They Don't Know About Us

Therapy

"What?" I asked, I didn't even feel my pounding headache. I was staring at Niall, shocked. He can't be serious, right?

"U-Um, we're putting you in therapy," Niall repeated. My eyes widened, "B-But, why?"

Niall frowned, "Are you actually serious? You cut and you now like alcohol. You've been raped three times and were abused. You've broken down so-"

"Okay, I get the point," I mumbled, "But, I don't want to go."

"Well, you have to go," Niall told me. I pouted, "Please don't make me!" I begged. Niall looked torn between his decision and my pouting face, "No, you're going," Niall firmly stated.

"Please don't make me!" I repeated, louder.

"Why don't you want to go?" Niall asked me.

"I don't want to talk about my problems," I mumbled. Niall frowned, not satisfied with my answer, "And, why can't you?" I didn't like the way Niall kept pressing on. I turned away from his sharp gaze, "I-I don't know..."

"Yes you do," Niall replied, "Now, tell me."

The room was silent as Niall waited for me to answer his question. I searched for the right words in my mind, "B-Because they come back," I whispered. Niall was intrigued by my small answer, "Who comes back?"

"T-The nightmares," I whispered. I never call the memories, because memory is a happy word. My memories are nightmares that haunt me. If I don't talk about them, then I don't think about them. Isn't it better that way? No one seems to let me forget about them. One small event can bring them all flooding back into my mind.

"You always think you can just forget about them, but... Who can just forget about stuff like that? Memories don't just disappear," Niall said. I stared at the squared tiles on the floor, "U-Um, but can't I try?"

"Haven't you tried before?" Niall asked me. I bit my lip, trying to wish he was wrong. But... He's right. It never works. Nightmares never leave your mind.

"Y-You're right," I quietly replied.

"So, what do you say?" Niall asked me.

"Well, how will therapy help me?" I challenged, "You just said that memories like that don't disappear."

"Well, therapists help you recover from them," Niall replied, "Nicole, I just want you to be happy again. Please, just go."

I looked up into Niall's eyes. They had an intense look of sadness. I nodded, "I'll go."

Niall smiled, "Good, we'll set up an appointment."

Niall walked out of the room, leaving me alone on the cold bathroom floor. What have I gotten myself into?

*


"GET UP, NICOLE!" I heard Louis screech, "YOU GOTTA GO IN AN HOUR!"

I groaned, "I'M UP, LOUIS!" I yelled back downstairs from my bed.

"GOOD!" Louis yelled. I groaned, again, and pulled myself out of bed. I really don't want to go to therapy. It makes me feel like some insane person. I'm not crazy... Right? I know this won't help me. It will just make things worse.

I pulled myself out of bed. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a shirt. I changed into that, then walked into my bathroom. I washed up, and combed out my curly hair. Some makeup was applied to my face, and I put on jewelry. I looked in the mirror. Good, I guess. I walked downstairs. Niall and Louis were the only ones awake. They were groggily eating breakfast at the counter. I trudged over, and joined them. I grabbed some food and sat on a bar stool. I started eating.

"Do I have to go?" I complained. Louis nodded, "Yeah, you are not getting out of this."

I groaned, "Fine, whatever."

We finished eating, and it was now time to go. Niall grabbed his keys, "I'm driving you over."

I frowned, "You know that I can drive, right?"

"I also know that when you're alone, you get kidnapped," Niall replied. I shrugged, "You got a point."

"Ready to go?" Niall asked. I nodded, and followed him out the door.

We soon arrived at the building. I looked out the window at the building. It was large, almost menacing. I sighed, "Do I really have to do this?" I asked, when Niall parked the car. Niall nodded, "Yep, pretty much. I'll pick you up in a half hour. Bye love," Niall replied.

"Bye," I replied. I got out of the car, and shut the door behind me. Niall pulled out of the parking lot. I turned around, and looked at the giant building in front of me. I took a deep breath. It's time to go to therapy, I guess. I walked into the building.

There was a sign-in desk up front, so I walked over. The lady at the front desk looked up from what she was working on, "Can I help you?" She asked me.

"Yes, I have an appointment today," I replied.

"Name please," The lady commanded.

"Nicole Everense," I answered. She searched on her computer, "Ah, here you are. You have an appointment with Dr. Swoft. She is on the second floor in Room 410."

"Okay, thank you," I replied. I walked towards the stairs. I reached the second floor, and walked down the hallway. There's room 410. I opened up the door and walked in.

The room was small with two couches on either side of a small table. On the side of the room was a desk, and sitting behind the desk was a woman. That must be Dr. Swoft. She had black, short hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing a blazer over a white button-up shirt. She had on heels and a skirt that went down past her knees. She looked up from her work when she she saw me, and smiled. The lady stood up, and walked over to me.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Swoft, you must be Nicole. Nice to meet you," She stuck her hand, and we shook hands.

"Sit down," She motioned for me to sit on the couch beside me. I sat down, and crossed my legs. Dr. Swoft sat on the couch in front of me, and placed a clipboard on her leg. She looked me straight in the eye, making me nervous.

"I can tell that you're nervous about this," Dr. Swoft said. I sighed, "Yeah, just a bit."

"There's no need to be nervous," She replied, "I'm not going to tell anyone about the stuff we talk about. It is confidential."

