the well- trixya

one

"This is fucking stupid."

"Yekaterina," her mother began, "this is required by your counselor and school. If you ever want to be a normal person again, then you need to do it."

Katya rolled her eyes. "How is group therapy supposed to help me? It'll just be me and a bunch of other screw-ups in a room talking and shit."

"Watch your language, Yekaterina," she said as they entered the building together.

The whole room was painted in relaxing shades of green and beige and white. Katya watched as her mother approached a front desk and asked a receptionist about where they could find the room for the teenage group therapy. As usual, they were early, and were instructed to wait in the lobby until the rest of the people got there.

Slowly but surely, more teenagers flooded into the room. There was a girl named Ginger who Katya sat next to and chatted with. There were other kids who blended together. Some were goth, some were just regular kids. It struck Katya that she had no idea what these kids did to be sent to this hell and, for the first time that day, Katya was frightened. She was anxious as she imagined what crimes these kids committed and where they were coming from.

"Mom," she whispered, "yellow." Her mother stood up and asked where a restroom was and Katya followed her down a long hallway. They entered the bathroom and Katya immediately tried her breathing and mind-clearing techniques.

Katya, her mother, and her therapist devised a code for Katya to use whenever she felt anxious. Yellow was the beginning of anxiety, orange was fearing a panic attack, and red was completely on the brink of a meltdown. She could tell whoever she trusted, though it was only her family, her therapist, and a few teachers she had told. After everything that had happened, she had become overrun with anxiety and stress and extreme paranoia.

"I think I got anxious because I started wondering about why everyone else was here," she said quietly. Her mother nodded and took held her daughter's hands.

"You'll learn soon, it'll be okay." Katya was so grateful for her mother. She was the most patient woman in the world and she supported Katya endlessly. "Are you ready to go back out?"

Katya felt her pulse, did a quick evaluation, and nodded. The two of them left the bathroom to see a girl with pink hair and her mother in their seats.

Trixie was talking to a girl she knew, Kim, when she saw Katya standing in the lobby trying to find a seat.

Trixie hadn't wanted to come, but she was sure no one else did either. Her mother insisted on coming into the building, which was annoying. Luckily pretty much everyone had some adult with them, so she wasn't the only one.

As soon as Katya sat down, a woman exited a room and told all of the kids they could come inside. "This session will be about forty minutes, so everyone is welcome to either wait in the lobby or leave as they wish," she said.

"My name is Michelle," she said. The room everyone entered had a bunch of folding chairs in a circle facing the center. Fantastic, Trixie thought.  She hated strangers looking at her despite the attention her pink hair naturally brought. "Let's all go around in s circle and say our names and ages."

There were ten other girls in the room besides Michelle. They all introduced themselves in order.

"I'm Ginger and I'm sixteen," the girl Katya had been talking to said.

Then it was Katya's turn. She felt anxiety bubble in her stomach as she picked at her nails. "My name is Katya and I'm seventeen," she said, all in one breath. She was proud of herself for not having her heart pound out of her chest. Hopefully everyone would just forget about her.

A few more girls went, and then an Asian girl named Kim introduced herself. Trixie took note when the girl said she was only fifteen- that seemed a little young to have fucked up this bad.

Trixie was next. She didn't like introducing herself; she much preferred when people already knew who she was. She liked having a reputation whether it was good or bad. "My name's Trixie and I'm seventeen."

Once everyone had introduced themselves, Michelle spoke again. "You're all here because something happened that changed the course of your lives and someone thought you would deal with that best via group discussions. I know we all just met, but I'm going to give you an assignment for next week. You need to become friends with someone here," she said.

Trixie smiled- she was a people pleaser. She loved making friends and getting people to like her.

Katya felt like she was going to vomit. Hopefully she could just choose Ginger, because they had already spoken and she seemed easy.

"Okay," Michelle said. "Under your seats is the name of a girl who you need to make a connection with. If you don't have a name, then your name is on a paper."

Trixie checked under her seat and didn't see anything there. Katya checked and saw a sticky note. Fuck, she thought.

She lifted the sticky note and read it out loud. "Trixie Mattel."

She girls rearranged to sit next to their partners. Trixie was excited to break into Katya. She seemed interesting enough. She wanted to know what Katya did to land in this hell hole. As instructed, they exchanged phone numbers before being released to their parents.

As soon as the doors opened, Katya saw her mother, mouthed "red," and ran to the bathroom to vomit. "This is gonna be great," she mumbled.