On The Couch [Editing]

Chapter One

Pissed off was an understatement. The insurance company had to be joking.

“What do you mean ‘a last minute replacement’?” My voice became more aggravated by the second.

“Ms. Winters, due to the nature of Dr. Mayweather’s accident, she had limited time to choose a replacement. Dr. Jacobs is available right away for a temporary assignment and takes your insurance policy.”

“Do you understand the nature of a therapist/patient relationship? How do you expect me to be able to talk to a complete stranger?” I said hotly.

I felt awful for being angry with Dr. Mayweather. Her accident was two weeks ago and she would be in the hospital for at least six months from her doctor’s estimate. The insurance was just now calling me to say I would have a completely new, temporary doctor taking over my case. Two days before my next scheduled appointment. I thought I would just rather wait out Dr. Mayweather’s recovery.

“Dr. Mayweather didn’t feel comfortable postponing your treatment, given the progress you’ve made and how close you are to completion.”

They made me sound like some deranged person. I did kind of feel like one right now, with this sudden change. “Well thanks for that, I just might relapse now.” I slammed the phone down on my kitchen counter and engrossed myself in stirring the spaghetti violently.

Nine months! I was almost done with this ordeal and now this. I ran my hands through the ebony tendrils of my hair, piling it on top my head in a hairband. I didn’t need hair in my sauce with the mood I was in.

If it wasn’t for that asshole I wouldn’t be dealing with this. My ex-boyfriend had been an obsessive, possessive, and violent individual. He had done things to me, to my friends and at my place of work that had almost cost me my career…and my life. I tried not to think about the scars I carried mentally and physically.

Absently, I rubbed my left side. It always ached when I was stressed, thanks to the stab wound that left a pale pink, four-inch scar from hip to waist. Jerry started out as a nice guy, typical, but slowly his true colors started to show through and the fear began to grow. The really weird and deranged behavior began once I got a restraining order. When he was finally arrested for harassment and domestic violence, I could hardly believe it was over.

I had become comfortable with Dr. Mayweather. She was a kind and insightful woman and I trusted her. She was older than me, but not quite in her forties. It took me a while to even be able to speak about some of the things that had happened between Jerry and me, things that he had done. I was making progress. A new doctor just made me want to shut down all over again, just when I was beginning to feel good enough about the whole situation to move on.

My front door opened and a small smile spread across my face.

“Honey, I’m home,” my best friend and co-worker, Stacy, called.

“In the kitchen,” I called back.

“Mm what smells good?”

“Spaghetti.” I replied as Stacy sauntered into view. She weaved around the modern, but simple furnishings as she approached the kitchen. The neutral colors of dark and light shades played on the shadows of her movement in the low lit living room.

Her coffee-colored locks bounced around her heart-shaped face as she plopped down in one of the bar stools around the counter. The difference in our appearances was striking.  Stacy swore I was a vampire with my fair skin and dark hair. The icy blue of my eyes made it even worse. I couldn’t help the Russian ancestry. Her own green eyes sparkled as she grinned at me looking over the white tile, she sniffed at the stove.