother's old clothes. In fact, this is also a metaphor... She thinks it is not good, but no matter from money And emotionally, she still relies on that man... That's it, over and over again... Deep in it, unable to extricate herself." Me: "So, she should have thought about ending this abnormal relationship with that man and living a normal life. However, she is too dependent on everything she has and is reluctant to give up, so, through hypnosis When reliving the dream, as we have seen, she is reiterating the tragedy of her childhood. She is afraid of losing the things she once dreamed of: wealth and fatherly love. Therefore..." "Therefore," her partner raised her voice, "every time she thinks of ending this abnormal life, she will remind herself of the tragedy of her childhood. I guess, the 'don't' she said in her dream , refers to this." I nodded: "Well, don't go back to the past... But, is there such a strong reaction because of this? The cry that woke her up was indeed very miserable." The partner thought for a while: "Don't forget, she's an introverted, repressed type of character. You remember? It's only when she's sleeping alone. I think it's not so much that she screams out of fear of a tragic past experience. It might be better to say that she vented because she suppressed it for too long." I carefully followed this line of thought: "Yes...you are right..." Partner: "Her character has caused the psychologist to fail in her psychological diagnosis and treatment - she has too many things to hide. If there is no hypnosis, I'm afraid we are still at a loss..." Me: "Stop, don't rush to the conclusion, there is one more thing: her hallucination. The scene seen in that hallucination must also have some meaning, right? Also, you just mentioned, about her boyfriend It's a married man's question, how do you know for sure?" The partner smiled slyly: "Actually, these two are the same thing." I froze for a while, and gradually understood. Partner: "Do you remember her description of hallucinations? A middle-aged woman, with a teenage boy, appeared in a corner of her house late at night, facing the wall... so to speak, she always Haven't seen the faces of the mother and child in the hallucination, right? I believe she didn't have the courage to go to see what happened. How did she determine the age of the two people in the hallucination? Besides, who would be in that weird environment? Pay attention to the age issue? I think her hallucinations come from the description of the married man, and may even have seen photos or seen it in a public place." Me: "You mean, part of her hallucinations actually comes from..." Partner: "To be precise, it should come from pressure. She is not a bad woman in nature, but everything she does...so..." We were both silent at this point. After a while, I asked him, "Are you sure?" He looked out the window thoughtfully, thought for a while, and nodded: "I'm sure. You are a hypnotist, and I am a psychoanalyst. We rely on this ability to eat." Me: "Well." When I saw the young woman again a week later, I explained everything to her as gently as I could.Sure enough, her reaction was just like what her partner said, neither refuting nor expressing strong emotions, she just listened silently, thanked me, and left. I went back to the study and saw my partner was looking at her distant back by the window. Me: "Do you think she will cry when she goes back?" Partner: "Maybe cry in the parking lot." "Probably...well...fortunately, it's not a ghost story, at least she doesn't have to worry about it." I said in a relaxed tone on purpose. The partner didn't smile, and went back to the table to pick up a record file and flip through it, still with a careless expression.After a while, without looking up, he said, "I guess maybe the reason why she's afraid is because she knows everything in the first place."