𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟔𝟑

"𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝙳𝚘 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙳𝚘 𝙸𝚝?"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥

NOAH throws herself on her bed. She feels her body fall into the soft mattress. Just when everything is taking a turn for the better, another mess falls into her lap.

The teen spent a painfully quiet few hours in Penelope's office. The feeling of Emily being mad at her does not sit well in her mind. The all too familiar fears of Emily distancing from her and leaving her creep into her mind. They are fears that she should not have, but they are printed on her brain in big, bold letters. Betrayal, abandonment, pain, anger, unwanted.

They sit in her mind and there is nothing she can do about it.

The drive home was quiet as well. The tension remaining in the air, both having no clue what to say to each other.

Noah huffs and sits up from her bed. She feels like punching something, but that would cause another hole in the wall.  The teen looks at the ripped page of her book on the wall.  She cautiously walks over to it and takes it off, revealing the clean wall.  She runs her finger along the paint and feels that it is a little rougher than the rest of the wall.  The dent was filled in and painted over.

"You thought you could hide it from me?" Emily asks.  Noah turns around and sees her mother leaning against her doorway.

"Cons of living with a profiler," Noah huffs as she puts the page back on the wall.

"I knew something was wrong," Emily says as she shakes her head.

"That was a while ago—" Noah mumbles.

"Yeah, I know." Emily states as she folds her arms, "I think we should start talking about some solutions."

"To what?" Noah groans as she turns around, facing her back to Emily.

"Your anger.  All these outbursts you keep having.  I think we should take you to see someone."

"Like a therapist?" Noah tuts.

"Yes, a therapist," Emily replies quickly.

"I wasn't made to have a therapist—"

"No, you were told you weren't made to have one." Emily corrects the teen as she watches Noah grab her bookbag from the floor, "You should have had one. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if you had had one."

"Cons of being raised by a psychopath," Noah says as she rummages through her bag.

"It's time," Emily states.

"It's time when I say it's time—" Noah snaps.

"And when will that be, Noah?! You punched a hole in the wall and threw a glass of water at me!" Emily raises her voice and stands up straight, "How much longer will this go on before you hurt someone—"

"What, like my brother did?!" Noah exclaims as she faces Emily, "Because psychopathy is environmental and God forbid it rubbed off on me living in the house with two of them!"

"Do you think I want people to think I'm insane?! That I want them to be scared that they'll say one thing and I'll go psycho and murder them?!" Noah shouts as she stutters to find her words, "I—I don't want them to be right!"