Anna
"I asked how could you do this to me? How could you ruin me?"
"..."
"How can he not feel guilty? Is this just how I'm supposed to react to these kinds of situations?"
"..."
"WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME!?"
"Because they are not my questions to answer" I said.
"If they are not my therapist's questions, then whose are they?"
"They are yours, Milly, and I can not answer them for you."
"Why not? Isn't that your job?" Milly questioned.
"No, my job is to help you answer your own questions."
"Well I'm not going to stand by and burn my money."
"Then get out. I didn't ask you to sort my life out. You came to me for help, not a free ride."
"I guess you're not what I'm looking for then."
Milly left the room slamming the door. I'm is finally done with that idiot. At last I can take my lunch break. I looked at my clock. Damn, an hour past lunchtime. As I go to grab my lunch I looked at my desk. My desk had my name, Lionel Prescott, carved into the wood. Looked at the picture frame on my desk, ah, Anna, how I miss you. It's only been 4 years since you passed away...
I have to hurry and finish my lunch, my next patient will be in within the hour. At least I get a lunch break today, its been weeks since I've had the privilege of an hour to myself.
"Mr. Prescott?"
It was my assistant Cathy, she's calling to tell me the worst news, my next patient was here.
"Yes, Cathy?"
"Are you okay? Milly stormed out quite angrily."
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"So when should I set up his next appointment?"
"Funny."
"Well at least he's not your problem anymore."
At least…
The following week I had gone off the edge, apparently. I had no idea what happened, I blacked out for almost an entire day. I was falling deeper and deeper in, closing in on the point of no return. Then my brother pulled me out. Jeremy’s down to earth personality is what keeps me from going insane.
“Jeremy, why did this happen?”
“you have to answer that.”
Great, now my brother is the therapist.
“I would rather not.”
“I’m the only person who cares about your feelings right now Lionel, why wouldn’t you want to tell me?”
“He said they have her”
“Who?”
“Anna.”
----------
Nothing
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The next day I awoke. I was in an alleyway. Jeremy was beside me. I was sore.
“Rise and Shine.” Jeremy said
“I don’t want to”
“Well you’re already awake, I meant we should go to that restaurant across the street named Rise and Shine.”
“No, I just wanna go home.”
“Well I’m thirsty, so I’m goin in.”
Of course I went with him, as if he left me a choice. As we approached the restaurant, I noticed there was a cop car outside. I stopped my brother.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s a cop there, what will we do?”
“Relax, he can’t possibly know anything about what happened last night.”
“What did happen last night?”
“I’ll tell you when we get in there.”
We walked inside, the place looked in bad shape, there was paint peeling off the walls. I looked around the booths and there was the cop, sitting in the corner booth by himself. I was paranoid, with good reason, I guess. This all seemed so strange though, like I had been here before.
“This way please.” the waitress said
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I was day dreaming.”
Me and my brother got to our booth, far away from the cop, thankfully.
“What can I get you to drink?”
Tea. My brother wants tea, just as always.
“I’ll have a cup of tea.”
“Hmmf. I’ll have some coffee.”
“Anything else?”
“No, we’re good, and we aren't having anything to eat.”
The waitress walked away.
“What happened to me last night?”
“You snapped.”
“How? How did I snap?”
“One of your new clients came in, and he said he knew what really happened.”
“To what? To who?”
“It’s whom.”
“Now is not the time for that, Jeremy.”
“He told you he knew where Anna was, that she was alive.”
I was breathless, Anna had passed years ago, I remembered the date, December 4th, 2009.
“You ran out of your office to go find her, he said she was at 82nd Weston Street.”
“Well lets go save her!”
“No, no, see that’s what happened last time. You blacked out and went to go find her. You remember you kept me in the dark with your relationship with Anna? Well I’m starting to get a better sense of why.”
The waitress came by and handed us our drinks. I would start drinking my coffee right away, because I do like black coffee, but it was way to hot, I would burn my tongue, so I put some cream and sugar in it.
“What does that mean? And how did you learn all of this?”
“Cathy told me the address and I followed you because I know you get in trouble sometimes and I was worried. You really don’t remember this do you?”
“No, now please continue.”
“Okay, so you went to the address, and it was some old warehouse. She wasn’t in there. I heard you curse at her, at Anna. That's when It started to make sense.”
I didn't remember any of this, which astonished me because I had a great memory, and not once have I ever blacked out.
“You had nothing to go on, but you continued to go to 43rd on Mann.”
“That was our old apartment.”
“At this point I could just follow you without you noticing I was even there, and I was right next to you. You went in and wrecked the place, like you were looking for something. Were you?”
I took a drink of my coffee, and burnt the roof of my mouth a little, I never learn.
“I, I think so. I was looking for her necklace, but I couldn’t find it, so I looked in her trunk and found a picture of her with another guy.”
“I know, she looked happy, and your yelled that she was yours, that she couldn't do that. You threw the frame on the ground and started tearing the place apart. The weird part is you still live there, don’t you?”
“I did? So if I go back to my apartment, it’s gonna be completely trashed?”
“Yup. Why had you not opened the trunk before?”
“Because I- I don’t know.”
“Come on man, dig deeper.”
I had already been here, this is exactly the kind of stuff I would say to my patients. But, its weird, I don’t remember many patients I had. I actually only remember Milly. That name… It sounds so familiar…
“Lionell? You still with me?”
“You, you’re not my...”
“Your what?”
“Brother?”
“No, of course not. Don’t you remember? I’m your therapist. It’s me Jeremy.”
“Jeremy… Preston…”
“Yes.”
“That means, this whole time… I’ve been… oh god. Anna! She left me… be- because I cheated on her, with Milly! And Cathy?”
“She’s my assistant, who works at the front desk.”
“The trunk… was my reminder of her… and I ruined it by opening it.”
“At last, we had a breakthrough. Lionell, we’ve been at you for 4 years since you came in here. and today is the first breakthrough we’ve ever had. I’m glad we got this far. But it seems like a good time to give you a rest. Please, Lionell, go home, its been a rough day, you need to rest up and I need to eat my lunch.”
I set my tea down, said farewell, and went home.
