Inner Predator: Unleashed

Chapter 13

Yay! Chapter 13 up on time! WHAT? This a first in like... weeks. :] Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 13

            I raise my hand to knock on the door, but pause before my fist meets the wood. There’s nothing intimidating about this door. It’s painted off white and has a polished silver door knob. It looks like every other door to every other room in the hall. But this one is different because of what’s on the other side.

            Jess.

            I’ve put off seeing her for almost two weeks now. After everything happened in the clinic, I—well, Chase, my father and Doctor Williams all decided it would be best for me to avoid any unnecessary stress. Reluctantly, I agreed and decided it was a good idea to leave Jess alone and focus on more important things at hand.

            Like training.

            That wasn’t an easy thing to bargain for. For any of us who escaped and may be mentally fragile. After my panic attack the doctor believes I have posttraumatic stress and that the others might as well. So we’re required to see Mrs. Bellevue, a Fae and an old friend of Aine’s living here, who retired from her profession as clinical psychologist years ago but has been asked to come out of retirement just for me.

 How lucky.

In exchange for my willingness to talk about this shit with someone, I have access to the gym and to Chase who is unfortunately still the best trainer. Every day for the last thirteen, I’ve spent an hour with Mrs. Bellevue. It’s not exactly my favorite way to spend time. It’s actually down right sucky, but at least after I finish my chat with her I get to go hit people.

Specifically, I get to hit Chase. Or try to. We aren’t exactly on friendly terms at the moment. Let me rephrase that; he’s perfectly pleasant, it’s I who is not so friendly. It’s not just Chase who is on the receiving end of my cold shoulder for the last couple weeks, it’s pretty much everyone. Except Penny who is my only real friend here at the moment. And Jackson who I can sympathize with because he’s just as upset as I am that we are being purposefully left out of the loop… for our own good.

But that’s not relevant right now that I’m standing in front of Jess’s door like a total creep. Mrs. Bellevue’s words from the today’s session run through my mind.

“Perhaps you are ready to speak with Jess,” she told me. “She may be able to understand some of what you’re going through better than a male confidant might."

She wants me to reach out and share a sob story with a person who doesn’t want to see me. I’m not sure I want to speak with anyone about the things Dr. Williams told me. I’ve refused to speak about it at all since he told me, even to Mrs. Bellevue. Which is why I believe she’s urging me to try to mend fences with Jess. I don’t think she expects me to tell Jess everything right now, if she does the old lady has really lost her mind. But she thinks I’m ready to confront her. And so I came right away knowing I might otherwise lose my nerve. I kind of want to use a Glamour to look like, well, anybody else.

Finally I just knock. Bang my knuckles three times against the door and wait nervously. Butterflies fill my gut as every awful scenario goes through my mind. I can’t help but remember the last time I visited someone who I knew didn’t want to see me. It wasn’t exactly a happy reunion and my gut tells me that this won’t be either.

The door swings open. I’ve never been so happy for a lack of peepholes in my life because I doubt it would have opened at all had she known who it was.