...And I Am Going Home

Oliver 2

"So Oliver, how was going back to work today?" asked the therapist.

"It was the same as it always was," Oliver replied.

"My that sounded perhaps a bit rehearsed if I dare say so," the therapist chuckled. "Were you anticipating that question?"

"More like I have been asked it several times today and already knew the answer."

"And how does it feel to have been asked that question so many times today? Perhaps you found it annoying?"

"I don't see any point in asking," Oliver shrugged.

The therapist looked at him for a moment, which Olvier had learned by now was her way of politely prompting him to elaborate further, but he always refused to take that bait. Also, if he had wanted to say more, he would have; no amount of awkward silence and staring and smiling would make him surrender.

"Why do you not see the point in that question?" she asked, giving in.

"I just don't," Oliver replied unhelpfully.

The therapist's smile faltered a moment, twitching at the corners. "Well, perhaps people are asking because they are concerned about your well-being. After going through something like you have, going back to normalcy and adjusting can be difficult."

"I was only gone for an hour. I don't need any adjustment period; in fact, I would say being forced time off made it more difficult and the only reason why I would need an adjustment period."

"So you feel it would have been easier for you if you got straight back to work after the incident?"

Shit, I revealed too much. Oliver stiffened in his seat. "Like I said, I saw no point in having time off. I did not need it. I could have gotten back to work straight away."

"Do you like your job, Oliver?" she asked.

Oliver swallowed. "I like keeping a routine and not wasting time. Having those weeks off was unnecessary, a waste of time."

The therapist's eyes narrowed slightly, then jotted something down quickly on her notepad. Had she noticed that he had attempted to evade the question? Or was this just a scare tactic to get him to confess more? Either way, he would not relent. These sessions may be mandatory so he could return to work, but perhaps they would be done sooner once they finally fucking realised that he was fine. Because he was fine. He didn't need any therapy or evaluation since he was only gone for an hour. And he was fine.

"Tell me about your routine," said the therapist. "What was a typical day for you before the incident?"

The incident Oliver always wanted to laugh whenever she referred to it as that, instead of just saying openly what happened each time: 'before he was kidnapped by a human-eating giant monster', or 'drugged by a likely group of human traffickers', whatever story you believed. But perhaps that was the reason, and that it was because the incident was nicknamed the Snickelway kidnappings; who could take something like that seriously?

Oliver humoured her question, listing his routine in detail, hoping that it would fill up the time and perhaps bore her. He began with the exact time his alarm would go off, what he would have for breakfast on specific days, when he showered, brushed his teeth, got changed, and then headed off to the bus stop. He then explained the very first half an hour of work, how he would check his schedule and to-do list, and talk to his team, and then it reached home time. Oliver had to stop for a moment as he thought about it, how finishing work was the best part of his day, not because of the obvious reasons but because of... it had been because of Cody. And now that part of the routine was gone. He couldn't fully return to normalcy.