I nodded, "Okay," I replied. Dr. Swoft pulled a pen out of her pocket, and lifted up her clipboard, "Okay, now close your eyes," She commanded. I did that.

"Now, concentrate really hard on the darkness," She said. I did that. I could only see darkness in my mind.

"What do you see?" She asked me. What kind of question is that? Obviously all I can see is black, "All I see is darkness," I answered.

"Concentrate harder," She commanded. I let my mind wander through the endless darkness, then I saw them. I could see Father and the rapist peeking through the darkness. I gasped out loud.

"What do you see?" Dr. Swoft asked me.

"Father a-and..." My voice trailed off at the end, not wanting to say it.

"Who else?" She asked, pushing me to continue. I finally gained enough courage to muster out two words, "T-The stalker."

"What does he look like?" She asked me. I concentrated harder. I could see him pushing off his hood, so I could see his face.

"He has brown, side-swept hair, and dark brown eyes. His eyes are nearly black... He looks around twenty years old. He's really tall, like over six feet tall," I watched him in my mind. He started walking closer, causing me to panic, "H-He's coming closer! H-He's going to hurt me!"

I covered my already closed eyes with my hands, "Make him go away!"

"Open your eyes, Nicole," Dr. Swoft commanded, her voice still calm. I uncovered my eyes, and opened them. Before, I had completely forgot where I was. My mind had taken me to another place without me realizing it. I didn't' know that my mind could transform me like that. I noticed that my knees were on top of the couch, close to my chest. I let my legs fall back to the floor.

"Now, tell me about this guy," Dr. Swoft said, "Is he real?"

I nodded, keeping my gaze on the floor, "H-He's real."

"How do you know him?" She asked, persisting on. I really didn't want to talk about it, "U-Um, I-I don't want to talk about it...."

Dr. Swoft nodded, "That's okay, I'm not going to force you to say something you don't want to. Can you tell me about your Father?" She asked. I nodded, "Yeah, I can talk about him," I replied, "He's now dead, though. He used to be a normal Father, but that all changed when Mom and Josh died. He became an alcoholic and abusive towards me. That lasted for two years.. Well, actually more. I was able to get away from him."

"How'd you get away?" Dr. Swoft asked me.

"Niall took me to his home to stay," I replied.

"Who's Niall?" Dr. Swoft asked, while scribbling something down.

"He's my boyfriend," I answered.

"What are your opinions of him?" She asked me. I thought about it for a moment, "Well, I love him. He's always there to comfort me when I need him. Well... Lately we haven't been communicating well."

"What do you mean by communicating well?" She asked me.

"I-I just thought I was able to handle all of my problems myself, without him, but I was wrong," I answered, "That's why I'm here."

"I see..." Dr. Swoft replied, writing something else down, "Well, it looks like our time is up. See you here next week."

"Okay, bye," I replied, and left. I walked down the silent hallway. There didn't seem to be anyone walking around the halls. I didn't like the eerie silence. I took small steps down the hallway. I felt like someone was watching me....

I turned around, to see nothing. I continued walking towards the stairs. Suddenly, I thought I heard footsteps. I quickly turned around. I saw someone standing at the end of the hallway. Their head was covered by a hood. I could see their mouth turn into a smirk. My eyes grew wide. The person pushed the hood off of their head. I could see the horribly familiar side-swept brown hair and piercing black eyes. I gasped, and my legs stumbled back, trying to run away. I fell to the ground. I felt my legs trying to crawl me away, while not keeping an eye off of the man. He took a few steps towards me. My heart was pounding a million beats a minute. His deadly eyes stared into mine.

"I'm back," He said. Even if he was on the other end of the hallway, I could clearly hear him. My head went into an extreme panic. I didn't know what to do. All my thoughts were jumbled in my head. I tried to think of one defense mechanism. I'm in a building with people... I have only one idea. I screamed.

As I covered my ears, I saw him run down the staircase, getting away. I squinted my eyes closed. I screamed the only name that I knew would always be there for me, "NIALL!" I screamed. I continued screaming his name. My mind was panicked. I was scared out of my mind. I heard the pounding of footsteps. I could hear people crouching beside me, trying to yell above my screams. I wasn't calming down.

"Calm down!" Someone yelled at me. I left my eyes closed, trying to make everything disappear. I was worried that if I opened my eyes again, he'd reappear.

"Somebody get help!" Someone else yelled, "She won't stop screaming!"

I felt someone's hand touching me, causing me to scream even louder. Their touch was immediately removed, and my legs were pressed against my chest.

"Get out of the way!" I heard someone yell. I could hear someone crouching beside me, "Calm down, sweetie," I heard someone whisper, trying to calm me. But,that only reminded me of Father.

"I think we have only one way we can calm her," A lady said, "Hand me the shot."

Shot what is that supposed to mean? Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a needle getting stuck into my arm. I stopped screaming, and then the needle was removed. I slowly opened my eyes, exposing a crowd of people around me. They all were shocked, and I looked to my right to see that a nurse had a shot in her hand.

I began to feel really tired, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open.

"N-Niall..." I whispered one last time, before passing out.

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Okay that^ was supposed to be like a panic attack that she had. And, the shot she had was the kind that people have when they won't calm down, so it makes them pass out. I got that from a horror movie I saw last night, lol. I love your guys comments, so keep doing that! I love to hear what you think! Well, comment, follow, and fave! Bye lovelies! -Madison