( crossfire! )¹ ─ ᵗʷᶤˡᶤᵍʰᵗ ✓

chapter one.

( CHAPTER ONE )
SIX YEARS LATER

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19 SEPTEMBER 2007

THE TICKING OF THE CLOCK was the only noise in the silent room to be heard. Carter sat on a large, red couch across from her psychiatrist, Gretchen James, who sat in a matching red armchair. Headphones were placed firmly in her ears as she refused to acknowledge where she was at that very moment by listening to music. She always hated therapy time. It did her no good. Gretchen did her best to help Carter with her problems, but Carter didn't want help. Gretchen was ordered to try and help Carter forget and move on from the tragedy that damaged her so many years ago; she was only doing her job, which Carter understood. However, Carter would rather die than forget about what happened.

As much as she hated Gretchen during one of their meetings, Carter actually really liked the woman outside of their sessions. Gretchen had been like a second mother to the girl for six years now, so they were bound to form some kind of bond. Only, it wasn't the kind of bond that Gretchen's bosses had been hoping for. They had wanted their relationship to be strictly professional―patient and psychiatrist only―they never intended for them to form a familial bond with each other. During their therapy sessions, you wouldn't ever think that they were like mother and daughter. Carter almost always refused to speak, and when she did it was normally something rude or hurtful. Gretchen was the opposite; she tried to get Carter to speak, was always polite. She knew it was still difficult for Carter to deal with her past, so she didn't push any more than she ever needed to.

Gretchen folded her hands in her lap, waiting patiently for Carter to give up the I'm-ignoring-you-and-want-to-leave charade. She silently wondered how the girl could still hear properly considering she always listened to her music at full blast with both headphones in her ears. Gretchen listened closely to what Carter was listening to (she could hear every piece of music clearly from across the room) and immediately recognized the song as Carter's favorite. Immediately, she sat back and waited for the song to end, knowing Carter would be ready to begin talking soon for the last fifteen minutes of their session.

The clock ticked loudly for the next few minutes before Carter was finally turning off her music and pulling her headphones from her ears with a heavy sigh. Gretchen gave the girl's ears a chance to adjust to normal volumes again before speaking.

"How did you sleep last night, Carter? Any more nightmares?" Gretchen started off easy. Night terrors had plagued Carter ever since she was a toddler, but after the fire, they had started occurring more frequently than they use to.

"No, not yet. I know one's coming soon, though. By now I've kind of grown a sixth sense for them. I know they're coming, but I don't know exactly when. So, I just roll with it, and when they occur... whatever. It'll be just another night terror to add to the never-ending pile of night terrors." Carter replied, her usual angsty and casual tone of voice not surprising Gretchen at all. Gretchen did the stereotypical therapist move and immediately jotted down a note on her clipboard before continuing on.

"No night terrors for over a month―I'd say that's progress." Carter snorted out a humorless laugh at the woman's reply. "Is something funny to you?"

"Just the fact that you don't seem concerned at all about the fact that I told you, quite directly and clearly, that I knew I was going to have one again soon. Other than that, there's nothing funny at all." Carter scooted to the edge of the couch where she sat and placed her elbows on her knees, placing her closed fists underneath her chin.