DONE ✔️ (UNDER EDIT)

Chapter Twenty.

Chapter Twenty.
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"What was the hardest moment you faced while you were there?"

I had a new therapist and, despite the fact he was a man and about a hundred years older than me, I'd made more progress in the two sessions I'd had with him than I ever did with Naomi.

She'd gone on maternity leave early and left me stuck with this old guy.

He was nice enough. Bald head, white goatee, short and a little round. He felt more like someone's grandpa than a therapist. Every time I arrived, he offered me cookies.

Today was the first time I'd taken one.

Dr Alack Torrmoros was his name. But he told me to call him Dr Torros.

Even though I'd only been seeing him for just over a week, three sessions total, he hadn't come in that first day asking me to explain my entire life story again. Whatever notes Naomi left him, he'd clearly read them. Somehow it felt like he already had a decent idea of who I was before I'd even sat down.

That first session had mostly been him letting me ask questions about him. A transactional flow of conversation between the two of us. It made things... Easier. I didn't feel the need to deflect quite as hard as I had with Naomi.

The second session had been better.

He'd started asking questions that dug into my head without feeling invasive.

Today was the third session.

And today was the day after my panic attack at Brad's workplace.

The power outage had only hit the street where the bar was on. Everywhere else, including my apartment, hadn't been affected. A freak and rare occurrence they'd said.

I'd booked this appointment as soon as I woke up this morning. Knowing I needed it now more than ever.

The emotions from last night were still sitting heavy in my chest. My forehead throbbed where the band-aid covered the cut. It wasn't bad enough to warrant a bandage and make me look worse than I already did. I'd bumped it a couple times already today though, and it was slightly swollen.

Dr Torros had asked how I got it.

And I couldn't lie.

I closed my eyes for a moment, hating the question he'd just asked, as that day flashed through my mind.

I winced as the skin on my forehead pulled against the cut.

We'd been through a lot during the apocalypse.

Seen things most people never should. Done things we probably never would have in the old world. But that day...

That day was the worst of it.