Let me take care of you

Therapy

(Tw: Mentions of kidnap and assult.)

Charlie happily texted Nick on his phone, sitting up in his hospital bed even though he was told to rest as much as he could.
Charlie: So who are you with rn?
Nick: I'm just chilling here with Aled, not really saying much though, that's why I've been texting you.
Charlie: Wow the others still aren't back?
Nick: No... They'll come around though, they just need time to process.
Charlie: Tell me about it

"Hey? Charlie?" Doctor Harris appeared in the ward, making Charlie jump,
"Oh! Hi Doctor Harris. Do you need anything?" Charlie asked, smiling at him politely. Doctor Harris smiled warmly back and nodded,
"Yes, I just came to introduce you to someone, I just think she could help, I'll go get her." Doctor Harris said, leaving the room just as quickly as he came in. Charlie was confused but didn't think much of it, it was probably another Doctor to check on internal injuries again or something.
Charlie: Sorry Nick, I need to go. Doctors need me for something
Nick: :( That's fine, text me later though okay?
Charlie: Okay. See you later ❤️
Nick: ❤️

Charlie smiled an placed his phone on his bedside table, putting his hands under the covers and waiting. Not long after Doctor Harris came in with a rather short woman with dark brown hair in a bun. She looked relatively young and had kind eyes and half moon glasses. She had a soft smile on her lips,
"Charlie, this is Ms Hadley, she will be... Speaking with you." Doctor Harris said, choosing his words with a careful tone. Charlie cocked his head to one side, turning his attention to Ms Hadley,
"Hello Charlie, I'm Emily. It's nice to meet you." She said, her smile unchanging. Charlie smiled back awkwardly,
"Hello." He simply said, sinking into his hospital bed.

Doctor Harris smiled,
"Alright, I'll leave you to it." He said, leaving the room quickly. This gave enough time for Charlie to realise what was happening, oh god, this was therapy.

Ms Hadley pulled a chair close to Charlie's hospital bed, sitting down by him,
"So, Charles Spring, I've heard a lot about you." She said, pushing her glasses up and opening her small black notebook that was seemingly manifested out of nowhere.
"What going on?" Charlie asked, skeptical of the nice woman, he never trusted therapists, they all seemed the same to him. Just people who wanted money and pretended to care about strangers feelings to get it.

Ms Hadley smiled again,
"I'm here to ask you some questions about, well... You know. I'm just hoping we can dive in deeper into what happened. It would help both the court and yourself to get anything that hasn't been said yet of your chest." Ms Hadley said, in a professional tone as if she has rehearsed what she was going to say.
"Why?" Charlie asked, looking around to see if there were any recording devices or things that were tracking what he was saying. No, it was just him and this weird lady.

"Because Charlie. From what I've heard, what happened to you was a brutal crime. At your age, if not handled properly, these types of things can be incredibly traumatic for years to come." Ms Hadley said, in a more serious tone now, more caring. Charlie held his breathe,
"Well you're wasting your time, I'm perfectly fine." Charlie said, very unconvincingly, but who wouldn't be freaked out by what happened, traumatised was a strong word though. Ms Hadley raised an eyebrow,
"Charlie, I'm not here to take the information I need and then leave, I'm here to help." Ms Hadley said, she placed her hand on the side of Charlie's bed. Charlie breathed out shakily,
"Why should I trust you?" He said, his voice cold, unusual for him. Ms Hadley sighed,
"Because I know what you're going through, and I know how to help." She simply said.

Charlie looked up at her,
"How?" He asked cautiously, this wasn't the most common thing to happen to people. She closed her notebook and placed it down on her lap, sighing,
"When I had just graduated highschool, I was out with my friends, we were at a park. And it was late, there was no one else there but us. My friends left but I said I needed to go to the bathroom and would catch up with them. So they waited for me in the car. When I went off on my own, well... A man just came out of nowhere, he grabbed me and threw me into the bathrooms. He had weapons lines up, using every single one on me. If my friends hadn't come up to check on me, I don't know if I would've made it out alive." She explained, her voice was quiet and shy, obviously recounting a tale like that was hard.

"But anyway, thats why I'm here. After I had healed l, physically, I just pretended like nothing happened. I pushed down the trauma, and that meant that when I finally snapped, it took much longer to heal, mentally. I need to make sure that doesn't happen to you." She said, she placed her hand on his leg, Charlie flinched. She smiled sadly,
"I'm really sorry about what happened." Charlie said quietly. She chuckled quietly,
"Don't be, it was a while ago, things like this happen, we need to move on." She said, her voice lightening up. Charlie smiled slightly, she smiled back at him.

She took a deep breath,
"Now, Charlie, did the boys do anything to you? I mean, I know they hurt you, but I was told that you were covered in bite marks and hickeys, and we aren't sure if..." She cut herself off, she looked at Charlie, hand still on his leg,
"No. He didn't do anything, he touched me a lot, but he didn't do anything other than that. But he would've if he had the chance." Charlie said, the memories suddenly came flashing back, hitting him hard like a ton of bricks, his breath picked up, he tensed up, remembering the touching, the pain, the pleading.

Ms Hadley noticed this,
"Okay, well it's good that he didn't do anything. Okay Charlie, you're doing great, you've opened up, you're letting yourself remember, these are the steps to moving on. You can do this Charlie." She placed a hand on the side of his arm. Suddenly Charlie got a flash of being grabbed on the side of the arm by Ben, as he bit him hard on the shoulder. He moved back from Ms Hadley really quickly, moving himself away from her quickly. Tears pricked his eyes, his breath uneven and shaky.

Ms Hadley removed her hand, her eyes slightly shocked,
"Okay, I really apologize Charlie, I didn't know how much he did to you, if touching you was enough to trigger a flashback, than this is much deeper trauma than I anticipated. But you're doing great at opening up." She said, her voice still calm and encouraging. Charlie nodded, he breathed in and out and Ms Hadley raised her hand up and down for him to follow her breath.

After a while Charlie calmed down, he fell back down onto his pillow and moved back into his normal place in his bed. Ms Hadley gave him one last smile,
"Okay, that's enough for today, thank you for listening to me Charlie, and thank you for being do brave to open up. I'll see you later okay?" Ms Hadley said, getting up from her chair and pushing it back to where she found to. Charlie out a thumbs up, smiling quickly at her. She waved goodbye, and then left the room, the clicking of her small heals fading down the corridor.

Okay, take note then. Don't let people touch him, atleast not in placed where bad injuries are. And note to self again, do not tell Nick that you might have intense trauma. Okay, well that all happened quickly, maybe he should rest like the doctor told him.