Summer mornings have always been the best when I was with Mom. I remember one morning she had baked cookies and we had our cousins over. Mom believed that I wasn't as close to them as possible and maybe she was correct. In my defence, it wasn't totally my fault. After all, my cousin Raymond was a big jerk. All he ever seemed to talk about was the numerous girls he had been with. And don't even get me started on Uncle Stan, he was a raving alcoholic and he was not even afraid to show it. His wife always thought she did a good job at hiding the fact that she hated her husband's gut, but it was clear as the day is bright to everyone that she did. But regardless of all that, I still loved it when they came over because I got to have enough time to work with my mother in the kitchen preparing all sorts of meals.
It was different in the Jail's house. The wasn't any classical music blaring from the background. No drunk male figures at the front lawn barbequing meat. It was just plain. This was a normal summer morning. It was the end of the summer for kids and the Jails just behaved like it was yet another day.
I decided to not let that bother me. After all, I had bigger things to face today like my first therapy session. I learnt from Amanda that my brother, Jeffrey, had a therapist once. According to her, his parents already knew that the screws in his head were coming loose. I wasn't surprised though. I was just surprised that he stopped going. Amanda informed me that he missed some sessions and his parents decided that they can't keep paying for the therapy session when he will just continue missing them. They thought it to be a waste.
This gave me the idea I have been dying to have all along. All I have to do is miss the therapy sessions and they will stop forcing me to go for it. I felt totally proud of myself for coming up with that, though I had to give some accolades to Amanda for helping me solve this problem. So in my mind, I awarded her with some gifts and in reality, I hugged her.
She didn't know what it was for and I left her sight before she could even ask.
During breakfast, dad told me to get ready and that I had my first therapy session today by 9 o'clock. And after breakfast, mom convinced dad to allow her to go with us.
After I was done washing the dishes, I was about to head upstairs to change into something better when I met Jeffrey standing on the stairs with a creepy smile on his face. I was not amused to see him. Since I got back, I have tried my very best to avoid him like a plague and I thought he didn't want to see me too but today proved to be different.
I didn't want to batter words with him so early in the morning. I had to save my strength for the therapist. So I just decided to walk straight past him. I was almost successful, but when I got close to him he held me by the hand, brought my face close to his and said.
"Well, I'm finally glad that the rest of the family sees you the same way I do. You're a nutcase and I am really happy that you realized that in time and agreed to have yourself treated. I pity the therapist though, I hope you don't drive her crazy with your absurd tale of coming back from the dead. Oh well, she signed up for it. Good luck out there."
He was about to leave but I held him back with my words. "Well well well, will you look at that? This a typical example of a pot calling a kettle black. How long did you spend with your therapist? Two or was it a week? Rumour has it that you drove her to the edge and she just wouldn't let you come back. Was that the real reason or was it because she was actually making some progress with you but acting like the coward that you are, you just chickened out and ran away before she could make something good of your pathetic and miserable existence? Well all thanks to your cowardly act, I guess we'll never know."
He looked pale. Like a bucket of cold water had just been poured on him. I gave him a pat on the back and headed off to my room to change. The old Becky must have been someone to stand and take all the insults thrown at her, but I for one will not allow anyone to belittle me.
Dad and I were in the car waiting for Mom and he was getting a little bit restless. He screamed for his wife and I wondered why he didn't just honk. This family is weird, I can say that for sure.
The drive to the therapist's office was soothing. It was nice to get out of the house. I wasn't totally okay with it yet. I remember the first night I slept there. I can't really call it "sleeping" because I mostly stayed up due to the nightmares and images I kept having whenever I closed my eyes. Up till now, I haven't really slept in that house. At most I sleep for 10 minutes and I wake up.
This is one of the problems I'm sure this therapist will pick up immediately after I start talking. Because of my eye bags and my constant yawing, anyone could tell that I haven't been sleeping well. We arrived at the address Dr Llyod gave us and it turned out to be a church. Dad looked shocked but we went down anyway and headed into the building.
It was a typical church with a long aisle and hundreds of chairs for its members. I looked to the front left and I saw a man sitting there. I tapped dad and pointed towards that direction and we moved towards the man in hopes of asking if we were in the right place. On getting there, we saw the sign on the door. "Therapy in session. Please have a seat". Mom and I sat down and dad went ahead to greet the man in front of us. After he was done, he joined us in sitting.
