Scheduling an appointment with a therapist took a little longer than first anticipated but Evelyn eventually managed to find a good fit. Caleb left most of the research and scouring the internet to her, not really knowing enough about how therapy worked to be of much help and ultimately trusting her judgement enough to take a step back.
So Evelyn spent hours upon hours researching different therapists to make sure she could find someone that she felt comfortable enough trusting her son with.
And that's how she eventually came across Raine Whispers.
Over the phone, they seemed very friendly and generally quite easy to talk to and when she took Hunter to the first appointment, they served to be a warm and welcoming presence, even if Hunter got a bit shy.
"Hi there, my name is Raine." They said softly as they kneeled down to be on Hunter's level. "And you must be Hunter, right?"
Hunter gave them a small nod from where he hid stubbornly behind his mother.
"And who's this here?" Raine asked, gesturing at the toy tucked under his arm.
Hunter clutched the cardinal a little tighter. "Flapjack..."
"That's a fun name! I'm assuming Flapjack likes pancakes then?"
"Mhm."
"And do you particularly like birds at all?"
Hunter emerged a little from behind Evelyn at that. "Yeah!"
"Well, I've got a few colouring pages with birds on them in my office. Do you want to come have a look?" Raine offered.
Hunter turned to look up at Evelyn with a curious look in his eyes.
"You wanna go with them?" Evelyn tried to encourage him, giving him a little nudge.
Hunter dulled a little, biting his lip and clinging a little closer to her.
Like some sort of psychic, Raine immediately seemed to decipher his behaviour. "Do you want your mom to come with us?"
The curiosity returned to him and Hunter nodded eagerly.
"Alright then, just follow me."
Evelyn was impressed by their emotional sensitivity and overall calm nature, but as Raine led the pair of them through an imposing maze of white clinical hallway after white clinical hallway, all nearly identical, Evelyn began to worry about just how effective this would turn out to be, if it really would be the right fit.
Until Raine opened one of the unassuming white doors, inviting them into their office, and Evelyn's worries were scrapped.
The room had such an easygoing, welcoming feeling that it was impossible not to relax as they stepped through the door. The room was so full of colour, completely unlike the pristine white hallways they'd come through, and not only that, but it was cosy too. There were no intimidating desks to separate you or stiff chairs to sit uncomfortably in, but instead nice sofas and fluffy cushions laid out on the floor with a plastic table covered in various colouring sheets and crayons.
It was no surprise that Hunter naturally drifted away from her, taking a seat on one of the cushions to have a look at all the colouring sheets on the table, finding many bird-themed ones just as promised.
And as Evelyn sat with him through the session, he only continued to relax, becoming more and more comfortable around Raine and even talking more, giving them longer answers when they asked him questions.
None of the questions were particularly deep or meaningful, mostly just asking him about what he liked to do in an attempt to get him to open up a bit. And it worked too because barely fifteen minutes in, Hunter was so distracted that Evelyn was able to slip away back to the waiting room unnoticed. And due to the lack of upset children running out to come find her, she took it as a sign things had gone well.
Once the hour was up, any of Evelyn's anxieties about the whole thing were long gone as she saw Raine return, leading a cheery looking Hunter along with them.
She brightened at the sight of him, naturally trying to match his energy. "Everything go okay?"
"Mhm! Raine says I can take my picture home to finish! And! And! I can even come back again next week!" He beamed, holding up his colouring sheet to show her.
"That's lovely! I'm sure we can find some time after dinner to finish your picture."
It felt like forever since she'd seen him smile like how he was right now. Damn Raine was good
"Hunter, you were talking about fish earlier, weren't you?" Raine commented, "Well, we've got a fish tank over there! Do you want to go check it out?"
Hunter gasped at the sight of the huge fish tank in the corner of the room, filled with tons of colourful fish. He happily skipped over to press his face against the glass, eyes wide with wonder as he waved at the fish.
"How was he?" Evelyn asked, lowering her voice a bit as she turned back to Raine.
"Good, he was very talkative once I brought up animals." They chuckled.
"Yeah, sounds about right, he's pretty obsessed with them. He has a stack of animal books that's about twice his height by now and we never hear the end of it."
"Well, he remained in a pretty good mood after you left, but there was something small that I took notice of." They mentioned, taking on a more serious tone.
Just as she'd finally managed to relax a bit, all that worry came rushing straight back.
"Now, over the phone, you mentioned him staying with an uncle for about a week while you and your husband were away and that you felt that there was when problems began showing up. So, I tried to bring that up and I asked him if he enjoyed that trip to his uncle's and he just stopped talking. I tried to push a bit further but he just ignored me until I dropped the topic and then he behaved as usual."
"Yeah... I think I'm sure now that whatever has caused him to start acting so differently happened while he was staying with his uncle." She sighed, "I know something happened but I just can't tell what. I've tried asking him and I've told him multiple times that he can talk to me about anything but he still won't tell me. I feel like an awful mother but... I just don't know what else to do."
"That's okay," Raine was quick to reassure her, "You're doing the best you can in a tough situation and I can tell you just want to help him. You're not a bad mother."
Even if it was just the words from some random person she'd only met today, that took a small weight off her chest.
"I'll try and get him to open up a bit, but in the meantime, just be there for him and keep doing the best you can." They said with a kind smile.
"Thank you... Is the same time next week okay?"
"Yep! That's fine with me. Now, good luck getting him away from those fish!"
In the car on the way back home, Evelyn took the chance to speak to him while he remained in such a good mood.
She peaked up at his through the rearview mirror, her own smile growing when she saw his. "Did you have fun?"
He hummed and nodded, focused on picking something out of Flapjack's 'feathers'. With how he'd been carrying the toy about practically everywhere, she did not want to know the sort of things stuck in its fur.
"Raine's nice, aren't they?"
"Yeah!"
"Now, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what did you guys talk about?"
"Hmmm..." He thought for a minute. "School, they asked if I like it and if I get on well with you and dad and what stuff I like to do. Oh! And we talked a lot about Flapjack and birds!"
"Sounds like great fun." Evelyn nodded along, just happy that he was happy.
If Raine could manage to cheer him up this much with just one session, she could only imagine how much this would help in the long run. She just wished she'd thought to try it sooner.