The Writhing Session 3

Andrea sits in a different chair than she usually does in the waiting room. She wants to see if it feels any different.

“Andrea, come on in,” Marinda said.

Andrea followed Marinda into her office.

“Are you ready for this?” Marinda asks as she holds the helmet.

“I think so,” Andrea says with fake confidence.

Marinda sets the helmet over Andrea’s blonde hair.

“Let’s try something a little more distressing,” Marinda says as she turns the dial.

“What?” Andrea says under the helmet.

“I said — you’ll see.” Marinda puts on the goggles.

Andrea closes her eyes and then opens them.

A pre-teen Andrea followed her drunken dad outside and onto the lawn. He wandered into the street and was almost hit by a car, but the driver stopped before it was too late.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that at a young age,” Marinda consoled.

“It’s okay, I just had to corral him back into the house. My mom wanted him to watch me while she picked up an extra shift at the hospital. It was more like I was watching him.”

“You had to learn to grow up earlier than expected. Did you tell your mom about this?”

“I did and my dad was known for binge-drinking. But my mom didn’t have anyone else to watch me.”

“Did he ever go to rehab?”

“No.”

“Do you know if he still drinks?”

“My extended family tells me, ‘Yes,” but I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“You should believe in yourself more than anything else.”

“I know, but I feel like I can’t even do that anymore. I don’t think I can ever move on from these experiences.”

“All I hear is ‘I feel’ and ‘I think’ and I know it sounds a little cliche, but change them to ‘I can’ and ‘Will’. If you change your way of self-talk, then it will help you get over these traumas.”

“I will give it a try.”

“Good.”

“Did he hurt you physically in any way?”

“No,” Andrea replies with a frown.

The memory glitches and changes to the moment her drunken father pushed her into an open shed.

“What’s happening? I thought you had control,” Andrea says in fear.

Marinda pulls out a remote control from her pocket and examines it. “I’m not sure, it must be a glitch.” She turns the dial on the remote back to the other memory, but the dial is stuck. She fiddles with the dial so much it falls off. She finds the dial piece and reinserts it onto the remote, but it’s still stuck. If only she was in the real world, then she would have access to her tools.

“I guess we’ll have to wait until the timer runs out,” Marinda accepts.

“What? We’re stuck in this memory until the timer runs out?” Andrea asks.

“That’s what I said.”

The timer runs out and Andrea opens her eyes. She is in darkness as her head is still under the helmet.

Marinda removes her goggles.

“You’ve got a handle on this machine, right?” Andrea asks.

“Yes, I’ll make some adjustments and work out the kinks. See you next week,” Marinda replies.