Gone Girl 3

Chapter 21

Veronica's POV

"I feel like shit. It makes me so uncomfortable that others know what happened to me and don't seem to be able to let it go."

My therapist writes it down.

"Do you regret telling them?"

I look into her eyes. "I do." I sigh. "If I could go back I wouldn't have told anyone. I would have continued trying to forget what happened."

"But you wouldn't have healed, you can't heal something you don't acknowledge."

"I'm not healing now either! My friends keep reminding me that I'm broken even when I beg them to let it go."

"They sound like bad friends," she says and I widen my eyes.

Are they really?

Should I tell her the reason behind their refusal to let go?

"They want to avenge me."

The surprise on her face is bigger than I thought. Right, I have to remember she is a normal person. She doesn't think like us.

What can a group of teenagers really do? This isn't a movie.

"How?"

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore since they promised they'd stop." Or at least Derek did.

Do I trust Derek? Yes. He knows that by continuing to investigate despite his promise, he will lose me.

I accepted so many things but I'm not going to accept people lying to me and deceiving me about my traumatic past.

"Derek said he was coming with me to help me report that man," I admit.

"That sounds like a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Only if I was ready. But I'm not. Yet I still have to do it. It's the right thing."

She notes it down, which makes me quite nervous. I always wonder how does she even even decide which fucked up thing I said to write down.

"What are you going to do when they catch him? Do you think you will feel better?"

Never thought about this.

"No. Nothing can really make me feel better. Maybe I will feel less nervous but him being behind bars for five fucking years isn't enough for what he did to me." My eyes sting and I blink many times to stop the tears from forming.

"Considering he assaulted you twice, the first time being when you were underage, and almost tried to kill you, no, he won't be in prison for five years. It will be for way longer," she tries to reassure me but it just hurts so much more. The gravity of his actions dawn on me. Since I was underage and a virgin the first time, it matters more. It hurts more. Abuse is all I knew.

I look at the clock, only five minutes left.

"Since you told me the 'I love you' exercise I gave you went well, I have another for you."

I wait for her to continue.

"Say it to Derek."

~

After I am done with my class, I go to my- Nicole's dorm—which still makes me feel like shit since I left it but Derek isn't the worst person to live with—and she opens the door before I knock.

She comes out of the room with Cyprian wrapped around her. They both stop smiling when they see me, as if they have been caught in the act.

"What a nice surprise," I say sarcastically