The Sessions

Suspense Stories | Oct 20, 2015 | 6 min read
40 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
Ruth did not know how much longer she could endure this lifestyle her daughter Cara was living. Years of living this way had plunged them into a world of chaos. This co-dependent relationship was crippling her. Cara lay on her bed, she knew she was about to escape from this life of hell she had created. Her blackout was around the corner, she welcomed it. She was thirty five years old and a washed up drunk. She had lost everything and was living with her parents. She was beyond rock bottom.

Ruth decided it was enough! She told Cara she had booked her into a Rehab called 'The Guarantee Recovery Centre'. If she did not agree to go, Ruth was going to throw her out and have nothing more to do with her. Cara knew she had nowhere else to go, her drinking had burnt all bridges nor was she streetwise; she would never survive living on the streets. So she had no option but to go. When she arrived at The Gaurantee Recovery Centre a shiver ran down her spine, the house she was to spend the next three months in, looked like one of those houses seen in a horror movie. Once her admission procedure was over, she spent three days in their detox facility; she was then taken to her room. Everything in the room was pink, she hated the colour pink!

The next morning when Cara awoke, the reality of it all came crashing down on her, she began to panic; how was she was going to spend the next three months without a drop of alcohol? The Matron told her by the time she completed her program she would NEVER drink again. After breakfast, which was disgusting, she was to start with her first ‘SESSION'. The Matron escorted Cara to a door on the ground floor just before the kitchen; the door seemed to lead to a basement. At the base of the steps was an elivator. The Matron stepped inside the elivator and gave Cara an annoyed look when she did not follow. Once the doors closed they descended even further. When the doors opened Cara was astonished when she saw a hospital ward with at least a hundred rooms. How was this possible!!!! The Matron directed her to a room on the right. When Cara walked into the room the Matron locked the door behind her, on a table in the corner of the room stood a bottle of vodka and brandy.

Cara could not believe that she had landed in such an awesome rehab; she did not waste any time helping herself to the vodka. Half way through the bottle she decided she was ready for a nap,,,,, She found herself locked in a box almost like that of a coffin. Cara felt things crawling all over her, when she tried to scream insects crawled into her mouth. Her body trembled as she felt hundreds of insects crawling all over her body! She was paralysed by fear, how long she lay in the box she did not know but was in a state of hysteria and shock.

The next morning the Nurse walked into her pink room with a breakfast tray. An hour later the Matron came to fetch her for another session. The same routine was repeated as the day before. But this time Cara decided to go for the brandy, she was convinced the vodka was spiked causing her to hallucinate. Well into the brandy bottle she passed out,,,,,, She was submerged from the neck down in a bath filled with ice cubes. A cover over the bath prevented her from climbing out. Her skin began to burn from the icy water, freezing her to the core. After a while she was unable to move her limbs as she felt her heart rate slowing down.

The next morning the Nurse walked into the pink room with a breakfast tray. Cara was wondering if she was losing her mind, was she hallucinating or were these things really happening to her? An hour later the Matron came to fetch her for another session. Cara tried with all her strength to not to drink the alcohol but the temptation was too great; she lay on the bed; intoxicated,,,, She was locked in a closet which gave her no space to move. The heat in the closet was scorching hot. She screamed and banged on the door but no one came to her rescue. Cara stood in the confined space for what seemed like hours. She was drenched in perspiration and her legs were shaking from the strain of standing for so long.

These sessions went on for a whole month, whether Cara took one sip or drank the whole bottle of alcohol she was repeatedly subjected to all kinds of torture. When she demanded an explanation; the Doctor told Cara she was imagining things and her mind was still trying to recover from the years of substance abuse. What also struck her as odd; why were there no other patients in the rehab? Surely she was not the only patient there?

Into the second month, Cara was determined not to drink any alcohol during her sessions. She needed to stay sober so she could find out what was going on. She managed to spend a whole day in the hospital room without touching the alcohol. Just before dinner the Matron came to fetch her and escorted her back to the pink room. For two weeks she remained sober and was not subjected to any form of torture. But then she received a letter from her mother; her father had past-away and she could not attend the funeral. The following day during her session Cara fell off the bandwagon so to speak and drank the whole bottle of vodka,,,, She was hanging upside down over a swiming pool. She was lowered into the water; the panic of drowning caused her to scream, filling her lungs with water. Cara was lifted above the pool; spewing water and gasping for air. This went on for over an hour. Then she was laying on a rack, her wrists tied above her head on the table and her feet chained to the other end, the tension tightened slowly stretching her body, she screamed in agony, it felt like her limps would be ripped off. The tension would slacken but minutes later tighten again subjecting her body to excruciating pain. Finally, she was bound to a bed, a leather belt wedged between her teeth. She felt an electrical current surge through her head. Repeatedly she felt the volts rush through her, causing her muscles to contract as tears streamed down the sides of her face, eventually she lost conscientious.

The Nurse walked into the pink room with a breakfast tray. Cara's body felt like it has been hit by a train. She could not walk, so they put her in a wheelchair and took her to the hospital room. She lay on the bed in a fetal position with her back turned to the two bottles of alcohol. For the remainder of her stay at the rehab, Cara never touched a drop of alcohol during the sessions.

Five years later she was doing well, she had worked hard to build a life for herself. Cara was 1826 days sober, she had her own apartment and a well-established career, life was good. The nightmares were ghostly reminders of what she had experienced but she had learned to live with them.

Her company was having a New Year's Eve Party. Champagne was handed out to everyone but as always Cara's glass was filled with apple juice. She was having a wonderful time; the party spirit was contagious. Cara was laughing at a joke her fiancé made, she accidently picked up his glass of champagne. As she put the glass to her lips she smelt the alcohol; she felt the warmth of her urine running down her legs. She stood riveted to the spot, shaking violently. A man approached her and said; I have not been able to drink alcohol for the past 16 years. The worst for me was ‘the drowning', what was yours?' Cara whispered; 'the coffin.'

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