Chapter Text
Friday, October 2nd 1970
Akel was awoken with a start, he sat up in his bed in a cold sweat hearing their alarm clock blaring in his ear. Akel grumbled a bit as he looked over at his alarm, he thankfully had a day off, which was often rare but unfortunately for him he had a therapy appointment this was only his second appointment with the therapist and he was already dreading it, mainly since it was an extra thing in his day. Akel practically rolled out of bed, throwing on a shirt then proceeded to change that shirt since it felt too itchy on him. When he finally got out of his room he smelt…burning?
"Oh good morning Mr.katz I uh…I tried cooking some eggs"his roommate, Joanna, said she was hunched over the garbage can trying to get the pan cleaned from her poor attempt at making scrambled eggs.
"I told you jo, you can call me Akel and try not to burn the flat please"Akel chuckled lightly, grabbing a yogurt cup from the fridge, checking the date on it "do you know when this expires?"
"I think next week what does it say on the container?"Joanna asked, looking up at akel curiously.
"Uhm 10/09/70 great almost expired"Akel said, setting the yogurt down, grumbling a bit just another thing for him to do "can you pick up groceries today? I have an appointment to go to"
"Yeah sure you aren't allergic to anything right?"Joanna asked, she had never picked up groceries for the two of them before, usually they would only pick up their own groceries.
"Yeah, it's weird but I can't eat pork, it's not a severe allergic reaction but it makes me nauseous "Akel shrugged,rummaging around for some sugar packets.
“Interesting, good to know i suppose” Joanna said handing him the sugar packet she found on the counter.
he had managed to actually pour himself a cup of coffee and get a few sips before he realized the time "shit" he whispered, yanking on his coat before running out the door, not giving Joanna any time to respond to him nor any time to actually think about what he was doing, he barely had time to grab his keys and put them in the car before he started driving.
He soon got to where his appointment was supposed to be, he double even tripled checked the directions he printed out. He was actually realized when he got there with about 3 minutes to spare, he got out of the car and went into the office, fidgeting a bit as he walked up to the receptionist,
"Hello I'm here to see dr.howard"Akel said nervously, he was always nervous when it came to doctors appointments.
"Right, doctor Howard would like you to sign these real quick oh and copay is 10 dollars please"the receptionist said, she handed Akel a clip board and akel handed her two five dollar bills. He went to sit down reading through the survey, checking answers here and there. The majority of them were very personal questions that he honestly felt uncomfortable answering but he did so nonetheless.
"Akeldama katz" the nurse called, Akel was starting to doze off when she called but stood up and started walking over to the nurse, he was fidgeting with whatever was in his pocket.
"That would be me,"he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He followed the nurse into a room where she did a few tests, mainly blood pressure and checking his heartbeat.
"alright well the doctor will be right with you" the nurse hummed with a wink "say what is a handsome man like you doing here?". akel turned slightly red in the cheeks
"Oh uh yeah I was referred to by my supervisor..Henry Armstrong..me and him were buddies back in college, real close, and he started to get a bit worried about me and uh here we are..took forever to actually get an appointment in"he laughed at this, it was a painfully forced laugh "though granted this is only my second appointment so I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know the..doctor"
"I see, well the doctor will be in shortly"the nurse said giving a small wink to akel as she left the room, this left akel a bit confused was she flirting with him? No there was no way..right?
Akel waited about 10 minutes before dr.howard poked his head through the door. He was a jolly older man probably in his late 70's early 80's he was much taller than Akel, that wasn’t much of a surprise though.
"Good morning ms.katz-"dr.howard started extending his hand to shake, Akel shook before correcting him,
"I don't do formalities outside of work dr.howard and please it's mr.katz" he sat back down in his chair, Akel was a short and skinny man with even shorter ,clearly bleached, hair. He was what most people would assume to be a man.
“Very sorry about that Akeldama, now I was reading your file before we met today and it said you met with a Dr.Jamison between the years of 1959 and 1965 if I'm not mistaken?" Dr.howard asked looking up from the file he was holding, he had a raised eyebrow on his face as he looked up at Akel.
"Yes that would be correct, he was a good friend of mine we've known each other since oh I want to say primary school? I don't quite remember" Akel said in thought, his leg was bouncing and he was starting to scratch at his arms.
“Ah i see, well Dr.Jamison is a colleague of mine, quite the interesting character isn’t she?” Dr.howard said laughing a bit as he talked “always so quiet especially for a lady in this field”
Dr.Howard wasn’t wrong, Dr. Jamison was always so quiet, always so..secretive. Akel was about to say something but fell quiet and just nodded “yes..you’re very right about that..”he said his voice falling silent as he talked.
“Anyways we are not here to talk about colleagues are we?” Dr.howard asked, turning his attention back to Akel. He had a warm smile on his face. It was almost unnatural looking “what do you hope to accomplish at this meeting?” Dr.howard asked, he sounded genuine in his questioning.
“I guess to help with.. my insomnia, i have these horrible night terrors and they never seem to end..but each time i have these nightmares it's ever so slightly different the only thing that stays the same is the fact i always wake up in a cold sweat and almost on the verge of tears..i mean except today..i’ve somehow gotten it easy today..” Akel said, he looked like he was on the verge of tears just talking about it, he was avoiding any form of eye contact at all mainly looking down at his hands and shoes, his leg was shaking as he looked back up at dr.howard who was writing something in his notepad.
"I see I see, well mr.Katz it seems you have a very interesting case on your hands..especially for someone in your position, in order to get to know your situation better i'm going to have to ask you to open up to me..what happens in these dreams?" Dr.howard asked, his demeanor changing ever so slightly, but Akel could tell, he was very good at telling these things..when he wanted to that is.
"Dr.howard I honestly cannot remember for the life of me the full nightmares, half the time the faces are all blurry the other half everything is all blurry!" he said, raising his voice a little bit. His fidgeting grew worse the more he talked, he could barely keep eye contact with the doctor in front of him.
“Has anything happened in the last five years that may have caused these nightmares to occur?” he questioned leaning forward, examining him before taking notes on his actions.
Akel was quiet for a while as he thought “i..i can’t remember the last five year that's..not normal is it?”
dr.howard shook his head "no it is not could be a symptom of acute amnesia or something a lot worse we can run tests when your available next" he offered standing up and grabbing a few files, he handed them to Akel .
Akel thanked him and walked out to his car,a beat up looking sedan, he got inside it and started looking through the files "great..amnesia..just fucking wonderful.."he grumbled lightly setting them in his passenger seat. he made his way back to the apartment trying to drown out this thoughts with some music on the radio; he was in desperate need of a smoke he probably could of before he left the house but he already missed his window.
he got back to the apartment noticing the door was left open, did he forget to shut up? maybe joanna did when she left to go get groceries she had a problem with that. he walked inside the apartment calling out for joanna "hey! i'm back from the doct-..."he started before stopping looking at the lady in his living room, she was holding a container and an envelope. Akel recognized her as an old friend "scarlett..didn't expect you here" he said slowly approaching her.
'Akel long time no see i'm just here to drop some things off i thought you were home, door was wide open" Scarlett said with a smile, she was a pale woman with shoulder length brown hair and bright green eyes she wore a red suit and matching heels, she handed Akel the container (which akel would later identify as ham sandwiches) and the envelope "i made you some lunch i thought you might like it, also your invited as a guest to the dinner party i'm hosting, its 5pm sharp i won't mind if your early, au revoir" she said before she left not giving akel a chance to talk.
Akel knew that today was going to be a long day, as much as he hated dinner parties he knew she would want him there after all whats the worse that could happen?