A Cry in the Park - A Bob's Burgers fanfic - by BobsBurgersStories1

A Cry in the Park - Part 33

The following evening, the family, bar Louise, were in the living room, getting ready to watch a movie.

   "I'll see if Louise wants to join us this time," said Bob, as he stood, and walked down the hallway. He did get worried at her being by herself all the time, and he believed that if she was with her family, she might start feeling better.

As he approached her room, he noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and he heard her muttering. He paused, trying to listen.

   "What do you want?" he heard her say quietly, and he prepared to apologise for eavesdropping.

But when he pushed the door open just a little bit, he found her sitting on the floor with her back to him, playing with her toys. She was holding Kuchi Kopi, making him stand on the bed, while her toy bear with the sharp, jagged teeth was in her other hand. "Get outta my way," she murmured, making Kuchi Kopi speak to the bear, which came closer. "I'll teach you not to mess with me," she lowered her voice, and made the bear slam into Kuchi, before deliberately dropping the night light onto the floor, and rolling it under the bed. The bear began to run away, but not before one of her other toys (a new one; Bob couldn't remember who'd given it to her) body-slammed it.

Bob pressed a hand over his mouth as he realised what she was doing. After he'd composed himself, he knocked on her door, waiting.

   "Louise?"

   "What is it?"

When he entered, she was sitting on her bed, reading a manga.

   "We're just about to watch a movie; wanna join us?"

   "I'm good," she returned her attention to her manga.

   "Are you sure? It's a good one; 'Terminator'."

   "I'm good," she repeated.

   "Okay," Bob nodded. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where we are."

   "Whatever."

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Later on in the week, Louise was back in her therapist's office. She'd been thinking a lot about what Kuchi Kopi had said to her, about talking. She still wasn't too sure about it, but she kind of wanted to try. Then, when it didn't work (she knew it wouldn't), she could work on another way of making the bad dreams and thoughts go away.

At that moment, she was colouring, but she wasn't really focused on what she was doing.

   "I don't get it!" she snapped suddenly, throwing her pen down.

   "Don't get what?" asked Hannah, who shifted closely. Louise clenched her fists.

   "Why everything is so..." she could only wave her arms in frustration.

   "So difficult?" she finished, and Louise nodded. "I know you're still struggling, and that's okay. But I think the reason why everything is still affecting you is because you don't want to deal with it."

   "I am dealing with it!" she exclaimed. "I'm dealing with it by writing! That should be enough! So, why haven't these stupid nightmares stopped?"

   "Writing is a very useful tool," Hannah agreed, "but actually acknowledging out loud what happened is a great first step."

Louise did not say anything, and so she continued. "You're always going to remember what happened to you, and it's a part of who you are now."