AEON Paradox| Chapter Two: Therapy

Start from the Beginning

“Ruby, did you hear my question?” the therapist gently probed.

Ruby picked at her nails, thumb tracing the cuticle of her opposing index finger, searching desperately for that stray little skin tag she could snare on her already desiccated fingers and rip.

“Ruby, can you look at me, please?”

Vibrant green eyes shot up through a long thick tangle of black hair, the dark circles under her eyes, almost bruised, as she gazed at her psychiatrist doctor Megan Harrison, her self-destructive trance broken.

“The fact that you are avoiding the question tells me that what I suspect may be true. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Ruby scoffed, looking her up and down from her perfectly styled red pixie cut to her ridiculous beaded jewellery and flowing floral layers. She hadn’t changed in years, always in the same damn shapeless outfits.

“You don’t think losing my wife and fleeing back to this stupid city is enough of a toll on my mental health?”

A sympathetic smile cracked at the corner of the doctor’s mouth. “I thought we were past this passive aggression — and — that is exactly my concern. You are regressing to old behaviours and shutting down. The reality of the situation, Ruby, is that you have been…