A F T E R G L O W - N W H「3」

P R O L O G U E

- PROLOGUE -

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     "What brought you here?"

Liz sat on a couch across from a woman with a notepad and paper, oblivious to the question as her mind wandered elsewhere.

"Elizabeth...?"

She lifted her head and squinted her eyes shut in dismay of herself. "Oh, um, I'm sorry...what was the question?"

"What brought you here today?"

She shrugged with a nervous smile. "I don't know."

The woman tilted her head, crossing one leg over the other. "Well, is there something wrong in your life?"

She nods, pulling back the rubber band around her wrist and letting it go causing a wince to find her eyes.

"Can you tell me what you feel is wrong?"

Liz shook her head.

"Okay. Then let's start with something easy." She started, resting her chin in her hand. "Did you come here on your own, or did somebody suggest it to you?"

"My friend told me to come here."

"Do you have an idea as to why they might've suggested it?"

"Yes." Liz smiled halfheartedly. May swore therapy wasn't awkward.

"Can you tell me why?" The woman inquired, hoping she was getting somewhere.

Liz again shook her head as she stared down at her hands. "I can't really explain it."

The woman let out a small sigh, her newest client not giving her much to go off of. "What do you want right now?"

"Honestly?" She raised a brow at the woman receiving a nod. "Ice cream."

She laughed softly, leaning forward in her seat. "That's a good start, but I was more so referring to life. What are your goals? Your ambitions."

Liz thought it over for a moment, always reluctant to share such information with a new face. But this was therapy and it was kind of the whole point, no matter how uncomfortable it made her.

"I wanted to go to Berkeley."

"And you didn't?" She looked up from her notepad as she jotted down a sentence or two.

"No." Liz pursed her lips.

"Why's that?"

Another universe decided they needed her instead of her own, hence the reason she showed up for this session in the first place...

She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Didn't get accepted."

"Hmm." The woman nodded, offering Liz a warm grin. "How 'bout something else, something uplifting."

Liz looked at her in anticipation, not a clue as to what she meant. "What's one thing you want? It can be outlandish and crazy, just something that makes you happy."

Only one thing comes to mind and unfortunately for her, it was seemingly impossible and quite frankly, not worth dwelling on.

She wanted Peter.

Instead of answering honestly, her eyes lifted and met the woman's smile with a blank expression of her own. One she's held up for years. "...I don't know."

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i'm not really sure how this ended up the way it did 'cause it's literally two a.m. and the idea just came to me

i kind of like it a lot though no matter how vague it may be

(also, almost all of the authors notes were written when i originally wrote each chapter earlier this week, so just bear that in mind)

thanks for reading, friendos! and welcome back!!

—Cj

8/6/23