Piper

After the Storm

"Every storm runs out of rain, just like every dark night turns into day." - Gary Allan

With her hair now in disarray, Janneth seemed troubled that the psychologist didn't want to finish their session, for she wanted to make it a productive one. But her dark emotions and an unexpected spirit took over, ruining her plans to recuperate, so she forced herself to agree with the doctor.

It was enough to make her bite her lip, as Janneth mumbled some explicit words that no one needed to hear. With a sigh, she quietly closed the door, but as she turned around, Janneth started to feel insecure all over again as someone she didn't want to meet stood up.

Her social worker, Joanne Swanson, was previously sitting in the waiting room tapping her hands away on the coffee table. She was instructed to accompany Janneth back to the rehab facility by her boss. But she wasn't in a happy mood, so rather than greeting Janneth, the old woman was surprised to see that her client came out early.

With annoyance shown on her wrinkled face, she questioned her client why Dr. Everett ended their session so soon.

"Janneth, what happened? Is the doctor finished with you? I want to talk to the ... him as well."

Joanne wanted to mention the word 'shrink' but remembered that she had to remain professional at all times then use a derogatory form that placed all psychologists together in one big melting pot like a witch's brew. She also knew that Janneth was in an emotional state considering the charges against her and what her students must have thought of her now, so it is possible that calling someone a shrink wasn't the best thing to do.

It was not that she disliked these types of health professionals, for she was once married to one too, but her ex, David, cheated. After she found out that he had an affair with a much younger woman, Joanne kicked him out of her house.

David was a handsome man but she never understood why he chose a field of work that seemed so boring in her eyes. Her own line of work wasn't the best, but Joanne enjoyed every minute of it. She just assumed that what works for one person, doesn't always work for another.

That was the reason why she disliked being in Dr. Everett's office; the atmosphere nearly reminded Joanne so much of a dreary memory that she tried to forget.

Gloomy wallpaper adorned the waiting room walls, a bookshelf in the corner contained mostly self-help magazines, and a framed picture of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis hung beside the front door. It's not something she was proud of, but had to accept being there if she was going to be there for a whole month.

After the divorce, Joanne was given some time off work. But at that time she had this urge to visit a therapist ... a strong invisible pull such as the one that Dr. Everett felt in the interview, and it kept pushing her to talk to someone about David.

And that was how she met Dr. Nolan Everett as his wife, Christy, a marriage counselor assessed the distressed divorcee.

Once, Joanne was assigned to Janneth's case, she asked Christy if she knew a good psychologist who could help her out and that was how she was introduced to Nolan.

However, at that time Joanne didn't think he would be the right person for the job, so she went straight to his boss and asked him to help her out.

She believed Nolan knew her ex well as they worked in the same building, but they worked in different departments. The thought of David came back to haunt her as Joanne didn't want to be reminded of it. But here she was again, as this was what she had to do for her boss and he was counting on her.

And it was possible that a form of external evil force wanted to keep everyone together ... for the time being, because Piper enjoyed being a delinquent.