November 2010...
Katherine waited anxiously in the room.
It's been a week since she went to meet Josh for advice and from what he told her, she decided to have one last session with Savannah before finally confirming her suspicions.
It was just ten minutes past 12 yet Katherine didn't want to delay this. If she was actually suffering from the disorder, then there's a big chance that Nathan was right all along.
A knock on the door accompanied by a girl peeking out the door interrupted Katherine's thought's. She walked towards the door and opened it to welcome Savannah. Maybe this was the first time Katherine saw her wearing white or probably any bright colour. She wore a bright orange shirt with white jeans and a jacket.
Savannah smiled at her before walking into the room. It looked fake but what else was a common way of greeting people?
Tension filled the room as soon as Katherine closed the door. Savannah sat on her usual seat and waited for Katherine to come sit down. She looked extra worried today and it felt like something big had happened over the week. Or was something else bothering her.
Katherine didn't think much of her behaviour and proceeded to starting the session.
"We're you and Nathan close before I started dating him?" Katherine was taken aback by the question. What did she mean by close? Yeah Nathan and her were childhood friends so of course they'd be close, but was she referring to the other definition.
"What do you mean?" Katherine finally spoke trying to keep a steady tone. This was supposed to be Savannah's session, not her reminiscing about the past.
"I mean, why did Nathan not mention you when we started dating? Why don't I know anything about you and your background?" Savannah said seeming a little to aggressive. This question was something Katherine didn't want to answer now. There was so much about their relationship that Savannah didn't know and she wasn't in the mood to start talking about it.
Katherine sighed before keeping her notebook on the table next to her chair. "Nathan and I were childhood friends. Yes, he was a few years younger than me but our relationship grew because of our parents friendship. That was until a few years ago when he moved here. We drifted apart slowly and weren't really much in contact until, I also moved here and we reunited. That's when he mentioned you and talked about how he wanted me to help you. That's practically it". Katherine said as she adjusted her sitting posture.
Savannah looked convinced but still didn't say anything, that was enough for Katherine to pick up her notebook and continue speaking.
"You haven't told me anything about your childhood?" Katherine asked in a low voice, she knew this question could bring back memories, whether good or bad but she still needed to know more about her patient.
Savannah didn't say anything, she just looked down at her sneakers. This was a sign that something must have happened so many years ago that Savannah didn't want to talk about.
"When I was young", Savannah started causing Katherine to look up at her, "my mom, my dad, my brother and I were one happy family. My mom would tell me stories about how my dad would try and braid my hair but it would always end up looking terrible. Everything was great, almost perfect.That was until my dad went out one day, and never came back". Katherine gasped. She wasn't expecting to hear that Savannah's dad had died when she was still so young.
Savannah took a deep breath before continuing, " he died in a car accident, no one knows how it happened. My mom never got over that incident. I was young when it happened but up till this day, my mom refuses to open the trunk under her bed that contained my dad's photos", Savannah took a deep breath, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks." I spent most of my year's at school with my best friend. My only friend. We talked about everything. She was like the sister I never had. Things were fine, until my mom got an offer to come work a slice of heaven café. I didn't know how to react when she said we were moving. I was upset. Almost frustrated. I didn't want to leave my home, the last memory I had of my dad, and my friend, the only person I could share everything with". Savannah paused, the tears were starting to fall, she wiped them away before covering her face with her hands. Katherine could see the pain she felt but couldn't imagine herself in her shoes. She stretched to reach the tissue box on the table and handed it to Savannah. Savannah looked up and once she saw the tissue box Katherine was holding, she mumbled something Katherine couldn't hear and collected it.
"What happened after that?" Katherine said after Savannah was done blowing her nose. She increased her grip on her pen as she stared at Savannah. Savannah was already looking a lot worse than when she just walked into the room and this made Katherine wonder what happened after that.
"We moved here and it was hard at the start. We barely had furniture. School started off well, I made friends with one of my classmates and we got pretty close. There was this one guy in my class that I didn't want to be around. Everything got worse when he kissed me during his birthday party. I started avoiding him for a few days until he cornered me and apologized. We started talking and grew close and I started liking him even more. Everything was fine until one valentine's day dance, he didn't show up. I then found out that he wrote me a letter. He said that he's leaving and won't come back. I felt crushed and told my friend everything." She paused. Katherine kept on writing on her notebook before looking up to see Savannah. "Months had passed. I had moved on from him. Things were becoming better slowly. The school planned an excursion for my class to the amusement park. My classmate Beatrice and I had gone on a few rides together. I don't remember much of what happened but I remember she had gone missing and then the teachers found her dead body far away from where everyone else was.And that's when Nathan came back into my life". Katherine stopped writing and placed her notebook on the table. Savannah noticed this and stopped talking. Katherine was confused. Did Nathan know Savannah before she moved or did she know him. Either way the information wasn't important so Katherine picked up her notebook again trying not to think much of their relationship.
Savannah took a deep breath before she continued, "I noticed him but decided not to pay too much attention to him. As if coincidental, we always got paired in everything, he noticed me but I didn't want to notice him. Everything changed when he asked me out for our homecoming dance. I agreed and we both went. I was happy and thought things had changed for the better but then my friend travelled out of the country for the summer break . I thought everything was fine but then I got a letter from her saying she's coming back. I was happy and was excited to see her. She came to stay with me for the night and the next morning her body was found in a bathtub filled with blood. I was horrified and didn't step into that bathroom for a month. The next school year, Nathan noticed that I became distant after what happened to her and we started talking, we started dating. Things were fine until Adam started acting strangely as well, he stopped sharing things with me but I respected his privacy and didn't budge, until, his accident ". Savannah looked away, her eyes were getting watery again and Katherine could tell that she would cry any minute. Katherine rushed to her and hugged her tight . Tears streaming down Savannah's face as Katherine rubbed her back. She already knew what happened after that. She didn't want this to go on. Why was Savannah being punished like this?
Katherine slowly let go of Savannah, she looked numb, almost lifeless. She wasn't crying anymore but her eyes were puffy.
Katherine told her that their session was over even if it wasn't , but she couldn't let Savannah continue to talk about her childhood.
.....
It had been an hour since the end of Katherine's session and she still couldn't wrap her head around it. Somehow it seemed like as though the answers were right Infront of her face but she couldn't see it.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the ring of her phone. She looked at the name written on her phone. Nathan.