Piece By Piece

Chapter 6

Carrie slid down the bathroom door, crumbling to the ground in tears.

Why she was so worked up, she honestly had no idea, but she couldn't stop.

She sat alone on the floor, flashbacks swarming her brain. She held her hands over her ears to try and stop them, but they pounded her brain.

"Carrie? Carrie open up." Mike sighed, knocking on the locked door.

"Go away." She mumbled, barely audible through her tears.

"Care I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I said go away." She shouted a bit louder.

"I'm not leaving until you open this door." Mike said. He wanted to beat himself for what he'd done. He wasn't thinking.

He got no response, so he sat down against the other side of the door. She'd have to open it eventually.

He leaned against the wall, listening to his wife sob harder than he'd ever heard her cry.

Tears ran down his face, hearing his wife cry alone crushed him. If she wasn't sitting against the door, he would break it down.

Even though she wasn't crying because of him, he couldn't help but think it was his fault. He'd triggered it. He triggered all those horrible memories. All of this was his fault. She'd asked him to go lunch with her and do errands, but he ended up not going and she was left to do the errands by herself. If she hadn't been by herself, none of this ever would have happened.

Carrie sat on the other side, silent tears still running down her cheeks as she rested her head against the door. She wanted Mike. She wasn't mad at him, but she was embarrassed by her outburst over such a stupid little thing.

She knew she needed help. She was never going to get through this on her own, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to talk to a stranger about what happened, she couldn't even talk to her husband about it yet.

"Are you still there?" Carrie's voice was so raspy and weak from crying that Mike could hardly hear it.

"Of course." Mike replied.

She scooted over to the wall beside the door and reached up to unlock it.

Hearing it turn, Mike reached up and opened the door slowly, turning to face his wife.

Even though he'd seen the look on her face many times now, it didn't make it hurt any less.

Her eyes told it all. They were full of hurt. She wasn't the same Carrie, and Mike was becoming afraid she never would be again.

Mike slid over to sit beside her, his arms resting on his knees. Carrie didn't speak, so neither did he. Sometimes silence was better.

"I'll go." She finally mumbled quietly.

"Huh?" Mike realized he wasn't paying attention when she pulled him out of his trance.

"To the psychologist, I'll go." She sighed.

"Care honey you don't have to, I don't want to-"