"Hi Maggie. I'm Dr. Kate," the nice looking lady said to Maggie.
Maggie held her Papa's hand and moved ever so slightly behind him. She tried to keep her thumb out of her mouth, but it kept sneaking up.
"So, your Mom and Dad and Dr. Peterson asked if you'd come talk to me. Because you've been having some horrible nightmares according to Mom and Dad. Right?"
Maggie slid a bit further behind her Papa and nodded.
"Can you come into my playroom? I have all sorts of toys, or you can draw, or you can just sit and stare at me."
"Can Mama or Papa come?"
"Mama and Papa have to wait out here, I'm afraid. I don't like to share my toys with adults," Dr Kate smiled. "They don't have good imaginations."
Maggie giggled. Dr. Kate seemed nice.
"But, Mama and Papa will wait right out here for you. If they're good, I'll even let my secretary let them have coffee."
"They're good. They can have coffee. They'll be good." Maggie said. She needed Dr. Kate to know Mama and Papa were good people.
Dr. Kate smiled. She had a really nice smile.
"So let's let Mama and Papa have coffee, and you and I can talk while you check out my toys."
Maggie looked up at her Papa. He smiled down at her and nodded.
"We'll be okay. We'll behave, okay? You go check out the toys and tell us all about the coolest ones, okay?"
Maggie looked at her Mama, too. Mama smiled and nodded.
"It's okay, Bug. We'll be right here," Mama smiled at her.
Everyone was smiling and Dr. Kate looked nice so Maggie decided it would be okay.
She followed Dr. Kate into her playroom. There were dolls and dollhouses, video games like Papa had, a table for drawing and all sorts of paper and coloured pencils and crayons. She had really comfy looking bean bag chairs and tables with games and shelves with games. She had stuffed animals and Barbies and all kinds of Lego and Duplo. There was so much to do!
"You can sit anywhere you want and do whatever you want," Dr Kate said.
Maggie looked around. She didn't know where to start.
"I know," Dr. Kate said. "I have a hard time too. Maybe I have too many toys."
"No," Maggie whispered. "But it's awesome. Can I draw?"
"Of course," Dr Kate smiled. She led Maggie to the table and Maggie looked at the pencil crayons and paper. She picked a yellow piece of paper because she likes yellow. It reminded her of sunshine.
"Ooh. Yellow paper. My favourite," Dr. Kate said.
"It's like sunshine," Maggie said.
"It is," Dr. Kate smiled and wrote something down.
Maggie stared at the paper. What should she draw?
"Can you draw me a picture of your family?" Dr. Kate asked. "And I can put it up in my wall of families."
She pointed at a wall with lots of pictures.
Maggie nodded and got to work. First she drew Papa and she put sticks in his hands so Dr. Kate would know he's a drummer. For Mama, she drew a big heart on her chest, because Mama was so loving and Maggie loved her Mama. And she didn't know what Mama did for work. And then she drew Jim. She used brown because Jim is brown. And big and fluffy.
"Can you tell me about your picture?" Dr. Kate asked.
"That's Papa," she said, pointing to Papa.
"And what's he got in his hands?"
"Drumsticks. Papa plays the drums with Uncle Tyler. Uncle Tyler plays the guitar and piano and yucky lay lay."
Dr. Kate smiled.
"Okay. And who's that?" She pointed at Mama.
"That's Mama. She has a big heart because I love Mama."
"You don't love Papa?"
"Of course I love Papa. My Papa is the best Papa. Well, except for maybe Uncle Tyler, because he's a Papa to Rosie and he's a good Papa too."
"So how come Mama has a heart but Papa doesn't?"
"Because I don't know what Mama does for work so I just showed that I love her and she loves me."
"And who's that?" She pointed at Jim.
"That's Jim. He's our doggie. He protects me."
"Who does he protect you from?"
Maggie looked around the room to make sure no one could hear her.
"The monsters," she whispered.
"The monsters? Who are the monsters?"
Maggie frowned. She really didn't like talking about the monsters.
"I don't like to talk about them," she said.
"I know, but that's why you're here. To tell me about the monsters so maybe I can help you stop them."
Maggie looked at Dr. Kate.
"Do you know the monsters?" She asked.
"No. I don't think so, but I've helped a lot of kids fight their monsters so they can sleep better. Sometimes, if we can't or we don't fight the monsters, when we get older, we have more problems that are harder to fix," Dr. Kate said.
Maggie thought about it and pulled out a piece of white paper and a black crayon.
"I can try to draw you a picture of them," Maggie said. "But I'm not a very good drawer."
"That's okay," Dr. Kate said.
Maggie tried to draw the monsters but it was hard. When she thought she was done she showed it to Dr. Kate.
"Can you tell me about the monsters?"
"I don't like to talk about them," Maggie whispered again.
"I know. But can you tell me a little bit. What you told your Mama?"
Maggie looked suspiciously at Dr. Kate. Did she maybe know the monsters and would tell them to come back to Ohio?
"It's okay, Maggie. You don't have to tell me about them today if you don't want. Our time is almost up anyway. Will you come back to play with me another time?"
Maggie sighed with relief and nodded.
"Wonderful. I look forward to it," Dr. Kate said.
She walked Maggie back to the waiting room where Mama and Papa were sitting and smiling when Maggie came out.
"We had a lot of fun," Dr. Kate said. "Maggie said she'd be willing to come back and visit my playroom again."
"Oh yeah, Bug?" Papa said, picking Maggie up. "You like Dr. Kate?"
Maggie nodded and put her head on her Papa's shoulder. Mama thanked Dr. Kate and talked to the lady at the desk for her next visit with Dr. Kate.
YOU ARE READING
Magnolia Blooms
FanfictionMagnolia (known to family and friends as Maggie) is seven years old. Two years ago, her life was changed when she was tossed out of her parents car, in a garbage bag. She was found by none other than Josh Dun of the band twentyone pilots. She was a...
