"And the past couple of sessions," he taps his blue pen onto his old notepad. "none of those did any good to you, Aspen?" I shiver for the tenth time in the past half hour from the cool winter air grazing against my skin. Hanging my head low I sit with my legs crossed on the comforter, pulling them closer in with my cold yet sweating hands.
I shake my head slowly, not daring to look up or protest. Not really in the mood to yell at people who nag me 24/7 because I choose not to speak. I hear a deep sigh escape the old mans mouth as he places his notepad and pen on the side table beside his comforter, directly in front of mine.
"Lets try a different alternative." That catches my attention. I glance up with my eyes, interested in what his next proposition is. He takes a mindful breath before speaking. "Do you think maybe the reason this situation isn't getting any easier is because you're refusing the help?"
I huff at the question, not believing he could possibly be serious. "No. Honestly I think the reason nothing is helping because you people keep bringing up parts of my life I'm trying to forget. It hurts more than it helps." I scoff quietly, keeping eye contact the whole time, leaving Dr. Conroy speechless. I casually stand up from my chair and lean over to the notepad, finding my name and putting a check mark next to my scheduled appointment for 1 hour. Oops.
"Aspen, we aren't finished!" He raises his voice at me, turning shifting sharply in his seat. I ignore him and walk out, biting my tongue to stop the screams trying to escape past my lips. I shut the door behind me and begin walking. I hear my best friend, Helena, shuffle behind me, catching up. Her thin, long strawberry blonde hair is bouncing behind her like the tail of a pony.
"Again?" she asks rhetorically.
"Again."
"You wanna get breakfast?" she says, putting her hand on my shoulder, frowning at the fact that I walked out again. She's been wanting me to at least try talking to the therapists for weeks, but what can I say. Helena was orphaned at a young age, and every foster home she was put in had to refuse her stay because she threw explosive tantrums. Trust issues. So now she's here, just like the rest of us who were at one point fucked over. I sent a weak grin her way and nodded my head.
We make our way into the cafeteria and slow down, scouting through the hustling people to find our freaks. I see a perky, curly headed boy with round glasses smiling at us with his deep dimples. Thats Mikey. Anxiety disorder. Yeah he's a bit scrawny and not much more of a man than a boy, but he's sweet and good company on the worst days. We squeeze our way past people, avoiding as much contact as possible with the more broken ones. I suddenly trip over the back of someones foot and accidently shove her forward from trying to catch myself. The big, greasy black haired girl turned around. She towered over me with an unpleasant snarl on her face.
She shoves me back effortlessly, drawing slight attention to the people around us. "Do you have eyes, blondie?" She spits in my face, making me wince. I was about to fire back when I feel someones hands grasp my shoulders. I whip my head around anxiously to see Mikey. He grins and nods respect to the girl, leading me away from the crowd quickly.
"Thank you" I tell him as we sit at our usual table. He flashes a warm smile and side hugs me, gently squeezing my arm.
"Please try not to get killed again" he says akwardly. I raise my eyebrows and lightly chuckle at his statement.
"Me or you?" I reply, making him roll his eyes of a friendly defeat. Its only morning and he's already not having my comforting sarcasm.
Seconds later, Helena comes to sit at the other side of the table, setting down all three trays she strategically carried over here.
Mikeys eyes impressively widen. "Woah." He stares at his tray in delight, unpacking his fork from the plastic wrapping.
"Thanks Hel" I say in my usual raspy morning voice. She starts picking at her fresh broccoli as I open my carton of milk.
"Someones' gotta take care of you weaklings" she says with pride, popping a piece of the broccoli into her mouth. I shake my head chuckling, taking a sip of my milk.
"Well, this weakling almost squared up on big-booty Judy over there" Mikey said with a mouthfull of pancakes, gesturing over at the crowd standing many feet away from us in the middle of the cafeteria.
I shove him in the shoulder, making him drop his fork. "Mikey!"
"Ow!" He dramatically massages his shoulder. Helena's mouth drops open in soft laughter. She puts her hand over it trying not to make a scene.
"Wait! What did you do?" She leans into the table, supporting her chin with her hand. I shrug, furrowing my eyebrows in distress.
"I tripped over her foot and she took it the wrong way" I defend, quickly putting a strawberry in my mouth. Her laughter slowly stops, leaving a smile on her face as she wipes her hands with a napkin.
"Atleast she left without a black eye" Mikey mumbles through his next bite of pancakes.
"Yes, Mikey, you're the hero, don't milk it" I joke. He grins cheesily and continues eating.
The megaphone goes off, drawing our attention to Ms.Rose, our secretary, standing on a chair in front of the breakfast line.
"Attention please!" The chatter dies down and all eyes turn their focus to Ms.Rose. She founded this clinic, so she probably gets more respect than anyone else here. "Thank you. I wanted to inform you all to meet back here in 2 hours for our new arrival. We show nothing but respect and welcome him with open arms, yes?" Her feminine voice blared through the speaker. There were many yes' from the crowd, not the most enthusiastic ones either.
"Good."
~
Thank you for reading the first chapter of this story. Theres much more to come, and I hope you're aboard for the read. Love you, happy reading! xx
