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man who put such fear in the woman and the girl, and why were they with him? I jotted down a few details of the dream, but it just didn’t feel like enough.
     
    I made several attempts to start what I guess was my journal, but it didn’t feel right, so I ripped the pages out. After making a ball out of them, I tossed pages in the fireplace near my chair. I just wasn’t ready to share the details of the dream with Jason. He would think I was really nuts if he knew the terrible things that ran through my mind as I slept next to him. We had never spanked Gracie. I couldn’t even remember raising my voice in anger at her. So why on earth would I dream of a child going through such torment at the hands of a man I assumed was her father? I needed to talk to the little girl somehow. To comfort her and assure her she was not alone. Without really thinking about it, I started to write what I was saying to Evie in my mind. And it felt right.
     
    Dear Evie:
     
I’m here for you. I seem to feel everything you feel, so I know you are afraid of the man. I am too, but we will get through this together. I don’t know what I can do, but somehow I will find a way to help you. I will protect you, and he won’t hurt you anymore.
     
    Katherine
     
    I sat and examined what I’d written. I’d surprised myself, but I knew it was what I needed to do. I didn’t write down what I needed to remember for Dr. Anna; I knew I would remember every detail of the dream and how I felt during the dream. I’d written the letter so I could communicate with the frightened little girl. I was writing all the details of the dreams down for her. It may have been only a dream, but Evie felt real, and I needed her to know that I acknowledged that the dreams were real… and maybe even that the events had really happened.
     
    I was guessing she was a ghost or something trying to seek help from me, and I was going to give it to her however I could. I wasn’t sure if she was a spirit of a little girl who had died and wanted someone to know what happened to her, or if it was someone who was going through that torture now, and her essence or spirit or whatever you might call it was somehow communicating with me and asking for me to find her and save her.
     
    Yes, I knew how totally insane it all sounded and that I was probably out of my mind, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was up to me to save the child from something horrible. What frightened me the most was that my gut told me I would not be able to keep my promise that he would not hurt her anymore. I felt as if doom hung over her like a dark cloud, and I would not be able to stop what was coming. I knew I would need Dr. Anna to help me find out who she was and how to help her. The next day couldn’t come soon enough.
     

Chapter Four
     
    When I arrived at Dr. Anna’s the following morning, I couldn’t wait to share the newest development of my dream: the kitchen scene, and the beating the woman was subjected to before the man came to the bathroom. I knew it would be difficult to explain why I’d written so little in my journal and that what I had written during the past few weeks was addressed to the little girl in my dreams. I knew Dr. Anna was probably expecting several pages, but all I had were a few lines in which I’d told the girl in my dream that I would help her and that somehow I would save the mystery child who lived in my head from an evil figment of a man who may or may not have existed. Yes, Dr. Anna, I need you.
     
    When I walked into the familiar house, the doctor was descending the stairs with a little girl who looked to be about ten years old. A picture flashed in my mind of a younger Dr. Anna and a different little girl, who looked like an older version of my daughter Gracie. The doctor was holding the child’s hand in one of hers. In her other hand, Dr. Anna held what looked like drawings of some kind. The picture lasted only a few seconds, and then a woman from the