Cry, Wolf, Cry

Ch.9 - Therapy, Session One

   "Hey." She said, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Caiti had been attending group since her incident. She had realized she needed help and therapists were too expensive. She also wanted to spend more time with other people. Her doctor had recommended talking to The Center and the group therapy began then.

"Leader is gone today. There's a new person," said a young woman. She was in her late teens, but she had trouble learning and being around too many people stressed her out to the point she couldn't talk. She started talking to Caiti one day and no one questioned it.

"Thanks for letting me know, Lyd. I appreciate that."

Lyd nodded and curled up on her chair, playing with the hair that fell in front of her face. Caiti watched her for a few moments before she sat down at one of the tables and pulled out her book. Most of the group members weren't there yet, but she hadn't checked her personal e-mail for a few days so it was possible that Leader could have sent out a mass e-mail or any of the others could have said they didn't feel well or that family was visiting or any number of reasons that most of them weren't there. She pulled out her phone and checked her e-mail.

Sure enough there were ten unread messages, four of which were from the group. Leader mentioned that he had family coming and that the group could still meet if they wanted or they could just do whatever they wanted. Group wasn't mandatory, it was more of a suggestion or a support group rather than therapy for those who had suffered mild cases of PTSD or even slightly worse cases but couldn't afford a therapist or wanted to try something different first.

Caiti looked up from her phone and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Go figure the one time I really don't need to be here is the time I work harder than ever to get here early anyway. Oh well." She looked down at her book and tried to focus on the breathing exercises in front of her.

Not even five minutes after she started her breathing exercises, Lyd had moved to a table close by her. Lyd had shared her story with Caiti in an e-mail and Caiti sympathized with her, saying if she wanted she could sit beside her if she wanted and ever since then Lyd smiled when Caiti showed up to group and the two even spent time hanging out after group before The Center closed for the night. Caiti would stay until someone could pick Lyd up from The Center and did things that a friend would do. She didn't care that Lyd had suffered what she had or that she had become extremely withdrawn because of it. Lyd opened up to Caiti in e-mails and Caiti would send her jokes and pictures.

Caiti kept reading and practicing her breathing when a large man sat across from her, looking nervous himself. Caiti took a deep breath, "Can I help you?"

"I... Uh. I'm looking for Leader?"

"Leader's not here today. Why you looking for him?"

"I'm..." The man sighed and leaned back in the chair. "I'm looking for the group therapy," he finally admitted, "I'm new."

Caiti put her bookmark into her book and closed it. "I'm Caiti. I'm one of the people who attends the group." Lyd tugged Caiti's sleeve lightly and pointed to herself when she looked at her. "This is Lyd, she's one of the other group members."

"Liam." He said. "Is it just the three of us then?" He asked, obviously nervous.

"Yes, and you can relax. Neither of us bite."

"That obvious, huh?"

She nodded, "only a little. If you're this nervous what brought you to group anyway?"

They killed time talking about Liam and what brought him to the group. He left out anything to do with the wolves inside of him and Anna. Caiti was understanding and let him ramble on and only after he felt more comfortable talking about his wreck and what brought him to group after the months did she ask him what he did for work or hobby.

"Sounds awesome. I like working with computers, but I can't imagine working on them for a job."

He nodded, "it can be a bit extreme at times depending on what's happened to the computer. Thanks for talking."

She smiled, "no problem. Lyd, looks like your brother's here to pick you up." Lyd hugged Caiti and walked over to her brother. She took his hand and they left, her brother doing a quick over the shoulder wave to Caiti.

Caiti kept talking to Liam until his phone rang. He excused himself to check his phone and she rubbed her legs which had started hurting from sitting so long.

"Sorry, I've got to get going. My fiance's picking me up tonight."

Caiti nodded and smiled, waving to him. "It was nice meeting you. Hope to see you next week." He nodded and said he'd see here there, and then left.

Caiti waited until it was all clear before she attempted moving. Her one good leg was asleep and she didn't have her crutches with her. She stood the best she could and managed to wake up her good leg enough so that she could at least start walking out of The Center. The staff asked if she needed help and she shook her head, saying she'd be fine. When she got outside she took out her phone and made a note for herself to start packing her collapsible cane with her again.