Skins: Endgame

Chapter 3

Effy walked up the stairs to see John. It had become the highlight- no. Highlight was too modest. By now, Effy's sessions with John, sadly only twice a week, were her reason for existence.

Her past life no longer had any function. "What past?" she often asked herself. All her problems reasonated from her past, which began to fade day by day.

Because why not just imagine all the bad things never happened? Bad as they may be, or "were" rather, the future is not set. That was one of John's most repeated phrases: a quote from his Favourite film, Terminator II: Judgement Day. The whole point of it was this: She had to forget her past and focus on the present. She had to strive to ensure that she had a positive, healthy future ahead of her.

To do that, she needed John. He was the only one who had the means of correcting her.

She reached his already open door and went inside, followed closely by Dr Foster himself. Looking out into the hall briefly, he closed the door and sat opposite Effy.

"Hello Effy. It's good to see you this morning."

Effy is beyond ecstatic to see John, but she supresses her emotions, simply smiling in return.

"It's good to see you too John. A lot has happened."

"Fantastic Elizabeth!" he sat forward eagerly. "That's what I want to hear!"

She explained about the events of the previous night, burning once cherished possessions.

"It was like a new life had begun. The next stage. Like-"

"Metamorphosis," finished Dr Foster.

Effy laughed. "Thats funny John, I literally thought that's what you would call it."

Johns fingers twitched briefly, unnoticed by Effy. They were predicting each others thoughts now, he noted, word for word. That showed they had gotten to know each other well. Good... Good...

"To see all my stuff burn up like that though," continued Effy, "like some kind of inferno..."

John looked sympathetic.

"Nobody, least of all me, is going to pretend that this is easy for you. This is tough. Your work is far from done. Even now, it's still a constant battle for you. Elizabeth, with me by your side, you can rise up and beat this."

Effy looked down towards the table and rested her head on her hands. John put a hand on her shoulder. He deliberated in a split second, quickly going over past dialogue in past sessions and decided to gamble.

"Elizabeth, I used to think I was born backwards, you know? Come out of my mother the wrong way. I heard words go past me backwards. The people I should love I hated. That used to be me. But I refused to fold. I stood up for myself and vowed to help others in that same way, just as I help you now. Its... Its the nice thing to do."

Effy looked up. She mentioned something like this to John a while back, it was something she said during a drug overdose. To think, he actually remembered... He did care about her.

"John. You're not nice. You're amazing."

Dr Foster got up, indicating that he intended to get a notepad from his desk. He had no such need for one. He only got up so he could turn away from Effy. For one moment, he quite simply could not suppress a devilish smile.