UNCHANGEABLE - FREENBECKY

the doctor

"so, how are you holding up?"

freen, who's lying on the couch, hears kade's voice behind her.

"better. i can no longer hear the voices."

"that's nice. do you remember when exactly the voices stopped?"

freen's eyes dart left and right before she settles to looking straight ahead. "they seem to disappear when..." she hesitates.

"go ahead. it's better if you tell me everything with no filters."

"okay." freen breathes in. "the voices seem to stop whenever becky is around me." she pauses, waiting for kade to speak. but the doctor stays silent. "they will return, but the reoccurrence lessens, and it keeps decreasing until they go away permanently."

kade hums. "what do you think becky is doing that silences these voices?"

freen takes a bit of time to respond. "can't say. but i think it's because i've always seen her as home -- my home -- when we were still together. maybe that impression stayed with me even after we broke up, a reason i feel calm and at ease whenever she's around -- like i can finally relax from a long and tiring day."

"hm. do you see emily in the same way?"

"emily brings me a different feeling, like whenever i see her all i wanted to do is protect her, make her happy, and make sure she's loved and taken cared for."

"mm-mm. with the things you mentioned about emily, do you remember feeling something like that towards another person?"

"well, it's almost the same with my affection towards becky, but it's different in a way. it's like..." freen clicks her tongue, unsure of what to say.

"it's like the affection of a parent towards an offspring," says kade. "is that what you wanted to say?"

freen wants to glance at kade from behind her but her cast won't allow her to do so. "yeah. i guess you're right. it's like how becky is to emily."

"so, how do you feel about becky doing these things for you?"

"happy. and scared."

"what are you scared of?"

" i know she's trying to build me up again like what she did before; fix me slowly, piece by piece, until i become whole again. but i know she won't be staying, kade. and i don't know what will happen to me again after all of this is over."

her statement hangs in the air. freen can tell kade is thinking this thoroughly.

"i'm curious," kade speaks again. "have you had these attacks before when you broke up?"

"i was depressed, but i don't think i've had attacks like these because i was busy with SAU operations." freen tilts her head to the side. "i'm still busy now with a lot of work stuff before this happened, so i'm not sure what caused it."