The C.E.O & His SSGT...Book 1

17. Travis

"Mr. Laden, have a seat." My new therapist said as I sat down. 

"How are you today? Truthfully." He asked. 

"Truthfully, nervous and a bit, hopeful." I said clenching my fists. 

"How nervous are you?" He asked. What kind of questions are these? 

"I'm about a six right now." I said. 

I can't be here for another fifty minutes. 

"How would you describe yourself?" He leaned forward and clasped his hands. 

"I would like to think I'm a natural-born leader, I'm committed to self-improvement, disciplined, problem-solver, reliable, traditional, and loyal, hard worker. I have a duty to protect those who can't do it themselves. I respect others and like to think I'm the kind of person who values selfless service, honor, integrity, and courage. I have to be having a young child at home. My parents live on the west coast and I don't see them as often as I'd like to. Especially because they haven't formally met my son." I said. I could talk about Colby all day. 

"And you're in the military yes?" 

"Eight years strong." I smiled proudly. 

"And would that be your biggest achievement?" He asked. 

"Yes as well as being a single dad from the age of twenty-three." I said. 

"What do you like most about yourself?" He asked. 

"I don't know… I mean I like that my son looks up to me like I'm superhuman but to like something about myself… I find it weird, isn't that being self-absorbed?" I said and he smiled, for what reason, I'm not so sure. He nodded without a word writing everything down. 

"If you could change the world, what would you change?"

"Fear, I want to feel safe everywhere I go without having to look over my shoulder every minute. In my line of work, you learn that even an ally can be your biggest enemy." I said. 

"Is that all?" I swallowed the lump in my throat. 

"When I was in high school… I was taking a shortcut through the forest near my school and one my way home this feral creature tackled me. It had blue, maybe yellow eyes. I was on my stomach with my face being pushed into the dirt road and it was growling at me, I felt the drool dripping onto my neck and as the growling got louder. I felt it's hot breath on my neck and felt its weight on my back and I was frozen, scared out of my mind that it was going to kill me at that moment. I have never been more scared of anything in my entire life. The growling soon faded as another massive beast tackled the beast and in a state of panic and fear I just began to throw rocks. I didn't mean to injure that poor wolf, the one that didn't look so evil… I just panicked and ran, now I can't even remotely look at dogs that look like wolves or even look at wolves themselves. I can't help how I feel no matter how hard I forget. I told my parents about my experience but we all thought it was just adrenaline, neither of us would have thought it would turn into a phobia." I said, tearing up feeling the paw and its breath on my back again making me shiver.

"What do you think is the meaning of life?" He asked. 

"The meaning of life? What does that have to do with my trauma?" I asked but just sighed.

"The meaning of life for me is this, everything happens for a reason. That there was a greater reason for being attacked. I know that's what you're getting at but that thing wasn't natural, it was just an empty shell with a demon inside." I said. I hated that thing, I hated that, the one animal I once loved, I couldn't even look at pictures anymore without the flashbacks of that night.