Altered (The Fragile Minds Duet Book 2) by Blake Blessing

Author:Blake Blessing [Blessing, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Therapy Session #4

“How are you, dear?” Jeni stretched her feet out in front of her.

“Good. Mostly.” I plumped a pillow next to me, then shoved it behind my back. I was good. Much better than I’d thought I’d be at this stage.

“What’s the other part of that equation? The not so good?” Her eyes were warm, full of concern, as if she cared about me as a real person and not just a patient. I wanted to believe that, so I let myself by pushing it out of my head and not thinking on it any longer.

I didn’t even have to put much thought behind what wasn’t great. “I’ve been slapped in the face a few times this week, metaphorically. The guys, they have lives and interests and personalities outside of who I made them out to be.”

She didn’t comment, just waited for me to continue. I liked that about her. She probed where she needed to, and other times, she let me get out my truths in my own time.

“I knew they did. Theoretically, when I was in the hospital and going through therapy, I knew these men were real.” All except Alex, but I was extremely happy to know he was real too. “I knew they weren’t who I thought they were, at least surface level. Since I’ve been home, I’ve met them all, gotten to know some of them, and the constant reminders are like little prickle bushes bringing back the pain of memories from my psychosis.”

My chest rose and fell in rapid succession. When had I started breathing hard?

“Tell me about these instances. What were you doing, how did they come up, and most importantly, how did they make you feel?” Her gaze had sharpened, probably because I was on the verge of having a panic attack, but I did as she requested.

Concentrating on the week actually helped. For a second, I had been afraid it would make it worse. Instead, I had a purpose for remembering.

“The hardest one was learning more about Alex. I—He was an author to me. But he’s actually a contractor. I didn’t ask him what happened, but it’s pretty obvious the majority of my encounter with him had been made up.” I shook my head, trying to dislodge the horror.

“Why do you think that was the hardest?”

“Because every time I get used to the fact that I’m sick, something happens to show me just how far gone I actually was. It’s a bit disheartening.” More like a killer of hope, but I didn’t want to sound so dire. Because I was making progress, and I was getting better every day.

“That’s absolutely normal you’d feel that way. Do you have any resentment toward the men?”

“What? No, I—I actually like them, even when they prove just how different they are. They’ve actually been…” I didn’t want to finish that thought. She didn’t know me outside of these sessions, and if I voiced what had been happening, she would probably try to have me committed again.

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