❛ AFTERGLOW ❜ - 𝖼𝗆𝖻 ✓

047; not a friend

third person.

"did you manage to clean your room over the weekend?" diana asked, looking up at mollie who shook her head, "oh..?"

the pair had only been in the room for less than fifteen minutes, and while mollie was sat in her chair with one leg up to her chest and her eyes focused on the floor, diana had already picked up on a sudden change of behaviour.

"what happened to all that motivation you had?"

"don't know," mollie shrugged.

"alright, what's bothering you?" diana asked, placing down her notes from the previous sessions before leaning forward in her chair and looking over at the girl, "you can tell me anything, it's confidential."

"i don't have anything to tell you," she replied before quickly glancing up at her.

"can you draw it?"

"you can't help me diana." mollie said as she shook her head, the therapist's face falling as a look of confusion soon appeared.

"hey, hey where did this all come from?" she asked, "we were making improvements and doing better, i know you have potential, have you hit a bump?"

"no you can't help i-"

"i can that's my-"

"i don't want you to," she interrupted the woman, bringing her hand to her forehead before her eyes closed shut and she shook her head, "i just want to be left alone."

"mollie," diana frowned, "alright, have you been eating?"

"yeah i have like avocado toast for breakfast and then max makes me dinner," mollie explained with a mumble, her fingers picking at the skin on her lips as diana gave her a nod.

"do you eat the dinner?"

"i just said yeah so clearly i do." the girl rolled her eyes, hearing diana sigh before she picked up the sheets of paper once more, "do you not listen?"

"okay, i'm not going to force you to say anything you don't want to," she began, "but i want you to say what's upset you, you're never this snappy with me."

"i'm fine," mollie replied, "i'm just tired."

"i've heard that excuse before."

"well i am just tired, do you not see the bags under my eyes?" mollie asked as she turned to look at her, "take it for an answer it's not an excuse."

"alright," diana slowly nodded, standing herself up before grabbing her box of paint supplies from the corner of the room, "follow me, we'll do something different today."

receiving no response from mollie, the girl soon grabbed her belongings before following diana through to the main entrance and waiting area of the building, placing the box of paint supplies down beside the big white wall they had talked about a few weeks prior to this session.

"i know you said painting is your way of calming down so let's do this today." diana said, "it needs to be welcoming for new people and full of bright colours, you got that?"

"yeah," she nodded once, grabbing the pencil from the box before her eyes became fixed to the white wall she was stood in front of.

diana smiled slightly, walking over to the side of the room where john was already stood, a cup of coffee in his hands as he watched the girl busy with the wall.

"changed location?"

"thought it might help her," diana replied, "i also got nervous that i'd be punched so i'm letting her de-stress."

"her mom left ten minutes ago," john mentioned, "she came up to me and said she had to go deliver something - my first assumption was drugs."

"john you can't assume," diana looked at him with her eyes widened, "it could be anything."

"she looked high, diana." john told the woman, "i don't think she was completely there."

"you know a few weeks ago when i said i didn't want to assume anything," she said, john giving her a nod in response, "i want to assume that she's abusive."

"you have no evidence for that."

"that's why i'm assuming," she subtly rolled her eyes before gesturing over to mollie, "i mean, i doubt all those bruises on her arm and that cut at the bottom of her leg is her doing, because she's only ever mentioned she punches walls and harms herself only on her wrists and thighs."

"bruises and cuts come from anywhere diana i-"

"i know but she didn't have them last time and this time she has them and she's acting different and won't tell me anything at all," diana explained, "her mom must've done something, i don't know i'm just assuming."

"if she's harming herself then maybe you need to get her more advanced help," john suggested, "maybe like temporary hospitalisation or-"

"john," the woman turned to face him as she folded her arms, "thank you but she's not your patient."

"you need to start making sure she's improving because her mom is starting to think you're not doing anything," john explained, "and i can see how much you care about mollie so you better get a move on."

"monica won't cancel our sessions," diana shook her head, her face slowly falling before she turned to look back at mollie, "i hope she doesn't."

"i think you need to report something." john shrugged, "before things get too out of hand."

"something falls under a lot of things right now john."

"i'm just saying, i don't mean to influence your choices or fill your role," john threw his hands up after he placed down his cup of coffee, "but by what you tell me and what mollie seems, she needs more than just a therapist."

diana paused as she slowly furrowed her eyebrows, glancing at the guy beside her before scratching the back of her head and giving him a nod, "yeah, i just don't want to break her trust."

"you're a therapist, not a friend." john told her, a small smile on his face as he grabbed his coffee and headed down the hall towards his office, leaving diana alone and confused.

"yeah," she quickly mumbled to herself, nodding and walking back over to mollie to give her some company.

♡

a/n

heads up, next chapter is gonna make you
anxious/upset, it's happened before in the book but it's in a slightly different setting, just a heads up so i don't push you straight into it <3

but you might experience these emotions for the next few chapters, heads up <3