Somebody That I Used To Know

7 Days

7 Days Later

Molly and Lillian stand outside of the large building, anxiously awaiting the doors to open.

"I can't take it." Lily exclaims. "I want to see Daddy."

"Me too, bug, me too." Molly eases, patting her daughter on the head. The doors open and Tom steps out, holding a duffle bag in his hands.

"Daddy!"

"Come here," Tom says and takes Lily in his arms. "Oh, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too. You were gone longe than you told me! You lied."

"I know, Lillian, darling, I know, I'm sorry. I'm home now, that's what matters."

"Does your brain feel better?"

"By a lot."

"Good."

Tom holds. Lillian for a minute, before gently letting her go and seeing Molly.

"Tom,"

"Hello, dear. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Molly replies and pulls her husband in an embrace. "How do you feel?"

"Better."

"Better? That's all you have to say?"

"Um... it was rough. I wasn't there long and the addiction wasn't too bad but it was hard without it."

"Just because you're not there anymore doesn't mean that you can drink. You went to get help because you were drinking again."

"No, I went to get help because the thought of that happening to me again was terrifying and I was shutting down like I used to. It was hard, Molly."

"Let's go home, okay? We'll get Lily occupied and then we'll talk."

They walk through the front door and Molly sends Lillian upstairs to play.

"So what programs did you do?" she asks.

"I met with an ED specialist, I had there meetings with him. Um, I went to a few AA meetings as well. They had different times for different things, you know? Then, uh... I met with a new psychologist."

"Yeah? What for?"

"Um... he specializes in uh... hostage situations. More than Dr. Olsen, you know, she's just in extreme trauma, not exactly this."

"What was his diagnosis?"

"C-PTSD is the new upgrade." Tom sarcastically says. "Um... he said that he noticed me frequently bringing up what happened the first time so he believes that my um... feelings are... are a mixture of now and... before. It's Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, technically."

"Anything else?"

"He says that the sub diagnosis of RTS is still definitely noticable and although he would group that in with PTSD, he doesn't disagree with Dr. Olsen."