Mirrors |NH|

Chapter Four

Four Weeks Later

Edie's brother once again dropped her off in front of the stone building in downtown London. She sat in the car, looking out the window, not wanting to get out. She saw some of the faces she had seen in the weeks before. She saw the Irish boy being dragged out of the car by a different friend, protesting as much as she was about to. She almost smiled at the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Don't need to go to this, ya know."

Her brother grabbed a hold of her hand, "Yes, Edie, you do. I can only imagine what you are going through and it's not pretty. But you can't live like this. You can't shut the world out."

"Yes, I can," Edie mumbled as she looked down at her fingers.

She heard her brother sigh as he opened his door to climb out to help force her out of the car. Every week she put up a fight, and every week she caved in. She couldn't say no to her big brother. She knew he carried quite a bit of guilt for somehow not being able to protect her despite the fact that she was a grown woman and he wasn't even in the country when it happened.

He helped her out of the car and gave her a tight hug. She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. He smelled familiar, safe. When she opened them, she saw the Irish boy swatting at his friend. Again, she almost cracked a smile. Almost. She let go, raised her coat to cover her face as much as she could, and reluctantly took her first steps towards the building.

"I'll be here when you're done, Edie." She heard him say as she passed the Irish boy who then followed her inside and up the stairs.

"I'll be here to pick you up, Niall," his friend called in as they both entered the building.

"Ugh, I hate being here," she heard him mumble behind her.

"Ditto, pal," she responded.

She made her way to the dark corner of the circle and sat down. Everyone else had taken their places.

"Welcome back, everyone," their counselor, Charlie, said, "I'd like to take a minute to discuss our friend Chris. Unfortunately, he will not be joining us for a couple of weeks. The accident he was in left him badly injured and he has had and will have several more surgeries. One of which, was last Friday. He hopes to return here as soon as he is able to."

While she spoke, Edie looked around the room at the people she had only semi listened to in the past four weeks. Out of the people who had been there on her first day, only she and the Irishman had refused to talk. Chris had done so pretty willingly. He seemed like a nice guy and she did honestly hope he would get better. And yet, she also was kind of sad he wasn't there. Out of all of them, she felt like maybe he'd been the most relatable because he openly discussed and showed his scarring. He hated them, but he wasn't ashamed of them. Then again, he wasn't held down with a knife being dragged across his face while his body, mind, and soul were violated.

"But, since Chris is not with us this week, that means that Niall and Edie will have to be partners." Edie snapped her head back into what was being said.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"We have partners in our group. We like to think of ourselves as a trusting lot and in order to actually trust one another, we each get a partner in which we are to trust with checking in on us, making sure we come to these meetings, someone to talk to during the week if I am not available. And you are the only two without a partner. From now on, you will be relying on each other to get here."

"No."

Everyone turned to look at her. "This isn't up for debate Edie, you want to be a part of this group, you follow the rules."

"Well, I don't want to be a part of this group and I sure as hell don't want to trust some stranger to understand my problems."

"I second that notion," an Irish accent filled the room.  Everyone turned to look at him - Niall. 

"This isn't up for debate. You are both here to heal. You refuse to talk, which we understand and we aren't trying to push, but when that occurs, we encourage you all to confide in each other."

"But shouldn't we be able to choose who that person is?" Niall asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Edie piped in. She was actually glad this guy didn't want her around either. "Isn't this somehow unethical for you to force us to talk? Especially to people we may be uncomfortable with?"

"I'm not forcing you to talk to each other. I'm just telling you that when we do our trust exercises, you two will be partnered up, whether you like it or not. And, honestly, I like to pair people up based on how I think they will do. I know why the two of you are here and I believe that you both will benefit from getting to know the other." Both Edie and Niall huffed at the suggestion. "How about we all take a five minute break while I speak to the two of you privately."

Everyone got up and left the room, leaving Edie and Niall alone with Charlie. There was dead silence. The only sound was the ticking of the second hand on the ancient clock on the wall.

"Look, I know sharing private information with strangers isn't the most exciting thing to do. But, I promise you both that once you start, you will feel better. And if that means that you never share with the group, that's fine. But I want you both to try. And clearly, there are people out there in the world who would like you to try, as well. Like I said, I know why you are here and I truly believe that you two can potentially help each other. If I'm wrong, which I have been in the past, I will find someone new for you both." Just then, she got a call on her cell, "Excuse me, it's my daughter. I'll be right back." She walked out of the room leaving them alone.

Edie looked down at her fingers. But out of the corner of her eye she could see Niall looking at her. "What are you looking at?" she snapped.

"My partner, apparently," he snapped back.

"Such bullshit."

"I agree."

They sat in silence. 

"I don't need to be here."

"Ha! We're on the same page there, buddy."

Everyone began walking back in and the meeting resumed.