Mari was sitting in an extremely comfortable chair, she didn't feel like enjoying its softness. Her backs stiffened when she heard the door open and close behind her. A tall man sat across from her and smiled. "Hi, Mari, I'm Bert", she nodded just wanting to get out of here and sit near the operation theatre where Niki was. "You came in earlier than I expected", he continued smiling. She knew that he knew why she was here. "Yes", she said wanting to get out.
"What happened?", he asked, his fingers interlacing on the sleek wood. What did he mean what happened? Her hands curled up into a fist. His eyes never left Mari's encouraging her to speak up. She chose to go over what happened a few minutes ago. "I fainted", she said in a low whisper. She didn't want him to know anything, didn't want him to analyze her and give her some bullcrap from stopping the hurt that was blooming in her chest and head. She wanted to know the pain and embrace it full-on, no matter if it would tear her apart.
He nodded. "Was it because of a panic attack?", he worded the incident out. He knew everything yet still wanted her to mouth it out. He was a monster. A monster who fed on people's pain. She hummed a yes. "How did it start?", couldn't he just pull apart her thoughts and dig it out, a monster would be capable of that. "My wife is in operation theatre", she answered, lowering her eyes onto her bopping knees. He encouraged her to say more. She didn't want to.
"I see you have stitches", he looked towards her bandaged head. She hummed. "Have you talked to the police yet?", he asked knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of her voluntarily. She shook her head. The police. The car. It made her lose her breath. "Look at me", he ordered. And Mari's eyes met his. "Name five things on this desk", he patted the wood. "Laptop, a notebook, pens, a ring, your hands", and air filled her lungs again. "Try to repeat this whenever you feel a panic attack coming", she nodded. His hands found the notebook and he clicked a pen open. Her escape seemed far away.
