A Peace of your Mind

by submission
January 20th, 2007

Author : Martin Spernau

I was in deep trauma when I first met her.

They had suspended me from active duty after cutting me from the remains of my fighter six days after the battle in deep void. Recreation! But the war wasn’t over! It was my duty to fight, to protect humanity!

“You are no use out there,” they said. “Not fit for duty emotionally.”

My hands shook, and the nightmares didn’t help either. Still I wanted to, needed to, go back out and fight!

Finally I found a shrink who saw a remote chance of getting me back into active service.

“What happened out there has left you with a deep emotional trauma, and I know someone who can change that.”

Two days later I met Sgt. Ninel Sanchez for the first time. I knew I was going to meet a member of the fabled Psi. This was during The War, remember? At this time the Psi were still active and one of our secret weapons.

There was only one other person in the waitingroom when I got there. The young woman didn’t look up from the papers she was studying on her lap, so I found a chair by the door and sat down to wait for The Witch. Well, no one dared call them that back then.

With nothing else to do, I studied the girl. Her plain uniform gave no indication of rank or division. She wouldn’t meet my eyes. She must have been aware of me studying her. She might have been considered beautiful, if way too shy. I was imagining her in casual lady-wear when my gaze fell on her name badge: Psi Sgt. N. Sanchez, it read there.

“Hello” she had said then, still not looking at me directly.

“You need not be afraid of me.”

I must have looked perplexed. Expecting anything, I definitely wasn’t prepared for Ninel Sanchez.

“You see, we both want the same thing. A peace of your mind.”

“Emotional feedback.” She continued.

“I mirror back emotions as you feel them. I feel them intensely… so I suggest we stick to the positive ones.”

“I can help you feel anyway you want. So it is important that you are clear about it. If you can feel the slightest glimmer of an emotion, I can help you make it prominent.”

“I want to feel proud of myself.” is what I said back then, and that is what she enabled me to feel.

After the war, most Psi exiled themselves to the outer reaches. People were now openly referring to them as Witches. It took me five years to find her.

“A peace of your mind is what we both want” she had said. She gave me that, and far more.

Now I am here to show her how much more she gained for herself on that day.

A piece of my heart.

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