Tightrope

Chapter 16

Do you remember that time Yuki tried to set me up for a therapist appointment a few weeks ago?

He still went through with it.

I was currently in the therapist's office. His name was Nathaniel Marksoff.

"So, Neon, it says here that you have depression." Said the therapist as he walked into the room while looking at his clipboard.

"That's right." I said with a nod as he sat down in a seat across from me.

"So how long have you had depression for, Neon?" Asked the therapist.

"Since I was a kid." I said as I looked down at the ground, folding my hands in my lap rather nervously as I tried to calm down. I've never been in a therapist's office before, so this was all very new and nerve racking to me.

"I see. Must have been tough to have depression at that age."

"Yeah..." I said, still avoiding eye contact.

"This is a safe space, Neon. You can look at me." Said my therapist. I started to look up and finally looked at him.

"...Sorry. I'm just not used to this is all." I said.

"That's fine." He said with a smile.

I was finally beginning to calm down a little. I closed my eyes and took in a breath, and then I started to speak.

"Ask away." I said.

And so questions were asked and answered. He asked me about how my life had been lately and asked how I had developed depression. I would answer and we would switch around, meaning he would ask a few questions, I would answer, and then I would ask a few questions and he would answer.
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I went home that night, had dinner with Kira and Himeko, and this time dinner wasn't that quiet. You'd think it would be with the recent comatose or that dinner would be awkward, at the very least, but I told them about my therapy session and they were asking me how it went.

And I must admit that it was very nice to tell them all this, especially since we weren't able to have a lot of dinners like this.

It was night time now. Kira and I were in bed, but we weren't asleep.

"Nice to see you being more lively today, Neon." Said Kira.

"Yeah. I think the therapy session helped."

"Sure seems like it. How many more sessions do you think you'll need, Neon?" Kira asked. I turned my head in her direction to see she was looking at the ceiling, but then turned her head towards me.

"I don't know, Kira, but we'll see."

"Only time will tell. Good night, Neon." Kira said as she turned her back to me.

"Good night, Kira." I said, and then turned my back to her.

When I slept that night, I had a dream, but it wasn't a tightrope dream.

Instead, it cut right to that black void. I saw my darkness floating in front of me.

"Hello, Neon." It said as it floated closer to me.

"Nope." I said as I waved a dismissive hand at it and turned away from it.
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I've had two therapy sessions, equaling to three now, and I really think it's helping.

I had another dream about my darkness. This was after my third therapy session.

"I know you're trying to get rid of me." It said, but something about it was different. It was somewhat slight, but something about my darkness made it look....smaller. Normally it was around my height, but that wasn't the case this time.