Redemption of a Soul

Chapter 2

Dr. Turner was so deep in thought and still scribbling notes in her journal from the chaotic session she just had with Mr. Weston that she did not hear her office door open. The feeling of clammy hands against her shoulders startled her from her thoughts. The raspy monotone voice speaks, "Calm down. Its just me, Claire." Immediately, she knows who the voice belongs to and scoots to the edge of her chair and turns to face the person behind her. "Hey, Ryan." she says reluctantly. His sandy blonde hair brushes over his forehead almost covering his crystal blue, lust filled eyes. Ryan is nice, but he often makes Claire extremely uncomfortable with his continuous strings of flirting. His physique is intimidating enough, but even more so as he towers over her with hands possessively placed too close to her neck. Claire can smell his odorous musk from where she sits. She thinks to herself that he needs a shower. "That's a nice cologne you have on.", she continues passive aggressively.

Ryan smirks, obviously taking her words as a compliment. "Oh, you like that, babe?" he asks cockily while caressing her upper arm. Claire pulls away from Ryans hands again and stands to face him with the chair in between them. He watches her every move carefully as she makes her way behind her desk, and waits for Claire to look back up at him before replying. I just got done lifting at the gym., Ryan says while flexing his biceps. Claire smiles sweetly and nods her head to show that she is listening as he babbles on about how much he can deadlift now.

Finally, after pointless chatting to himself, Ryan notices Claire is daydreaming instead of paying attention to him." Well, since you don't want to listen to me here then maybe I can take you out to get drinks later. You seem like you had a stressful day.", Ryan says with an arrogant tone. "I'm so sorry, Ryan. I just...I have," Claire is cut off by a different females voice. "Hey, babe.," the loud, chirpy voice was directed toward Claire. Claire and Ryan both look toward the door to find Edith leaning against the threshold. Relief washes over Claire and she mouths the words 'Thank God' to her best friend. Ryan scoffs under his breath because him and Edith have never gotten along with one another.

Edith purposefully bumps Ryans side as she makes her way to the other side of the desk to join Claire. "Watch where you're going, dick.," she says full of spite. Edith has nothing but malicious feelings towards this douche named Ryan. Claire has mentioned numerous accounts of Ryans advances, and frankly Edith is not a fan. Ryan is taken aback by Ediths actions, so it takes him a moment to gather himself. He retorts snarkily, "You can suck my dick, bitch." Edith gives a grim smile before commenting, "I dont suck dicks as small as yours." Claire automatically covers her mouth to stifle her laughter. Edith smiles proudly as if she has won an olympic gold medal for her epic comeback.

Ryans ego is obviously bruised as he sucks his teeth and begins to walk out of the office. Before he makes his exit he turns around and winks at Edith, "If your guard dog leaves you alone anytime tonight and you need some company Ill be at Broken Pines after I get off." Broken Pines is the only shit-hole bar in the town of Pinevale. Claire raises her eyebrows as her face forms an unenthusiastic smile for Ryan. Edith rolls her eyes dramatically and half-heartedly laughs as she says, "Yeah...Dude, She'll be there. Exactly at never oclock. Now get your crusty ass back to work. Youre still on the clock, dick." Edith rarely ever calls Ryan by his given name; she has dubbed his name for her will permanently be dick.

Claire glaces pleadingly at Edith and signals for her to shut up before she says anything else that could jeopardize her coworkers opinion of her. Ryan has taken it upon himself to finally take the hint and he walks out door. The altercation between Ryan and Edith has swiftly been brushed off when Edith glances around the room. She notices that something has changed, but it is relatively unnoticeable. Edith looks at Claire and asks, "What happened to the vase I bought you?" Claire's eyes widen with realization and remembrance of the therapy session she had only thirty minutes ago with Eli. "I...I had a patient to-today who became a bit distraught and he smashed it, Edith. Im so sorry. I never meant for it to get broken it was such an amazing gift.", Claire's words muddled together as remorse fills her for the wrecked present she received a few short days ago from her best friend.

