The Hunting Hour - A Criminal Minds Fiction

Chapter 33: Check-Up

Bella went to Hilary's house after school and she was alright. It was almost 6 and she had not heard from Penelope yet and she thought that since Derek was out of town she would not be going to see the stupid shrink.
But she was wrong.
At 6:14pm, Garcia went to pick her up. Bella decided not to mention it and maybe they would just go home but Penelope went to the practice. She parked the car and Bella's eyes were full of tears.

"Oh Bella" Garcia said feeling bad.

"Please don't make me go" Bella said and tears fell.

"I'm sorry but you have to" Garcia said.

"Why? I'm not gonna talk to her" Bella said upset.

"Because the judge ordered it. You have to" Garcia said.

"But I just hate this" Bella cried and Penelope hugged her.

"I know you do." Garcia said. "Maybe we can go somewhere fun afterwards"

"No, I just wanna go home" Bella said.

"Okay. But you gotta go in there right now" Penelope said.

"Fine" Bella said still looking upset.
"Can you go in with me?" Bella asked.

"I don't know" Penelope said. "We'll ask" she added.

"Okay" Bella said. They walked inside and they sat to wait. Bella knew she wouldn't say anything anyways so she just had to distract herself while in there and not listen to the woman.

"Isabella" Joanna called. Bella grabbed Garcia's hand and they walked to the psychologist.

"Hi. I'm her aunt. Umm... she was wondering if I could go in with her" Garcia asked.

"She's 9. Her uncle was there because it was the first session and then because of her state but she seems okay today" doctor Joanna Huff said.
Bella looked at Penelope. Garcia put both hands on the girl's cheeks.
"You can do it. Just one hour. You'll be fine and I'll be right outside" Garcia said. "Okay?" She asked and Bella nodded.

"Alright, come one in" Joanna said and Bella bravely walked in.

"Would you like to take a toy from the bin today?" The woman asked hopeful their hour would be better.

Isabella sat on the couch and stayed silent.

"So your aunt seems really fun. What's her name?" Joanna asked and Bella stayed quiet and just kept staring at the floor.
"Isabella, it doesn't help you at all if you just stay quiet" Joanna said and Bella's eyes filled with tears. She couldn't help it she just hated it. She hated it so much. She couldn't understand how people would just open up to someone they didn't even know, someone who weren't their friend. She didn't care if it was the person's job or not. She just hated it.

"did you write on the journal I gave you?" the doctor asked and Bella just ignored the question.
The hour went on and the girl didn't say a word. Of course the psychologist felt like a failure. Joanna was used to getting kids to talk on the first session. Her hardest child before Bella was a boy who talked to her on the second one. She had never had someone like Bella. The girl was so determined not to let her guard down that she would spend an entire hour lost in her thoughts and looking away.

"I'll see you next week" Joanna said trying to sound confident as Bella walked to Garcia. They went to the car and Penelope asked how it went.

"This is a waste of time" Bella said.

"You didn't talk again?" Penelope asked.

"No" Bella said.

"Not at all? Not even one word?"