INSIDE THEIR MINDS

Holding Hands

3 DAYS LATER

KATE

"What is your pain on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being highest." The nurse asked me as her blue pen moved swiftly over the clipboard jottting down every single thing I spoke.

"0. Ah I mean 1. I feel no pain." I said slightly jittery in my seat. Something about therapists asking me personal questions always bothered me for some reason. It's like because they have a degree it means that their patients deserve no sense of privacy.

"Okay." She says with her full and fake smile complete with a hideous bold lipstick choice that clung to her teeth. "When was the last time you suffered a manic episode previous to this?"

"It would have been close to seven years now. I was so young." I say trying to keep my nerves to a minimum.

I desperately wished Phil could be in here right now but psychiatric questioning is no joke.

"Alright. This chart says you were prescribed an antidepressant have you been taking it regularly?" She asked not even looking at me.

"I haven't taken anything like that for years." I say truthfully with a shrug. "I haven't needed anything like that in a very long time."

"Uh huh. Well that is for the doctor to decide." She says finally looking at me but with a sour look in her eyes.

"These were extenuating circumstances that I was under." I explain. "We were being held captive, and shot at and we could have died."

"So you have been thinking about death?" She asks now looking concerned.

I hate head shrinkers. They always find way to twists your words and find problems where there aren't any. I don't need to be tucked away in some "safe space", I need to be home with my fiancé and child.

"I literally had a gun to my head. I thought I was going to die." I say trying to explain why I felt the way I had.

"And why were you holding this gun to your head?" She asks now looking horrified.

"I wasn't! A man was! A killer broke into the cabin and had a gun to my head!" I half yell.

"Mrs., There is no need to yell. You need to stay calm or I will have to call for someone to assist me and it won't be pretty." She says as she flattens out the nonexistant wrinkles in her too tight knee length black dress.

"I'm fine." I say after taking a deep breath.

"Good. The therapist will be in here soon to verify that." She says with an empty expression on her face.

"Good." I answered crossing my arms. Maybe the therapist will not be a complete idiot.

"Now please be honest with me, do you feel as if you want to harm yourself or others?" She asked reading the question from her board.

Right now I wish I could harm you.

"No. No thoughts of harm toward anyone."

ALEX

"So do I tell her? She finally seems to be doing better and I would hate to ruin that. " I say to Derek as I pick out and only eat the good vegetables from my salad.

"Well, I know you have already told me but what exactly did you see?" Derek asks me biting into a chicken sandwich that now I wish I had ordered.

"They were holding hands and he was telling her how much he cares about her and..."

"And honey, it's alright. They were married for years and feelings like that don't just disappear.

"Do you still have any?" I ask, then immediatly regret.