"Claire its fine. It cost me a months salary to afford it, but it's fine.", Edith doesnt mean for the words to offend Claire they are meant for the scumbag who broke the vase. Edith wraps her best friend in a hug and rubs her back gently to soften the words that flowed out of her mouth so easily. Claire is rarely affected by Ediths lack of filter so the words bounce off her like a rubberband. "You're a brat.", Claire snickers as she playfully pushes Edith away from her. "Lets go. Im ready to get out of here. Im starved.," Claire continues while packing up her notebook and files into her messenger bag that matched perfectly with her lilac notebook.

Edith and Claire walked to The Evergreen that was down the street from Claires office. The Evergreen was the only semi-fancy restaurant located within forty miles of Pinevale. The old crabby waitress, named Gladice, sat them in their usual booth beside the aquarium, that had various of fish such as a blue tang, clown fish and many others. Edith never fails to make a comment about how shitty the service and quality of food is. Gladice seemed to be the only person ever working at this restaurant. Claire and Ediths food and drink orders were taken and as they waited on their food to arrive they had their eyes glued to whatever was interesting on their cellphones.

Edith dropped her phone and broke their silence, "Guess what happened at work today". Claire looks at Edith expectantly signaling for her to continue her story. "Well, let me start from the beginning. We were waiting in the squad room per usual waiting for Captain Lu to give us our briefing for the day. Then walks in this geeky looking dude with glasses and suspenders. Like.Who the fuck wears suspenders unless youre Steve Urkel? So he sits right beside me and immediately pulls out a pad of paper and a pen. He looks at me with his british ass and tells me You should probably be taking notes.", Edith mocks the accent of the guy in her story. She then takes a sip of her tea and moves on with her story, "You want to know what I told him?" Claire replies, "I can think of a few things you would have to say to him." Edith rolls her eyes and continues "I told him You should probably get that dick out of your throat", Edith doesn't even crack a smile when she finished her sentence.

Claire begins to gag on her water when she hears the words come out of Ediths mouth. There isnt much about Edith that surprises Claire anymore, but some things still slightly catch her off guard. Claire scolds Edith with her gaze, "I'm sure he wasnt trying to be rude Edith, and you should not have said that in front of your Captain. You could get in trouble one day for your smart mouth, you know." Edith waves her off nonchalantly and digs into her enchiladas that arrived at the table a few minutes into her story. Claire and Edith finish up their dinner and have some light conversation about the rest of their day. After the two say their goodbyes and they head their separate ways.

Claire takes her time strolling along the sidewalk, but she eventually makes it to her apartment above the furniture store. She rents it from a tiny, sweet old man who owns her building and the hardware store around the corner. She has lived here since she came back after getting her Pyschologydegree. Claires first job was as a cashier at the hardware store for Mr. Finn when she was fourteen. She was always the smartest person in Pinevale High School, and even became the Valedictorian when she graduated. She had no idea she could even make it to become a doctor like she dreamed, but a representative from University of Georgia picked her and hand delivered her a full ride scholarship for when she graduated from the program of her choice.

The rest of Claires night was spent leaned with her back pressed against her wooden headboard with all of her notes on Mr. Weston fanned out in front of her. She has made it a habit to come home nearly ever night and highlight key points she finds in her scribbles that would possible help her to understand her patients better. Somehow she always finds herself gravitating to Eli. Claire can never seem to get a grasp on him no matter how hard she tries. She wonders about his family now that he has revealed the torment they caused him when he was only a child. She worries constantly about his safety. Sometimes she even finds herself pulling his contact info onto her cell phone screen just so she can make sure he isnt overdosed somewhere suffocating on his vomit.

_Hope you guys and girls enjoy the story so far. Let us know what y'all think, and what actors should play who

-BJWrites