"Annie, I want you to picture your safe place," Marek told her gently. "Breath-in...hold...breath out...relax."

Annie did as she was told, breathing in, breathing out, inhaling, exhaling until her eyes closed.

"Now describe to me your safe place."

Annie kept her eyes shut as she began to speak in a whisper, almost trance-like. "I'm in an old house, definitely not from around here."

"Tell me more."

"I can smell the must from the carpets." Annie inhaled deeply as if she was part of the experience.

"What about the smell? How does it make you feel?"

Annie finished exhaling before she continued, "It's safe and comforting. I feel as if nobody can hurt me here."

"That's wonderful Annie. That's the point of this exercise, to bring your mind to a place where you feel perfectly safe and at peace. Can you describe anything else that you see such as the furniture?"

"Everything here is antique but it looks new. It's been polished recently. There's a little bit of a lemon scent." Annie turned her head and smiled.

Marek usually had his patients build a safe space in their mind, somewhere they could let their mind wander to whenever they were sad or in a stressful situation. Nearly all of them used a perfect moment in their life, something they wished to experience again and again. The rest built a place they desperately wanted to go to. Annie had picked neither. Hers was unfamiliar but nevertheless made her happy. Marek started each session by bringing her there. It was an easy way to relax her and help get the most out of the session. Each time her safe place became more and more detailed.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked her.

"I heard a loud knock on the door. I know who it is," Annie responded in an unfamiliar accent.

Marek started to feel that Annie had now gone way past her safe space and into what he would call, Eva's world.

"It's Joseph!" her smile got bigger as she said the name.

"Who's Joseph?"

"He's a young boy who lives across the street. He passes by here every second week at the same time. His ma is so sweet you know. She makes the most delicious jams. We used to talk about selling her jams at local shops but she's awfully sick now." Annie's accent became far more pronounced which was making Marek very nervous.

"Okay Annie. I think it's time we left your safe space and came back home. Is that alright with you?" Marek wanted to make certain that Annie came back to reality and not have any of these thoughts effect her real life. The mind is so strange, he thought. It's far too easily manipulated by things that don't belong there. She was already going through enough. The last thing this poor woman needed was someone else messing around in that fragile mind of hers.

"Can we come back here later?" she asked as both her smile and accent faded away.

"Of course, my dear. Anytime at all." Marek didn't mean it but once again he was trying to keep her calm in order to prevent what he perceived as potential psychological damage.

Annie opened her eyes and looked at Marek with a calmness that seemed to surprise both of them. "I loved it there," she told him. Her accent had disappeared.

"You love it there. I see, but where is there? Annie, please tell me."

Annie giggled. "What's so funny?" he asked her.

"You sound like Dr. Seuss." Annie replied as she began to laugh with more exuberance.

Marek recalled his last words to her and started to laugh as well. "Did you read Dr. Seuss when you were younger?"

"When I was younger? My father reads one to me every night. We have all of them, I think."

Oh dear God, what have I done? Marek began to panic. Suddenly he understood what was happening. Annie had left her safe space, that place where she was happy, so her mind brought her back to another one. Obviously the present wasn't a place she wanted to be. He started to recall what Eva would do to bring her clients back to their current reality.

"Annie, listen to my voice very carefully. I want you to close your eyes and start to breath."Annie did as Marek instructed. "Very good. Now relax and focus your mind on your breath. Your breath is safe. It's always there with you."  Marek saw Annie's breathing relax. Now he was going to try what Eva would do.

"I'm going to count down from ten to one. When I reach one you will open your eyes and find yourself in the present."

Marek counted down from ten to one, pausing between each number, just like Eva would do. When he was done Annie opened her eyes.

"Where are you now Annie?" Marek asked as he glanced at his watch. It was almost time, but today might be the wrong day for this.

Annie shook her head from side to side then blew air upwards to move her hair away from her eyes. "I'm right here."

"And where is here?"

"We're in my house," she said in a slightly confused tone. "Why did you ask me that?"

Before he could answer, the phone rang. Marek glanced at Annie and then answered it.

"May I please speak with Marek?" Jason asked.

"This is Marek."

"Perfect. I'm here with Eva. She asked that I get you on the phone and tell you a bit about my issues."

"Can I speak with Eva briefly?" Marek knew the plan. He was supposed to ask Annie to get the phone for him, then keep Jason busy for a minute or two until he finished writing his notes. That won't happen tonight, he decided.

"Marek, Where's Annie?" Eva asked softly so Jason couldn't hear.

"I'll have to call you back later. Very interesting stuff."

Marek quickly hung up the phone.  As he looked back at Annie he wondered if should include anything about todays session in his notes.

Absolutely not, he decided.  God forbid one of his peers ever read them, he'd be laughed out of the profession.

*   *   *   *   *

Eva put her phone on the desk. Jason was sweating profusely. He was beginning to have another episode.

"Jason, are you alright?"

"I don't think so. I need to lie down."

*   *   *   *   *

Kentucky 1883

Miss Suzanne was sitting on her favourite chair in the sunroom when she heard on knock on the door. "Who's there?" she asked.

"It's the weekly parade of envelopes." replied her butler. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you so much Clayton. I hate seeing people outside the office."

"Why not just have them drop off the money at the office then?"

"Perhaps you should ask my deceased husband why he gave out loans that can't be on the books. At least I arranged to have everyone pass by at the same time. You remember how my husband had them coming at all hours of the day, sometimes even in the evening, God bless his soul."

"Leave it to me," Clayton replied warmly.

The last of the men had dropped off their money when there was a knock on the door. Suzanne felt a shiver run down her spine. She turned her head towards the door and then smiled. Something felt different today. For just a brief moment she didn't feel quite like herself.

"That must be the boy from across the street. Will you please get the door and let him in?" Suzanne asked Clayton.

He opened the door. "Miss Suzanne, the Harrison boy is here."

She left the sunroom. "Why Joseph Harrison, it's so no nice to see you. How is your ma?" Miss Suzanne asked with concern.

"She's doing well. Ma asked me to bring you this jar of jam. It's raspberry. I don't believe she ever made you raspberry jam before. I picked the raspberries myself." Joesph smiled with pride.

"Thank you for your hard work. And your right, this is the first time your mom has sent me raspberry jam. Please thank her for me." Suzanne looked down at Joesph. He seemed different today. Then she looked at the Harrison home, a small apartment above a store across the street. Miss Suzanne felt fortunate for her lot in life. The Harrison's weren't as lucky. They used to be wealthy but the war between the states changed all that. And worst of all, Joe's mother was ill, probably terminal.

Miss Suzanne looked back at Joe. He had grown so much since they moved here. His eyes showed a wisdom far beyond his thirteen years. So polite and kind. She needed to help him, she decided. "Come in so we can talk. I'd like to discuss something with you."

She told Joseph that she wanted him to go to St. Mary's in the fall. Then she gave him a little lesson in his family history. The entire time she noticed Joseph staring at her as teenage boys do. If only I was 13 again, she thought to herself. There was something very familiar about Joe, something that made her want to watch over him, help him in any way she could. Everything seemed to change today and it made her happy.