Page 14 of Breakaway Hearts

He’s clearly about to comment on me implying I considered hunting men like the ones who hurt me, but then his face pales.

“Are any of your…do any of them go here? To Wynchester?”

I shake my head. “One of them did, but he transferred.” I was having anxiety attacks every time I left my dorm, until he got poached by Berwick. That isn’t to say no one from my high school is here, but at least no one who was in that room.

“And now you’re pre-law, 4.0 GPA…you seem to be doing really well.”

I nod, because ‘I am’ is the response I should give. That I want to give. But it feels like a lie. Saying ‘I’m not’ is also wrong, because I am so much better than I was. I just don’t think I’ll ever get back to the girl I was before that night. Which is fine. Some things change you.

“My concern is that you are presenting as what you think you should, but I am here to help you actually be that person.”

“I’m here because Jason was concerned.” And threatened to tell my mother, even though he would never. “But honestly, as nice as I’m sure you are, so far this has been almost an hour in a room with you, rejoicing every minute the worst didn’t happen.”

“I won’t butcher you alive,” he promises. I know it’s a joke, but there are other terrible things he could do to me. “Are you able to come for an hour every week?”

“Isn’t that a waste of our time?”

“Are you happy, Madison? Do you feel safe and comfortable going about your day, walking around campus?”

I don’t answer, but I squirm, and he notices.

“No, I don’t think it’s a waste of time,” he tells me.

Before I leave, he gives me a list of exercises to do if I feel stressed, which is nothing I haven’t tried before, but hey, who am I to turn down unsolicited advice?

Me

Hey, where are you?

Jason

…

Slapshots

How did it go?

Me

I’m cured! All it took was an hour locked in a room with a man of power and authority.

Jason

He locked the door?!?

Me

Left it open and everything. It was fine. Slow and steady wins the race and all that.

Jason

Want to join me?

Me

At hockey central? Not even a little bit.

Jason