Payback

Chapter 17: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

tw// mention of suicide and self-harm

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." -Maya Angelou

Continue being strong, Gabrielle. xo. -H💋

☔︎・☔︎・☔︎

"Marina, hurry up! We'll be late for your appointment!" Mom yelled from downstairs. I felt pressured while doing my hair. I kinda regret putting my hair in waterfall braids because it takes up a lot of time but I want to feel cute so I still did it.

Today is Saturday and I have an appointment with my psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Phillips.

When I finished doing my hair, I applied minimal makeup on my face then I grabbed my bag and walked down the stairs.

Mom was in the living room waiting for me. I told her that we could go and she nodded before going out of the house and walking to her car. I followed her and sat on the passenger seat.

I plugged my phone in the car stereo and started to play music while Mom drove to the hospital.

"Hey, Marina," Mom said while driving.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Does Xander know you have PTSD?" Mom asked.

I looked at her. "I haven't told him yet," I answered. "It just never came up."

"You're not planning to keep it a secret, right?" she asked, glancing at me for a second before returning her gaze on the road.

"I'll tell him soon." I smiled.

Before I knew it, we arrived at the hospital and I'm already inside Dr. Matt's clinic.

The thing I loved most about his clinic was the comfortable chairs. I prefer to seat on bean bags so we always talk on that section.

"How are you, Marina?" he asked.

"Fine," I answered. "I forgot to tell you last time. I have a boyfriend now." I giggled.

"Oh, who is it?"

"You actually know him. It's Xander," I answered and his eyes widened. Dr. Matt is Maddie's father and since Xander said that Maddie is his sister from his father's side, that makes Xander his son.

"Does he know that you're coming here for a consultation?" he asked and I shook my head as a response.

"But I'll let him know soon," I assured him.

He smiled and nodded. "Have you made diary entries?" he asked and I handed him the diary he gave me.

"I haven't really been frustrated lately so I just wrote a few," I answered. He nodded as he was reading my entries.

Dr. Matt has been my psychiatrist for 10 years now. He knows every little thing about me. He wants me to treat him as a close friend or as a second dad. I tell him everything. He even knows some stuff that Mom and Dad don't know about.

After reading my diary, he signed the last entry and returned it for me to fill again with my anger and frustration entries. He asked me a few questions after that which I answered wholeheartedly and just like that, my session is finished.