The Horror and the Night

Curious people

      "How was your week?" Professor Crane pressed the record button and waited, waited for you to speak.

"Fine," you replied passively as you looked around his office. During your previous visit, you were too stressed to notice your surroundings. But now, the gray walls and black furniture seemed much more interesting than your thoughts and feelings. The office was simple and modest. On the wall hung a handful of diplomas, and in the corner of the room stood a coffee maker which was never offered to you. It looked like all the psychiatrists' offices you've seen in movies. A soft sofa provided comfort, and a box of tissues that stood on a small table informed you that it was okay to cry here. You were certain that in here people had probably cried more than once. You, however, never cried, not in public at least. Tears were something useless to you, something unwanted, you preferred to swallow them quickly and stifle them. Subconsciously you knew that if you allowed yourself to cry you would most likely never stop.

"We can sit like this in silence if you want," the professor's voice sounded in a low half-whisper pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Seriously! We can sit in silence for an hour and not talk about anything!" the cynical smile returned to its place but Professor Crane remained unfazed. His green eyes seemed to pierce right through you looking through any mask you tried to assume.

"If that's what you need," he replied calmly.

"Is that how it's going to work? I'll talk or not and you'll answer in half-words?" frustration crept into the tone of your voice.

"This hour we have is for you, of the two of us mainly you do the talking, I do the listening," he replied.

"Ridiculous," you sighed.

"How does it make you feel?"

"I'm pissed! If it's not obvious!"

"Why is that?" the professor remained composed and unmoved only your blood pressure spiked with each of his steady questions, "I would like us to start building a relationship together aimed at helping you with the problems you came to me with. Yet I get the feeling that you are looking at me as an enemy. Why?"

"Because...." you clenched your teeth trying to control your temper, "because the whole situation is terribly artificial and uncomfortable," you answered but seeing the professor's unaffected face you continued, "I understand that it is imposed by the rules of therapy and by the situation I entered into of my own free will but it doesn't change the fact that it is strange and unnatural! " you explained.

"And how should it look in your opinion," came another dry question.

"In a normal world, people meet and start some kind of conversation, about trivial things! About the weather, about Twitter gossip, about architecture, about politics, about the economy, that's how you start and then you can move on to developing some kind of relation. And if people feel comfortable in each other's company the relationship deepens, becomes meaningful, and then we start talking about more intimate things, that's when trust sets in," you replied, "in the normal world no one starts with Hey my name is Y/N, everyone I loved died, how you doing?"

"I understand but as you yourself pointed out we're not in a normal situation," he calmly pointed out, "so what are you afraid of? You came here to talk about what ails you and yet, now that you're here, you're scared to talk about it."

"Why do you assume that I'm afraid of something?" the gaze of Professor Crane did not leave you, he only smiled faintly and asked.

"Tell me how many friends you have?" the question surprised you, "How many deep, meaningful relationships do you have in your life?"