We waited for about 10 minutes and the woman didn't come out. Dad was getting impatient. You could notice it by the constant tapping of his heel on the floor. Mom looked at him and he whispered. "Oh, don't give me that look. This is totally unprofessional. We have an appointment with her for 9 o'clock. And it's just a few minutes to 9. How will she meet up because she still has to meet the gentleman in front of us first?"
Mom grunted and said "it's still no excuse for you to make an awful lot of noise with that shoes of yours. You are making a scene."
Dad looked at her wide eye and said "the only person here apart from us is the gentleman and Rebecca and it doesn't seem to be bothering any one of them. So what's your deal?"
I raised my hand up and said "well, it is bothering me a little."
Mom looked happy when I said that. Because now, she had won. "Well, will you look at that? It does bother Rebecca and is sure it bothers the young man too but he just wants to be polite and not tell you. So quit it!"
Dad signed and looked away from his wife. I smiled because it was actually nice to be in the midst of couples who could talk to each other without shouting and throwing things. My parents were very good at using violence to solve all their problems. Maybe it's why I'm so feisty.
I called myself to order after having those thoughts. I wasn't even in the room going through my therapy yet and I was already starting to analyze my feelings. The therapist came out a few minutes later with a young woman in her early 30s. They stopped at the door and she hugged the woman and the woman left. The therapist then came out to greet the young man that was sitting with us, waiting for her.
They talked for a while. Then they hugged and kissed and finally the man left. While he was passing, I saw a ring on his finger and I knew that he was her husband. It surprised me the patience he had to be waiting for her for that long. It also made me curious, I wanted to know what was so important for him to tell her in person, that he had to wait for almost an hour. I let it slide and focused on the woman in front of me.
She was beautiful. She had a long face and straight hair that was cut to the neck. Her facial features were very unique because she had green eyes. It was amazing, I had never met anyone with green eyes before and I was mesmerized by hers. Her hair was thick black with some blonde highlights. If I was her friend, I would have advised her to get rid of the highlights.
She walked towards us and introduced herself. "Hi, you must be the Jails." And she brought forth her hands for dad to shake. "I'm Mrs Nicole Smith. And I am terribly sorry for the delay. I just had to talk to my husband real quick. He has been waiting for an awful lot of time."
Mom reassured her that it was fine. Mrs Nicole looked at me and said with a smile. "Well, you must be Rebecca. It's a pleasure meeting you." And she gave me her hand to shake. I took it and replied, "The feeling is mutual."
She smiled and said, "Well, shall we get started." My father spoke up. "Well, I am really happy that you already know who we are. When we spoke on the phone, I thought I would have to do another introduction. Thank God I didn't have to do that. But when will we come to pick her up?"
Mrs Nicole clapped her hands before she replied "the session lasts for one hour. So by 10, I should be done with her. And I will give her the days she will be coming for her sessions."
"Okay, that will be very helpful. Thank you. But could you also send it to my email, just so I have a copy of it too?" I knew dad wanted a copy because he thought that I would be skipping my therapy just like Jeffrey did, and he wasn't wrong.
Mom came to me, she sat me down and spoke from her heart. "Now darling, I know you think this isn't necessary but it is. So please try to cooperate with Mrs Nicole, okay? The effects of the ordeal you went through may not show now but they will show later and that is what we are trying to avoid. So please, don't take this as a joke. Take it seriously so that you can get better, okay? I love you so much." And she kissed me on the forehead. Dad held her hand and they left. This love they showed towards me was alien to me and it made me happy.
Mrs Nicole looked at me. Something in me told me that she could notice the spark in my eyes. I tried to hide it but I knew she saw that I was really happy that mom gave me that pep talk. She later ushered me into her office and closed the door behind us when we were both inside. She pointed to a sofa and told me to make myself comfortable. I was offered drinks but I turned them down. She sat and looked at me for a few minutes. It was like a staring competition because none of us wanted to take our eyes off each other.
She later got up from her chair and came to the sofa to sit with me. So we were now facing each other. Her next words convinced me that she was a professional therapist. She asked me "So why have you not been getting enough sleep?"