Sparks - Daniel Ricciardo

Thirty Six

📍25th May 2022 - Brisbane, Australia

"Happy birthday dear Connie," sang extended family and friends of the young blonde, "happy birthday to you."

Accompanied with applause and cheers, Connie scooped her hair behind her ears and leaned across to blow her candles out; closing her eyes and making a wish before doing so.

"What did you wish for?" Amber asked with a slight smirk across her face as Connie reopened her eyes and leaned up straight in her seat.

"You know I can't tell you." Connie smiled back. "That's against the wish laws."

"Wish laws?" Amber laughed and picked up her drink and raised it towards her mouth. "No such thing."

"Well, I wouldn't want to jinx it."

It had been a few weeks since Amber had packed her bags and purchased a one way ticket back to Brisbane. It has also been one of the most challenging times of her life.

But, she knew she needed to do this. For herself most of all.

Combatting the gut wrenching sense of guilt was the worst of them all. She had never felt pain like it and she could only imagine the pain in which Daniel had felt since she departed from Miami.

The intensity of the situation was getting too much for her and she knew if she had stayed for much longer, she would've crashed and burned, much like she had done only last week.

📍17th May 2022 - Brisbane, Australia & Barcelona, Spain

Amber nervously tapped her foot against the clinical white flooring and bit down onto her lip as she looked across her unfamiliar surroundings.

Clinicians dressed in white lab coats passed her by as she waited, as patiently as humanly possible, on the uncomfortable chair in the hallway.

She watched as people scurried with fistfuls of paperwork and medical equipment to different rooms, checking on various patients as they sauntered around the hospital.

Just this morning, Amber had felt as if her head was about to explode. This meant that a short outburst of emotions had left her body, residing in Connie panicking and calling for professional help.

Which led her to where she was now. In the hallway of a packaged psychiatric unit across town.

Amber had been seeing a therapist for a few days now, hoping that someone would be able to get into her head and understand as to why to was feeling the way she was.

Only three sessions in, Dr Tindall had tapped into parts of Amber's life which would've caused significant mental trauma and discussed them at great length, often returning from her sessions to be met with Connie's intensive nature for further questioning.

But, Amber felt as if the sessions were beginning to work as she openly discussed her feelings and experiences with someone she hardly knew.

Someone who would listen to her and ultimately tell her whether she was being stupid for how she had dealt with the downfall of her most recent relationship.

"Amber?" Dr Tindall's kind voice echoed from around the door as she clutched Amber's records towards her chest and signalled for her to enter her room. "I didn't expect to see you today. Our next session is scheduled for Monday morning."