Sparks

11. Dr. Burble

The day after Cheryl had broken down in front of Toni, causing their heart to heart, she decided to call Dr. Burble who was a therapist Betty had been seeing for a few months. Betty highly recommended Dr. Burble for multiple reasons. For Cheryl, it was because Burble is a woman, assuming her cousin would be more comfortable, for many reasons. Before Burble, Betty had seen a few different therapists, but no one seemed to care as much as Burble, or to just let her talk when she wanted to talk, asking questions at the right time.

Cheryl woke up before Toni on Thursday morning, around 7am. She started the coffee and sat at the kitchen island, staring at the business card Betty had given her, running it through her hands. Cheryl started picking at the corners of the card, everything around her seemed to stop.

The coffee pot made a beeping noise, signaling it was done. This broke Cheryl out of her daze and she realized she had been sitting there for at least ten minutes. She shook her head, getting up to get her a cup of coffee and sat back down, staring at the card and her cellphone.

Why can't I just pick up my phone and dial the number? It's the easiest thing, just push some buttons. But why can't I do it? What's stopping me? This shouldn't be so hard. Betty said Burble is nice and a great therapist, I should be busting down her door. I shou-

"Good morning," Toni said, wrapping her arms around Cheryl. This had become a pretty normal thing between the two. They did agree to take things slow, which meant no kissing and less flirting, but hugging was fair game, as were kisses on the cheek.

"Hmm. Good morning, Toni. Sleep well?"

"I did, actually. You seemed to, as well. No nightmares." Toni smiled at the redhead, making herself a cup of coffee. Cheryl just smiled at her, "Yeah...no nightmares."

The truth was... No, I didn't have a nightmare, not really. I don't think? Maybe it was?

**Possible TW**

Cheryl had woken up in the middle of the night, in a sweat. She sat up in bed, breathing hard, remembering everything about her dream. The feeling of the cold razor blade in her hand, the burning sensation she felt after it touched her skin, the freezing cold water from the shower. The redhead started to feel hot tears running down her face and she went to the bathroom, where she had a mild panic attack. When she came out of the bathroom, close to an hour later, Toni was still asleep in the bed. Cheryl crawled in next to her and went back to sleep, snuggling close to Toni.

"Cheryl?" Toni asked from the other side of the island. "Hmm?" Was all the redhead was able to get out as she looked at the girl in front of her.

"Where'd you go?" concern laced Toni's voice. "Oh, um, I was just thinking about calling Dr. Burble." Cheryl half lied. She was thinking about doing that, but also thinking about her dream and panic attack.

"Therapy isn't a bad thing, Cher. I actually went all through high school."

"How come?" Toni took a deep breath in. She knew this would come up eventually. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." Cheryl reassured the Serpent.

Toni sat on the stool beside Cheryl, "No, it's okay. It was going to come out eventually. Uh...when I was ten, my dad died..." Cheryl gasped quietly and reached out for Toni's hand. "He went to the store to get milk and was hit by a drunk driver. He was...driving through an intersection when the guy hit him head on, right to the driver side. The cops said he died on impact and didn't suffer. My mom had him cremated. We both have some of his ashes, and the rest were spread across Fox Forrest and Sweetwater River; he and his dad used to go hunting and fishing there."

"Wait. Your mom? You haven't talked about her. I'm really sorry about your dad, Toni. Were you two close?"

"I'm not good at talking about my feelings, never have been. Or talking about my life, really. But yeah, my mom moved to Florida after I graduated high school. I moved in with my grandpa to help keep an eye on him, and went to Riverdale Community College for photography, and I took a few business classes. I'd say my dad and I were pretty close, yeah. He taught me how to fish, work on motorcycles and cars. He took me hunting a few times, but I didn't really care for it."