A Little Story

Just a little story i wrote for my Psychology class. It is very random.

A Heated Session

Scene: Josh, his sister Louisa, and his mother Nicole have been called in for a mandatory family therapy session after Josh was found huddled over the body of his father whom he had just killed. He has been silent since that day. (From the viewpoint of Josh).

They are all looking at me…I can feel it; they think I am a monster, but I just did what I had to do. Louisa, my mom, and I are sitting in a white room across from a man named Dr. Summers who claims he is only here to help. I want to leave.

“well now let’s begin” exclaimed Dr. Summers, “I heard that you are responsible for killing your father, but I cannot possibly believe that is a the whole story. You are a bright kid who has his whole life ahead of him, what could have prompted this act of violence?”

I say nothing. I can no longer say anything, my judgment as a beast has already been carried out so there is no point in continuing to defend myself. This is just another therapist assigned to try and “fix me.”

“Please Dr. Summers, understand that my son has refused to say a word to me since that day we found him, I’m scared that he going to do this again. I-I’m scared for myself and Louisa. Please you are our last hope.” My mother explained.

Typical mom, she just does not understand, nobody does…

“Um Nicole was it?” Said Dr. Summers, “I assure you that I will do my best to help your son, I think I know what to do. Josh why did you feel threatened by your father?”

The question caught me off guard, so much so that I broke my silence.

“What?” I asked. In all the sessions I have been to never once has someone asked me that. Everyone in the room, save Dr. Summers, was shocked at my speech.

“Well the way I see it the only possible way for someone as smart as you to get so brutal and violent is for you to have no other choice. See when animals are backed into a corner that’s when they fight back the most. Humans are no different. So what exactly did your father do to make you hurt him?

Before I could speak up my mother interjected, “Nothing! My husband was a saint, the love of my life and all I had, why would you think that this is his fault?!”

“Nicole, please” Said Dr. Summers in an attempt to calm her down. “In all fairness this is not all about you, your son is obviously going through some sort of trauma and you need to try and be sympathetic toward what he is going through.”

“What HE is going through?! What about the fact that this family is now ruined?!” my mother gets up, starts holding herself and cries all at the same time.

I hate this. This side of her, she does this whenever things do not go her way. I’ve had to look out for her more than she’s done for me, and now that my father is…well gone, she has been even worse. I want to say something, to yell at her, to comfort her, but what?

“ENOUGH!!” screamed my little sister Louisa, who does not usually make a habit out of being loud. “Mom can’t you see that you are wrong?!” tears fill my sisters eyes “he was a bad man, daddy was…he hit you, he hit us, he didn’t care about us…and-and,” my sister could not continue. I quickly went over to take her in my arms, all that I felt I could do as her brother, shield her from the cruel world.

There was a long pause in the room; only the sound of tears could be heard. And Dr. Summers spoke up.

“You all have been through so much, but you cannot heal unless the truth is revealed and you are given time to properly grieve. Now I was given a file on your late husband Nicole, and he has quite the record. You three are a family and that means that you must work together in order to support each other at all cost. Now Josh, I believe now is the time for you to speak up. Do not worry about judgment, I am here to help you and that is all. I promise”

Finally I could no longer keep quiet.

“It was an average day... Louisa and I got home from school same as usual, and Dad was already drinking, same as usual. But today as different, he was complaining about not having enough for bills…and he saw us and lost it. He started screaming ‘you damn kids are sucking me dry’ and he charged at us. He pushed me out the way and struck Louisa across the face. I had no time to think, I had to protect her…so I tackled him. It all happened so fast, we struggled for a bit but I was able to push him off balance, right into the coffee table. I heard the worse snapping sound I could ever imagine…it was I could do to stop from vomiting, but I stopped him from hurting us again, I did what I had to do didn’t I?”

I was frozen in fear, I had never told anyone the truth before, and I was scared.

“Well now,” Dr. Summers started “you are not a monster at all are you Josh? When it comes down to the line we all have to do what it takes to survive in this world, and I think you made a noble choice in decided to defend your sister. Now that the truth is out we can start the road to recovery can’t we? I am mandating that you three attend weekly sessions with me for the next 6 months, so we can rebuild your relationship.”

My mother, finally knowing the truth that my father attacked first, could only nod her head in shock and disbelief.

 My sister, exciting about rebuilding her family, smiled for the first time since the incident.

And me? Well everything still felt like a dream, but if not for this therapy session things would have defiantly stayed a nightmare.

“Thank you Dr. Summers” was all I could manage to say.

Dr. Summers smiled “Oh Josh, my work has only just begun.”