Abused

Therapy

"Come on, beautiful", Jacob wrapped his arm around Connie's waist and started leading her towards her office, "I'll get a therapist down to see you... If you're still up for it",

"OK" she answered quietly before entering the office and sitting on the sofa.

"Good girl", he sat beside her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder,

"Don't!", she flinched away, "I'm sorry... That's what Michael called me",

"It's alright, you just wait here and I'll be right back", he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple before walking out, ensuring the door was locked behind him.

*

"You don't have to talk about what happened... You can talk about anything you want", Brooklyn, the therapist, tried to make eye contact with Connie but the only response she got was a small whimper.

"Connie? Please, beautiful?", Jacob tried to reason with her but she shook her head,

"Stop pressuring me", she shuffled further away from both of them before pulling her knees to her chest, "I'm fine".

"Would you be more comfortable if it were just us two?" Brooklyn asked,

Connie considered her options before nodding, "OK",

"I'll be back in an hour, call me if you need me", Jacob gave her a reassuring smile before leaving.

"Whenever you're ready...",

"My ex husband... He used to hit me a lot" she said quietly whilst nervously fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt, "He said it was my fault... If I behaved like a brat, he'd treat me like one".

"Did you feel like it was your fault?",

"Sometimes... If I broke something or didn't listen when he told me to do something", she slowly got up and locked the door before returning to the sofa, "Other times I wasn't even sure what I'd done but it must've been bad since he punished me for it".

"No matter what he said to you, I promise that it wasn't your fault. Alright?", Brooklyn moved closer and slowly put her arm around Connie, "You didn't deserve any of it",

"I did, it was all my fault, I made him angry",

"Do you know why people hurt others?", her voice was gentle and calming, "I think this ex of yours saw how beautiful you are... He was afraid that someone else would love you and that you could love them back, he tried to make you unable to love".

"Well, it worked", Connie stood up and went to sit in the chair behind her desk,

"No, it didn't... You're still here, you didn't give up. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?",

"There is one thing but you have to promise that you won't tell Jacob", she lowered her gaze and focussed on the floor.

"What you say to me will stay between us, I promise", Brooklyn tried to make eye contact with Connie but she wouldn't shift her gaze from the floor,

"I sometimes get flashbacks... They make me want to hurt myself. I'm not thin enough, I'm not pretty enough, I've got too many scars and I hate the way I look... Michael punished me for eating too much, if I wore too much make-up or if I didn't wear enough; he'd hold me underwater until I'd learnt my lesson", she furiously wiped at her cheeks to get rid of the tear tracks, "Sorry, I didn't mean to get so worked up about it".

"You're very brave for telling me. It's completely normal for you to feel that way after being abused... If this Michael told you over and over that you weren't good enough, you'd start to believe it", Brooklyn reached into her bag, pulled out what looked like a notebook and placed it on the desk,

"What's this?", Connie cautiously picked up the book and opened it.

"It's a journal, every day of the week has something for you to write about, there are requirements for each day to keep you busy... It's designed to help you if you're ever upset".

She opened the book and flipped to a random page, smiling as she read the day's title: 'ten things I love about my boyfriend/girlfriend'.

"See, it's working already", Brooklyn smiled and reached into her bag once more, pulling out a pair of small magnets, placing them on the desk alongside the journal, "I noticed you fiddling with your sleeve earlier. Whenever you get nervous, just use these to help you relax".

"Thank you", she picked up the magnets and started toying with them, smiling almost instantly,

"My number's in the back of the journal, call me anytime if you ever want to talk", she picked up her bag and began to walk out,

"Wait... Same time next week?", Connie watched as she nodded before waving goodbye and exiting the room.

*

"Con? We're here", Jacob gave her a gentle nudge as he parked the car,

"Don't touch me!", she snarled at him and continued fiddling with the magnets which she had refused to look up from since she left her office.

"Alright, come on, beautiful", he was trying to control his anger towards her, it wasn't her fault but sometimes she really frustrated him,

"Minute" Connie answered bluntly, flinching when he slammed his door and walked over to the passenger side of the car.

"Come on, you can go straight to bed if you want but I need you to come inside", he slowly took hold of her hand and pulled her into a standing position,

"Fine!" she snapped before pulling her hand away and storming inside, slamming the door behind her.

"What am I going to do with her?" Jacob whispered to himself as he opened the door but almost tripped over Connie who was curled up on the floor, "Con... Why don't you just go to bed or sit on the sofa?",

"You said to go inside, I'm inside", she sighed dramatically and glared at him.

"Fair enough", he stepped over her and made his way upstairs before getting changed and returning to the kitchen with a blanket and some pillows,

"Nice to see you still care about me", she didn't look up at him but she knew he was scowling at her.

Jacob dropped the pillows and blanket on the floor, "You're welcome to join me whenever you're ready", he turned the lights off and closed the door behind him as he made his way upstairs.

A/N: I wrote this really quickly so it's probably horrific 😂 sorry for not updating, I really have no excuse unless I can count writers' block? ❤️❤️