Over a thousand thoughts crossed my mind the moment she said that. I thought I had finally come up with an impressive idea but it seemed not.
"You are not just smart, you are a genius!, Oh my God, people who referred you to me were right. Never in a thousand years would I have come up with that perfect solution. You have no idea the courage it took me to come here after I couldn't find a way out of this" She said with an impressive tone.
I didn't even know whether to be happy or sad after hearing her say that. It was a mixed feeling. I mean she should have just said she was impressed right away, why did she have to scare the living hell out of me like that. But then it felt good to know I wouldn't be forced to retire any time soon. I finally pulled myself together and said with a smile "I'm glad I could help and there is no reason for you to feel bad, any mother would react impulsively the way you did at that moment. He should be put behind bars for what he did."
"Hearing that from you makes me feel so much better, thank you so much. But then Counsellor, do you think he would budge?" She asked with curiosity. There's no way I was going to let the woman doubt or even question the plan I finally came up with after throwing my career in the line. "Of course it would, he wouldn't want to spend his prime behind bars, but then will your daughter be fine with you just letting him off the hook like that" I asked, " Oh she would have to, I can't lose the card I have right now, I can even use it against his dad too, I wonder how I never came up with this"
"Of course she was going to maximize the opportunity she had without thinking about her daughter. Humans are naturally self centered and only do things they benefit from . She was a human before a mother after all, not that I'm being judgmental here, believe me I'm no saint myself, but I can't be surprised. When you work in this line of work for a long time, you tend to see how selfish people can be to satisfy themselves and have the upper hand. What was I thinking? that hers will be different because she's a mother?" I chuckled softly as these thoughts ran through my mind. "Oh I think I used passed my time already, I'll pay for that, I'm so sorry" she apologized standing from her seat as the chair made a light squeaky noise. "It's okay, just make the payment through the normal procedure" I replied.
You think I was going to let her go with my money like that? Hell no! She used past her time, she might as well pay for it. It's a woman ready to use her daughter as leverage to get what she wants for crying out loud, there's no way I was going to let her go like that.
"See you some other time Counselor" she said "See you soon ma'am".
I had always prayed my clients would come back for another session cause that meant more money for me but not this woman. I would do anything to have her not come back here again. Who knows if she would come back with another story that she killed her husband the next time she comes. Thinking about it alone gave me chills. Anyway, it was finally over and I could breathe again, the one and half hour she used felt like eternity. I went over to my leisure table, sat on my chair and laid back, with my eyes closed, trying to empty my mind to stop thinking about everything I just heard.
"I don't think the money I get paid will be enough to cover for my mental health and psychology issues when I finally quit this job" I mumbled to myself, taking a deep breath. I beeped Sarah for another cup of coffee, I needed to came my nerves so I could function like a normal human being again. Sarah came in with my cup of coffee few minutes later. "How is it going Mr Alex?" She asked softly with a smile, placing the cup of coffee gently on the table. "What do you think?" I said to her, sitting up to grab the cup.
" You look stressed, for a first client, this doesn't look good, you have few more to go you know" she said looking concerned. "Yeah right, how about asking these clients for a synopsis of what they will be bringing to me before booking them" I said with a sarcastic tone. She laughed softly " I'll see what I can do" she replied playing along. "Don't worry, you will be fine, I'm sure we've had worst days than this" she continued "We sure have" I replied slowly staring into space as I took a flashback on the session I had with a client that landed me on the hospital bed.
I had to go on therapies to get better cause of the trauma. What are you thinking? That counselors do not need to be counseled too? That's the worst stereotype people have about us you know, they think because we listen to people and seem to always find an answer to every situation we have it all figured out with ourselves too.
Well, I thought I did too until what happened that day.
LET'S FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER