Drowning

Chapter 1

A/N: Okay so I'm just gonna go right in from the moment that Sydney and Michael met and hope that it sounds at least somewhat coherent, so let's go. If it's in italics it is someone's thoughts

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Sydney's Pov: I know my mom thinks this whole therapy thing is going to help, but I don't see how talking about my brother's death is gonna help me get over it, especially because it is group therapy and I hate speaking in front of crowds.

"Sydney, take your headphones out, we're here." Sydney's mom, Karen, said.

"Mom, I really don't think this is going to help me, do I really have to go?"

With an apparent agitation in her voice her mother said, "Yes Sydney, you won't talk to me about it and you won't talk to your dad about it so hopefully you will talk to these complete strangers, sometimes that makes it easier."

I rolled my eyes and scoff, "I doubt this will even remotely help, but if you are forcing me, I guess I have no choice."

With a sigh Karen says, "I wish you wouldn't think of it that way, this could really be good for you Sydney, I just want you to be able to deal with this and stop holding everything inside, it's not good for you."

"Okay mom, I will try, but if after this session I don't think this is gonna help can we agree that I don't have to go anymore?"

Excitedly her mother shook her head and said, "Yes! But you have to promise to actually put effort into this, don't just go in there, say and listen to nothing and then come back and say it didn't help, you actually have to try."

I groaned and said, "Fine, I will definitely try, but you have to understand that even if I do try there is no guarantee that I will actually enjoy it."

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In the group therapy session

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I look around and all of the faces here seem cold to me, I don't think any of them want to be here just as much if not more than me, but for entirely different reasons. Most of them look like if they have to relive what happened one more time they are just going to explode.

"Sydney, it is Sydney isn't it?" says a man whose name I do not know

I nod and say, "Yeah, it's Sydney."

He smiles a smile that is so big it actually makes me a bit uncomfortable, "Well Sydney, we were all just wondering if you would mind sharing with us why you are here."

I frown, "Do I really have to go first? I'm not the best at public speaking and hearing other people talk first would probably calm me down a bit."

He nods understandingly, "That's no problem, we will start with Patricia first and make our way around the circle. Now, Pat, if you don't mind, how about you st-"

I tuned out what he said after that, I was looking at Patricia who really did not want to be there and even more so did not want to be the first person to say something, however, she began to tell us the story of how her sister was coming to visit them from out of state and she was in an accident because of a drunk driver and it was a fatal impact. Then slowly but surely the entire circle of kids began telling their stories, some got choked up halfway through, some couldn't speak loud enough for me to understand all of what they were saying, and some of them just couldn't even finish what they were even trying to say. After most everyone had gone I started to feel a bit more comfortable with talking, and there was only one more person left to go, it was a boy I hadn't really noticed at first, which is saying something because his hair was black and white, similar to a skunk but, reverse I guess, instead of the white being on the inside it was on the outside, and it didn't look half bad.