"No rather AZ, I think you have a lot of anger in your heart." The girl pauses once the therapist says that. "It's not in your control of course. But-"
"So what are you trying to say?" AZ didn't mean for her defensive voice to slip but it did once the therapist had said it. Patricia smiles sadly. It made AZ want to lash out at the therapist for a bit.
"Don't camouflage yourself." AZ looks away from her. I'm not.
Patrcia sighs. "I think you both are suffering from traumatic grief now, and if you continue as you are over time, you'll likely develop a condition called Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder. Panic attacks, or something like them. Your anger, your distrust of new people, your obsession with the circumstances of both your respective parents death, and your inability to truly live forward? These are all classic symptoms of PCBD."
"Sure. Fine." Bree lets out a hollow laugh
"I'm sorry Patricia, but you can't speak for both of us." AZ points out. "I mean...I just don't understand. Don't people grieve in different ways? How do you know we're going to develop the same thing?"
The therapist presses on. "Therapy is only beneficial if the patient wants help with the ghosts that haunt them. And I think that during yesterday's session, we touched on your ghost Bree."
"My ghost?" Bree repeats, bewildered.
"An emotional ghost is a moment, an event, even a person, that hovers over us no matter how far we run to escape it or them." Patricia explains.
"I already know the answer to this quiz. It's the moment that I found out my mom died. There, it's easy." Bree says coldly.
"But you can't just determine that after one session." AZ says in disbelief. "I mean we haven't even gone through mine yet."
"But you weren't ready AZ an-"
"And I also said once we were both." AZ gestures to her and Bree. "Ready, we would go through it but you just can't...." She closes her eyes.
"Pressure people into doing things?" Patricia finishes and gives her an apologetic smile.
She then continues. "Do you guys want to know how I locate a patient's ghost?" An early morning breeze lifts up the edge of her shawl, blowing the material over her cheek in a soft billow.
"What? You cast some spells and yippy yippy yada?" AZ asks sarcastically but she knew it wasn't going to help her answer. Bree doesn't say anything.
Patricia presses forward anyway. "I listen for what they don't talk about. Ghosts are invisible, after all."
"Okay." Bree says simply
"And you guys don't talk about your parents." AZ grits her teeth.
"We do-" Patricia raises a palm.
"You might talk about their deaths, but you don't talk about their life. This is a symptom of the type of grief you're experiencing too: an inability to process that a person is more than their absence. That love is about more than loss." AZ raises her hands up frustrated.
"Well! How am I supposed to talk about their lives if I barely even know anything about them in the first place." AZ says almost angrily. She was trying to hold it in but this overwhelming pressure was too much. Patricia moves to comfort her shoulder but AZ moves away.
"Just don't." She says coldly expression unreadable as she turns her head away slightly and Patricia abides. AZ could feel her cousin fuming next to her.
"You know I really hate when people say that. My aunt and uncle aren't lost and for sure my mom isn't!" Bree snaps.
Patricia fixes her glasses. "Well, what happened to her?"
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𝙍𝙀𝘽𝙊𝙍𝙉, the legendborn cycle (1)
Fanfiction"A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." In which two cousins go on a journey that will change both of their lives forever. follows book...
chapter thirty four
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