Demon King Series Books II & III

Chapter 14

"Guilty."

"That's how you're feeling right now?" Dr. Spencer was sitting across from Joelynn Lewis. He was wearing a puce colored tie that had yellow stars on it.

Joelynn stared at the stars as they seemed so out of place on his silk tie. "Your tie is ugly," she blurted aloud.

Dr. Spencer stopped writing in his notepad and looked up, "I'm sorry?"

"Your tie. Did you pick it out or did your girlfriend? If it was your girlfriend, she has horrible taste."

Dr. Spencer squirmed in his chair, cleared his throat, and said, "Actually, I picked it out." He flattened the tie down against his white dress shirt. "Joelynn, let's not talk about my tie. Let's focus on you again. How long have you felt this way?"

"Which way?"

"You mentioned feeling guilty."

She took a deep breath and loudly exhaled. "Since I was taken by the Demon King."

Dr. Spencer leaned forward, "What happened that night Joelynn?"

"I went to a coffee shop to meet a blind date. He never showed up. When I left the coffee shop...everything went black. The next thing I know, I'm tied to a bed and I'm blindfolded. I never saw him. I just heard his voice. His creepy voice. I still have nightmares."

"What did he tell you?"

"What did he tell me? Does it matter? He was a crazy serial killer that took a knife to me and tried to kill me! He threatened to murder me if I didn't stop living with my cousin. Now she's missing. She could be dead for all I know now and I was horrible to her before she died." Joelynn began sobbing.

Dr. Spencer handed her a tissue. "Why do you think you were horrible to her?"

She snatched the tissue and wiped her eyes. "I cut her out of my life. I shut her out even though I knew she didn't have anyone else."

"Was she upset with you?"

Joelynn made a choking sound with her throat, "That's the thing. She wasn't. She said she understood. You know what she told me? She said that it was okay if I left her alone because then I would feel safe. When I was taken by the Demon King, he gave her a choice. He would let me live if she took my place. She took my place! She didn't even hesitate. Now I feel guilty and it's eating me up. Sometimes I think this is karma coming back at me. "

"After the Demon King was killed, did you begin to make contact with your cousin again?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I was ashamed. How could I go back and ask her to forgive me for being so selfish? Or worse, act like nothing had ever happened? Ugh...I don't want to think about it anymore. Can we talk about something else?"

Dr. Spencer jotted down some notes and said, "Let's talk about last night then. You said you were almost raped. That must have been traumatic for you."

"It feels unreal. I was scared last night but right now I feel better. I keep telling myself it didn't really happen...that it's just one of my nightmares. I think it's working so far."

She received a skeptical glance for that statement. "What did you do after you got home yesterday? Did you have anyone that you could talk to?"

"No. I had no one. I actually spent time with the officer that saved me this morning. At first I felt really numb about it all...like I couldn't feel anything. He kind of made me snap out of it. When we were having breakfast he told me to stop blaming myself for my cousin's disappearance. He said that if I was still living with her, I might be in the same boat she's in or worse."