dull screams - joshler

3. therapist.

"so, how are you today?"

ugh, that question. tyler hated that question. it was a half-assed way people could show that they did care, but not really. it was mostly used by doctors, family members, teachers - and of course the people that recognize him on the street as "the boy with time bomb parents".

tyler considered using his usual "i'm coping" response, but since he was gonna have to eventually trust this guy, he laid it all out.

"how am i?" he snapped, eyes flicking up to his new therapist. "what do you think my answer is gonna be? my parents are dead and nobody knows who killed them!"

the therapist just clicked his tongue and nodded, which was not the reaction tyler wanted. "really? you're just gonna nod at me? my parents are dead and you're just gonna nod at me?"

"i responded that way so you would let out even more of that bottled-up emotion. would you have preferred a long apology that wouldn't have done anything other than annoy you?"

tyler was surprised. it was like this guy had somehow read his mind.

"thought so," the therapist smirked, knowing he had won. he scribbled on his notepad, reaching up momentarily to nudge his wire-framed glasses back into place. "i looked at your file before you came in here. your case is fascinating." he quickly corrected himself when he saw the look of disgust pointed at him. "not in a museum sort of way! in an 'i truly want to help this boy figure it out' way."

"yeah, whatever. everyone always says that, but nobody ever actually helps."

letting out a soft breath, the therapist stood up and walked around his desk until he was right in front of tyler. "but, you see..." he soothed, crouching down to tyler's height, "...helping people is my entire job."

tyler took the close proximity as an opportunity to truly look at the man. he was tall, quite possibly the tallest man tyler had ever seen. his hair was slicked back into a pompadour and his circular glasses framed his face quite well and made his ocean blue eyes pop. he was wearing a white button down and black trousers, and tyler couldn't help but giggle when he noticed the man was barefoot.

the therapist cracked a grin. "what's so funny, tyler?" he teased, raising an eyebrow.

"why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

"well, why should i? shoes are lame." the therapist shrugged before going back around his desk. "as long as you are in here, you are allowed to be as barefoot as you want."

a smile graced tyler's face. "cool."

a timer suddenly went off, scaring tyler half to death. the therapist fumbled to turn it off, chuckling. "looks like we're out of time for today, bud."

already? tyler thought. time really flew by.

the boy nodded and stood up, but then halted. he paused for a moment before mumbling, "what's your name...?"

the therapist smiled and patted tyler's arm. "the headmistress calls me mr. weekes, but you can call me dallon."

"or giraffe man?" joked tyler.

dallon's chuckle filled the room as he spoke: "giraffe man works too."

~

(i'm starting to really enjoy this story)