Savior (B.E.)

Progress

Roberts, Dalia

"So what I'll do is let the psychiatrists on call know about your new dosage change and we'll work from there. This is a safe space for you, and I'm glad that you decided to let me in a bit today. I'll see you on our next session Heather" I smiled at her.

As she left, I let out a sigh. I really didn't get much sleep this weekend because Eilish had some sort of breakdown and because I'm her therapist, I get to be on call. Yay for me.
~
I jolt awake to the ringing of my work phone blaring on my bed side table. I check the time and realize that it is 1:32am. What the hell is going on? "He- hello?" I ask into the phone after clearing my voice. "Good morning Ms. Roberts" Walburn's voice comes through the phone. Good morning!? I held back the urge to sigh heavily as I sat up properly. "Yes sir, good morning. Is there a problem?" I asked back. " I'm sorry for the call as I am aware of the time, however one of your patients seems to have had a break down a few hours ago." He responded.

"May I ask which patient sir?" I ask as I quietly yawned and rubbed my eyes. "Eilish. She is currently sedated at the moment but definitely put up a fight in the process. We are not sure what exactly happened to trigger something like this but the cameras indicate that it happened an hour or two after her session with you." he replied.

"I'm not sure what could have triggered her either but I'll be sure to ask about it in Monday's session. And with all due respect sir, if she is sedated and okay, why am I being contacted?" I asked genuinely. Is it apart of protocol or something? "Seeing that you are her therapist at the facility, you will be contacted with anything out of the ordinary that pertains to Eilish at any given time." He stated. Great just great. "I do hope that you have a good rest of your day and I will see you on Monday morning." He says before hanging up.
~

When Monday arrived I got there a little early so that I could check on Eilish. The last message that I got concerning her was that she was awake and had been taken back to her room. I signed in and made my way to her room. Standing outside and peering in, I see her laying upside down on her bed reading a book. She notices me quickly, as she smiles exposing her dimples and turning upside. She marks her page and motions for me to come closer. "Hello Eilish" I greet noting to keep my distance. "Hi Ms. Roberts. Is it time for my session already?" She asked tilting her head to the side slightly. "No, I came to check on you. I got a call that something happened last week and I'm just here to assess. Your session isn't until this afternoon as usual." I replied.

"Oh. It was honestly nothing. I don't even know why they'd even call you." She said waving her hand like having a breakdown was no big deal. She sat at the head of her bed and she picked back up her book to continue reading. "I wouldn't say having to be sedated as "nothing" I said. "If you knew all the things you could be sedated for in these places, you would." She replied nonchalantly as her eyes continued to scan the page. I remained quiet as I thought about what she said. A breakdown surely is something big to be sedated for right? "Is there something else that you wanted to say?" She asks as she lifts her eyes from her page to stare at me. "No, that's all. I'll see you at our session this afternoon. Goodbye Eilish" I said before backing up and starting to leave. "See you soon mamas" she calls out.

As I finished another session, I thought about my last session with her. The last time we had a session, she said some questionable things that I made sure to write down so that I can ask her about them. I think that I could make some progress, like real progress with her if I tried harder. Maybe she might open up to me if I did that, although with what everybody says around here that might be a lost cause.

A few hours go by and I have about 10 minutes for my lunch break because Eilish has a longer session today due to her breakdown last Friday. I understand why, and I'm hoping that we can actually get somewhere today. I decide to just eat half of the sandwich that Natalie packed in my bag for me and then wait for Eilish to show up.

I sit and think about some ways I could approach her breakdown without being too forward. My goal is to have her talk to me, and not me tell her what I want to hear. A knock is heard on my door signaling that Eilish is here. I press the buzzer to indicate that he could bring her in. Once settled, I start the tape recorder. "So how are you today, Eilish?" I ask. "As normal as I can be in here" she shrugs.

"Okay. Last week, you asked me to put in that request of visitation for Lucie. She responded and she's coming on Wednesday during visiting hours. Are you excited about that?" I asked while writing that down in my notes. "I am actually. It's been a while since I've seen her" she says with a grin. "Have you known her for a long time?" "She's been there for me as long as I've been at Eudoxy. She's always looked out for me and she's funny as fuck. She's like a mother figure to me." She says smiling. I smile inwardly as I see her reaction. This is the first time she's ever given me a genuine reaction to anything.

"What about your biological family? Do they keep in contact with you?" I asked slowly. I want to know but I can't push too hard. "No, they don't" her whole demeanor changing to one of disdain.

"That must be hard for you. If this is too much, we can back track to something else." I clarified. "So when Lucie gets here what are some things you'd like to talk to her about" I asked hoping she'd open back up.

"I'm gonna show her some drawings that I've done, talk about this new book I've been reading and tell her about Calliope" she says getting excited. Her smile slightly falters and she mumbles a 'so I really hope she shows up' but I hear her clearly.  "Those are all good things to talk about Eilish. Your session is ending soon so I want to talk about your breakdown. I'm sensing some anger about your family and I'd like to say that it makes you angry that they don't visit you?" I ask.

She looks away but nods her head at me. "Your feelings are valid and I know that that must be hard for you to deal with. I know what it's like to have an absent family so when you feel triggered, I want you to think about people who do care about you like Lucie, who want to see you get better and be better. I want you to also write down the trigger and we can discuss it when you come in next time ok?" I look at her expectantly.

She stares at me for a moment and then a small smile appears in the corner of her mouth. "Yeah ok. I can do that" she says getting up. I get up as well and press the button to signal her guard. He comes in and starts to take her back to her room and she looks at me and says " See you tomorrow Dalia" and winks as she leaves the room.

Slightly shocked that she used my first name, I take a second to respond before saying " Bye, Eilish." As she left, I felt a bit better about our future sessions.

Progress. 

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I'm back!

I know it's been a while so I tried to make this one a bit longer.

Do you think Lucie is going to show?

How do you feel about the O'Connells?

Are y'all picking up on anything I've been putting in these chapters yet? 🙂

Vote and comment if you liked it! Thank you for reading!