The Calling | The House of Voices #1

Sixteen - Reliving

Reliving

The only thing keeping me from walking out on Darren and slamming the door behind me was the fact that I genuinely liked and respected him.

If it had been Larky that was psychoanalyzing me instead of Darren, I’d have been out the door before you could even say “mentally unstable”.

“No.” I shook my head firmly. “I am not talking about that.”

Darren looked pained. Either that, or he really needed to use the bathroom. “You have to, October.”

“No, I don’t.” I countered, crossing my arms over my chest defensively. “You promised that I wouldn’t have to discuss this until I was ready. I’m not ready.”

He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

That simple act cranked my level of annoyance up a notch. I should be the frustrated one. I wasn’t the one breaking promises and forcing him to talk about something that he clearly didn’t want to talk about. He was.

It turned out that I wasn’t the cause of his frustration.

“This really isn’t my call, October.” He confessed sadly, tapping the notepad in his hand. “Dr. Larkson gave me strict orders to get you to talk about this today.”

I considered this. As much as I would have liked to continue being mad at Darren so that I didn’t have to talk about the incident with my uncle and aunt, I couldn’t. His claim that Dr. Larkson was the one making him interrogate me about the incident actually seemed legitimate.

She’d been trying to get me to talk about it for months, but I’d always managed to avoid the topic. And now, here she was forcing Darren to make me talk about it. She’d probably threatened his job or something.

Damn. That woman was one sneaky devil.

I sighed heavily, contemplating whether or not to give into Larky’s wishes and talk to Darren about that nightmarish night. It was either that, or risk getting Darren into some serious trouble with his boss.

I may have loathed Dr. Larkson to the very core, but I actually liked Darren. So, I guess you can understand my unwillingness to deliberately do something that would get him into trouble. I didn’t have to take my extreme dislike of his boss out on him, did I?

“Fine.” I huffed resignedly. “What do you want to know?”

His eyes widened, surprised that I’d given in. I almost laughed.

October Grimmes: Surprising people with her unpredictable nature since 1994.

Excellent.

Clearing his throat, Darren replied, “Well, you can start by telling me what happened that night. Close your eyes and think back to that moment. Try and remember the details.”

I frowned. I knew those words well. Dr. Larkson had used those exact same words on me when she’d first tried to get me to talk about that night. The minute my mind had transported me back into that house, my eyes had flown open and I’d run out of Dr. Larkson’s office. I’d spent that night battling nightmares. Was I willing to go through that again?

A quick glance in Darren’s direction told me that I had no choice in the matter.

Besides, I guessed that maybe it was probably time I actually opened up about that particular memory. It wasn’t going to do me any good to keep all that pain bottled up.

“It was the 3rd of December. I was spending my Christmas holidays with my Uncle Charlie and his wife while my parents were away in Turkey on a business trip. The voices…” I paused, wanting to – wishing I could – rewind time and change my words. To omit the part of the story I was coming to. “… the voices had been pretty quiet for a few days, so I didn’t really expect them to try anything.”