TW: mentions of abuse
- Kats pov -
Even though I thought Stans idea was stupid, I went with him to therapy. When we got there he sat down outside the room that a tall lady with long black hair with beads told me to go into. She followed after me and shut the door.
"Hello, Katrina. I'm Erin." She said, offering me a seat. I took it and she sat across from me. We stared at eachother for a bit before she spoke.
"So, what are you here for?"
"Because my friend made me go."
"Why?" Erin asked.
"Because I'm depressed." I shrugged. The therapist nodded.
"You're depressed. It also says on the sheet that you have PTSD."
"What's PTSD?" I asked.
"It's post traumatic stress disorder. Do you think you have that?"
"I mean, maybe." I shrugged again. "I...uh."
"I'm gonna have you fill this out before we begin." Erin said, handing a paper to me. I scanned it and marked with a pen the boxes that occurred to me. They were questions like, have you ever thought of hurting yourself to, how many days is it hard for you to get out of bed.
I finished the paper and handed it back to her. Taking it from me, she crossed her legs and put it away.
"How's your relationship with your parents?"
"Um...bad?" I answered. What's she want me to say?
"Why's that?"
"Because they hate me."
"They hate you?" Erin asked. "Tell me why you think that."
"Yes." I answered. "They hate me because why else would they lock me in the basement or beat me up."
"Kat, are you in danger right now?"
"No. I left their house." I played with my fingers. "But I should've sooner."
"When did this all start?"
I thought for a moment, it was hard to remember so far back. "I think it began one day in first grade. I went home one day crying because a kid kept tying my shoelaces together so I'd trip a lot. My dad found out and decided to teach me how to tie my shoes. He wasn't always bad. My dad would sometimes be the better parent than my mom, which was for some reason uncommon in parents."
"I was learning how to tie my shoes and my dad was helping me. My mom came home from a long day of work, she worked at an office. She sold cups. It was a high end job, no room for cuts or missing."
"She came home from work, stressed as usual, and asked my dad why I was home. He told her the truth...and she slapped him across the face. It was never a calm conversation with my mom. She was raised in a strict Italian-Hispanic household, and I guess that passed onto our family. She slapped him and then took me to my room, locking me from the outside. I guess that's where it started."
"Why was your mom so upset about you missing school?" Erin asked.
"I guess since she missed out on a good education when she was younger she never wanted mine to be ...messed up."
"Did her and your dad fight a lot?"
"They did at the beginning. But as I got older they just took everything out on me." I mumbled.
"Tell me about the basement."
A sigh left my mouth. I didn't want to discuss any of this, but time had to pass either way.
"Well, when we moved to Derry, which was over a year ago, the house my parents bought had a basement. We stored all my brother's stuff and other junk in there until..." I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You have a brother. Where's he at right now?"
"Casey. He moved out when he was 16. That was when mom and dad were taking it out on him. I guess Casey was smarter because, he found ways to stay away from home as much as possible. When I had dad, Casey had no one."
"Have you talked with Casey lately?"
I shook my head. "I haven't seen him since he moved."
"He moved to leave your parents? Do you ever wonder why he didn't take you with?"
"Maybe he thought if he left, all of it would stop. But it didn't. It just transferred to me."
"Why were your parents upset with Casey? Did he miss school a lot?"
"No."
"Why were they upset with Casey."
I closed my eyes and tried to remember back years. "They were always mad with us about different things. But Casey...he...he, got a girl pregnant." I opened my eyes. "My parents told her parents and they forced her to get an abortion."
"How did that affect Casey?" Erin tilted her head.
"Casey was upset that it wasn't the girls choice. But he knew that our parents would always be controlling us. He had a-lot of issues when dating girls because of my parents."
"And how about you? Did your parents act a certain way when you started dating?"
I bit my lip. I tried to speak but words couldn't leave my mouth. Erin nodded and folded her hands on her lap.
"Our session times up. I'll be meeting with you a week from now, and we can talk more then." She stood up and opened the door. "You did a lot today. You should be proud of yourself."
