Lost and Found (Boyxboy)

Chapter Five

(Maxx's Pov)

As I lay in the hospital bed I can hear two people talking outside my room. One sounds like Dr. Floyd and the other I don't recognize. "Go on in and introduce yourself. Be patient with him, though," Dr. Floyd says. 

A man walks into my room and smiles at me. "Hello, Maxx, I'm Samuel. Your new therapist." I don't say anything. I don't want to talk to a therapist. It may help, but it also means I need to relive in my head what happened. "Okay... .do you have any questions for me?" 

I think about it and ask, "Did you choose to be my therapist or were you just assigned to me?" He seems a little taken back. 

"I chose your case. I want to work with you. I think we can make great progress together."

"What makes you think that?" I ask. 

"Well, I read over your profile that your family and doctor prepared and I think this will be a challenge, but a good one. I think if you give me a shot you'll agree," he says.

"I don't want to talk about what happened," I say.

"We'll go slow. You can talk about anything you're comfortable with. I won't push you." I bite my lip and nod at him. 

"I guess I'll give it a shot." He smiles.  

"Great! Do you have any questions for me?" he asks.

"No, but you should tell me about yourself." 

"Okay. I'm thirty-two. I have a wife and we're expecting a little girl. My favorite color is yellow. I love horses and grew up with them. I play the guitar and dabble in singing," he says. "What about you?"

"Me?" I ask and he nods. "I'm sixteen. I love the colors white and gold. I love raccoons. I don't play any instruments." 

"Raccoons? I've never heard of someone's favorite animal being a raccoon," he says and laughs. 

"I think they're cute and funny." 

"They are quite funny, aren't they? Is there anything important you want me to know about you or things you don't want me to bring up?" 

"I'm open to you bringing anything up and if it's too much I'll say so. I do want to ask, how are you going to help me with reintroducing me into society? I've been so scared thinking about that," I say.

He crosses his one leg over the other and sighs. "Well, Maxx, we have a lot of time to work on that. You have a lot of health issues to work on and time you need to spend here in the hospital. Once you're out you'll be homebound and we'll introduce you slowly. The media doesn't have to know but obviously will eventually find out. We'll make sure they don't until you're ready."

"Okay, that makes me feel better." I adjust my pillow and sit up better so I can listen to more of what he has to say. So far I like Samuel. He seems to know what he's talking about.

"I'd like to go over a few ideas I have for a treatment plan for you. You tell me if you feel comfortable with it, don't know how you feel, or hate it all together. If you're confused, tell me and I'll explain. Do you understand?" he asks.

"I think so." He nods and gets out a tablet.

"Alright, something I thought we could with you is animal therapy. Something you think you could benefit from? Your family told me you loved animals before you were taken from them. Is that still true?" I bite my lip and think about the dog the man had.

"Well, dogs scare me. I used to love them, but the man... he had a vicious German Shepherd that would attack us. That's where I got some of the wounds on my side and leg. They say I'm going to have deep scars there. I think dogs might trigger that. I'm sorry," I say.