Selena

27 | Diagnosis

ADELRAM ROMANO

"What? What did you realize?"

Enzo hesitated again. I have no clue why he is holding this back from me.

"She has complex PTSD."

I'm still waiting for the catch because I know that this isn't just it.

Selena told me about one of her nightmares once. It was about that disgusting who calls himself a father. Her father.

Enzo continues, but makes sure Selena isn't listening, "Well when she first came I thought she had complex PTSD, but she was too composed. Then, when watching that video footage of her seeing that American, I realized it." He pauses again which gets me really annoyed.

He looks behind him and continues. Selena is sipping her water while one of Enzo's nurses watch her. He has about three or four to assist him.

"Some people repress their memories when they are too emotionally traumatic to deal with. But with Selena, she remembers everything. Her nightmares, are just an uncontrollable side affect of the PTSD. When she saw that American gang leader, the cameras were behind her. Her fingers were shaking uncontrollably, her back tensed. Now looking at her, I can diagnose her for sure with complex PTSD. While I was dressing her wounds, she was talking to herself. She doesn't have another personality, Adelram, but she does have a voice in her head protecting her. Like a fail safe."

"What does the repression have to do will all of this?" I ask still stunned looking at Selena discreetly.

"I'm getting to it, have some patience. So I as I said before some people repress memories and they come back in short periods over time, but Selena was repressing the PTSD. Repression and PTSD have always been linked as symptoms of the other but never fully involved."

He pauses.

"She could have been holding it back for the next ten years or even twenty. It's hard to tell, but after seeing that American the repression stopped."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that man is the cause of her PTSD. Those nightmares she has, the scars, physical and mental. He triggered the PTSD to start."

"She wasn't lying," I say to myself realizing that I pushed her away, this is all my fault. Enzo nods solemnly.

I watch Selena absentmindedly sipping her water and staring off into the distance while the nurse gets her vitals.

"What can we do to help her?"

"Well, CPTSD is fairly new in the psychology world. Medication and therapy are musts to start recovery. It's a lifelong illness, Adelram." He looks at me sympathetically, he knows I blame myself for letting her run away and he knows how I feel about Selena. I don't even know how I feel right now.

I nod, "She won't like the medication." Enzo nods as well. "Now that I think about it therapy may just be the best route and because her mind repressed it for years maybe it can heal it faster."

"How long will it take to heal her?" I ask really wanting to get out of this forest.

"Well double, maybe even triple the time of repression, but if her mind corporates, less than a year." He responds calculating the math in his head.

My phone vibrates. I check and Rossi is calling.

"What is it?" I hiss through the phone.

"Oh, nothing just checking up to see if you wanted to get go to the mall with me and get our nails done." Rossi answers in an innocent tone. I roll my eyes. "I'm serious Rossi."

"Well there goes my afternoon plans, oh gosh darn it. But anyways, your sister is here and mad. Bye!"

He hangs up before I get a chance to respond.

Annoyed, I slam my fist into a tree. Why the fück is Felicity here now?! Did Selena and her become such good friends while I was gone?

I decide to head home now. We walk Selena over to the helicopter, her eyes are emotionless. As if she has cried all her emotion out of them.

I can't wait to go home and stick that American into a room with just my fist and his face, but before I can do that I need the truth.

The ride is silent except for Selena's ragged breaths.

When we get home, Felicity is the first one outside to greet Selena. Her eyes twitch around nervously and she quivers.

When I try to give my sister a hug, she backs away shaking her head at me.

Now what did I do?!

Felicity tells me to show Selena to a room and make sure someone is with her and there are no weapons. I have no other choice because I know she is right.

After I do this, I meet Felicity in my study. She is standing in front of my bookshelf clicking her tongue.

She tilts her head when she hears the door open and close.

"I wish I could still run my fingers over their spines, flip through the pages, look at the ink printed into them, see her notes to you." I hear her voice crack at the last part.

"Me too," I whisper.

We have a moment of silence before she clears her throat and then tells me the reason she came.

"When Rossi didn't call me in a few days, I got worried. He finally answered my calls and told me Selena ran away. I came here as soon as I could." She slumps into a chair and continues.

"I asked Rossi to tell me the exact reason why she ran away, but he said it was hard to explain so I want to hear it from you, Adam."

I sigh for what feels like the fifth time today. "Well, it was a normal day, Selena tried to kill Rossi and then we woke up and got ready to meet the Americans. It was when we went out to greet them everything changed. Se-"

"Wait did you say... Americans?" She interrupts me. "Yes, I was planing on making a one sided alliance with the top gang in America."

Her mouth hangs open as she gasps in realization. "Did the gang leader have tattoos all over his body?"

I was confused but answered the questions anyways. "I don't know about his whole body but his arms and neck were covered."

She pauses and a coldness passes over her that I have never seen before.

She emotionlessly asks her next question.

"What is his name?"

"Johnson. Why?" "No, no," she shakes her head, "his full name."

"Clay Johnson."

And that is when we hear and ear-piercing scream.