Castaway ➳ cth [EDITING/HIATUS]

Chapter 4

"Thank you for joining us!" Ms. Miller said happily and put on a huge smile.

The boy didn't say anything. He just sat down, without interrupting his stare.
Ms. Miller carried on.

"You want to start?" She asked me, which made me shrug. I had no other choice.

"I'm... my name is Juniper Bellatore", I muttered quietly. My thoughts were circling around the sentence: "Don't say anything wrong. They are watching you."

"But everybody calls me June, though", I continued, "and I'm sixteen."
I stopped and faced the psychologist. Was I done?

"What are the things you are fighting with?" She murmured carefully. I showed my nervousness by swallowing a couple of times.

"Mostly PTSD", I whispered. "And... depressions. Anxiety. Something like that." Rubbing my palms together made me feel less awkward than I actually did in that specific moment. The psychologist nodded and looked at the boy who came late. He sat left next to me, looking concerned.

"Do you want to continue?" Ms. Miller asked, forcing another smile on her face.

He hesitated and glimpsed down at his hands. It took him a while, until the psychologist asked him the questions.

"What is your name?" She asked friendly. Her soft voice barely seemed to uncomforted someone, but I saw the anxiety raising up in the boy's mimic.

"Calum", he replied sheepishly.

The teacher nodded understanding. I furrowed my eyebrows. His name sounded familiar.

"How old are you?" She dug deeper with her questions.

"Sixteen."

"And how can we help you?"

He raised one eyebrow. "I don't know", he answered, his voice getting louder. "I'm just done with... life."

The psychologist nodded again and moved on. I'm just done with... life. This sentence repeated itself in my brain over and over.

I really didn't pay attention to what the others were saying. I knew Calum from somewhere. And then I realized, he probably goes to my school.

"Thank you so much guys", Ms. Miller said. "Now, I'd like to do something with you all. Many people have wishes and expectations right?"

We nodded in agreement.

"Imaginations are special kind of stimulation for our brains. It helps us to be creative, to daydream, and to do decisions in life. What I'd like you to do is to pair up. Talk about your imaginations and what helps you to create your own world. How to overcome your challenges by using those thoughts. You have twenty minutes, and then we're getting together as a group again."

We were seven, an uneven number. The two girls got together, the other three boys decided to share their opinions in a group of three.

So two were left, Calum and I.

"Guess we have to pair up then", I stated and lead him to the back of the room, right next to the windows.

We both remained silent. It felt awkward, like the day we both saw each other at my sister's school.

"You want to start?" I offered. He shrugged while laying his arm on the window pane. "Imaginations are just... tricks", he spat without looking me in the eye.

"Why do you think so?" I asked. I wasn't able to figure him out. "Imaginations are something important. To get out of life for a bit. Life's just something that gives us the opportunity to develop something great, but not everybody gets that chance to do so. Not everybody's happy about their past, their presence, or their future. I'm a great example for 'everybody'."

The last sentence made him wince. He looked back into my eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"That's what you consider under imagination", he clarified and scratched his forehead. "Very interesting, if you ask me. I'm pretty sure your story is not as messed up as mine." Was he playing with the words he was saying? Or was he serious?

"I'm here because my life is messed up", I raised my voice, letting the anger be hearable. "You don't know me."

"I do", he sputtered and leaned towards me. I frowned in bewilderment.

"You didn't even know my name before", I spat back, "You now shit about me."

"I know who you are, where if you like it, or not."

"Only in your dreams."

"You meant 'imaginations'."

This made me hesitate, and while I was considering what to say, Ms. Miller appeared between us. "How are you doing?" She asked. I'm glad she didn't hear about our discussion.

"Great", Calum answered and leaned back in his chair. "We're just... deep in a conversation." Ms. Miller gave us a friendly blink and while she was about to go to another group, I squinted my eyes back to Calum.

He winked at me.

"Alright guys", the psychologist said after the twenty minutes that passed, Calum and I of course not saying anything anymore, "Let's get back into the circle."

"So how was it?" My mum asked. I knew she wanted to hear a positive answer. We stepped down the stairs, pushing the huge door open and walking to the car.

"I don't know", I said and crawled onto the black passenger seat of the old, grey coloured Volkswagen.

"Seriously, June", my mother stated, "I'd like to know if it was worth it."

I shrugged and had to think back of what Calum said to me. You meant 'imaginations'. What did he mean by that?

"June?" My mum said irritated.

"Mum! It was ridiculously wonderful!" I yelled, letting my voice sounding as sarcastically and annoyed as possible. My thoughts were somewhere else and I didn't have the urge to talk about the session.

My mum remained quiet, until she broke the silence with the words: "Be a bit more respectful to me." She hesitated, "I just wanted to know."

My mind wouldn't make up another response to come up with, but it didn't matter. My mum was already pissed off, and I didn't want to make it worse than it already was.

I stared out of the window, thick raindrops falling from the sky. Why was is raining every time?

All of the sudden, my eyes caught Calum, running down the streets paved in puddles towards the little suburb he might live in.

I quickly dismissed the thought about him living in that suburb, since those houses were built out of expensive marble and other materials I couldn't name. The huge windows almost covered the entire houses and nearly every building had their own fountain standing on their property.

Those houses remind me of the one Luke was living in, I thought, trying not to retrieve the dark memory from the past. The cause of my anxiety and concerns.

"Was that the guy from the meeting back there? I think I saw him coming into the psychology practice", my mum whispered unconsciously.

I winced. "No mum", I replied hectically. "He's not that guy. Don't worry about that."

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(A/N): This chapter is kind of edgy, I know, but it's going to be more exciting next chapter.

Well, I hope so :D

Anyway, the next chapter is going to be another P.O.V. and I'm sure you're going to figure out whose P.O.V. it's going to be, lol.

Hope you enjoyed it!

- Ally