saving grace

Chapter 34: Frustrations

Cate had finally gotten you to sleep on the couch, successfully removing herself from underneath of you as you were curled up into her side. It took a lot of coaxing and patience, but she managed to get you to relax enough to close your eyes. She was desperately worried about you, and so, she was sitting at the dining room table with her laptop, searching up therapists who have dealt with instances of severe trauma. She really didn't know what to do, but she figured this would be better than nothing. She wanted to do everything in her power to make sure you were okay, although she did have some of her own anxiety about the situation. What if Edi was in that bed when you had a night terror? You didn't harm Cate this time, but who's to say what's going to happen next time?

As Cate's mind wandered to these thoughts, Dash made an appearance from the lower level. Cate put her index finger to her lips, letting her son know that he needed to be quiet. He gave a confused look at first, but then took note of your presence in the living area.

"Is she okay?" He asked quietly, coming further into the room.

"Sit," Cate said, patting the chair beside her and closing her lap top.

Dash did just that, a mix of worry and confusion running ramped in his brain.

"What happened, Mom?"

Cate placed her hand on top of Dash's that lay on the table, gently running the pad of her thumb across his skin. She didn't answer but asked a question of her own. "Has y/n ever told you about her past?"

Dash shook his head, looking Cate directly in the eyes.

She took a deep breath before explaining, "When y/n was your age, her mother was killed in a car accident. The person driving the other vehicle was drunk and by the time first responders were able to get to her, she had passed away."

Cate watched her son's expression, sympathy written all over his face.

"Her father was a very inconsistent figure in her life and she didn't really know what to do. Y/n fell into a deep depression and she tried to kill herself. If you've ever noticed the scars on her arms, that's where they came from. Julianne, the woman you met, tried to help y/n the best she could, taking her in and treating her like one of her own. Somehow, she was able to come back from it, but two years ago, she was attacked. Um-two men beat and raped her...and I'm not sure that she has ever fully recovered."

Cate had to physically catch her breath for a moment. She got worked up every time she thought about what you've had to go through, more or less when she talked about.

"When you came in this morning, she was having an episode, if you will. It happened after she had this nightmare, one where she essentially relives the assault, but when she woke up from it, she was not herself. From what I gather, it's as if she's in this state where she doesn't know what is real and what isn't."

Dash briefly looked over his shoulder towards the couch, his heart breaking for you, a person he had grown exceptionally close to in such a short period of time.

"I'm sorry that I raised my voice at you, but she wasn't able to go back to sleep afterwards and she was still partially in that scary condition. I was trying to get her to come back out of it, and when you made your presence known, she started to panic."

"How do we help her?" Dash asked genuinely, without skipping a beat, knowing that he couldn't let you suffer alone.

"I haven't really dealt with anything like this before, Dash. I'm not exactly sure what the right move is," Cate replied honestly. "As soon as she fell asleep, I grabbed my computer to start looking for therapists."

"Did she go to therapy before, like after those men did that to her?"

Cate went on to say, "She did Dash, but sometimes, people need to get help for a very long time after something like that happens. When she moved to Los Angeles, she stopped going."