The Shrink Program

Chapter 37

Too late, Devin jerked a hand up to cover the bruise. His mortified face proving beyond a doubt that I had been right.

I had been in enough fights to know what the injuries left behind looked like.

We both knew that there was no point in him trying to deny it.

He sent a panicked glance between Monica and me, knowing that there was no way of calming me down at this point, not even with the little girl at his side.

"Let me take Monica to her room." He pleaded.

Like it's that easy to run away from me.

I ignored him, instead of looking up at the little girl. "This is a code red, Mon," I told her.

Her eyes widened, and she got up with a quick nod. With a small kiss for luck on Devin's cheek, she left the room.

"What have you been teaching her?" Devin asked, shocked as he watched her go out.

"What to do in the event that I might need to murder someone." I hissed, drawing his gaze back to me. "Now explain to me, nice and slow, why my little brother has been hiding the fact that someone hit him."

Devin opened his mouth, probably to attempt to say I was wrong but seemed to think twice about it when he saw my eyes grow livid.

"It's not a big deal Maddison." He muttered. "Just some jerk at school. It was a one-off thing."

I stared at him for a frozen moment.

Then I laughed.

"God! You lie just like Vain!" I giggled, in a way that could almost be called hysterical. "This is just freaking Vain all over again!"

Devin stiffened. "Maddison..."

"Why!" I shouted, shutting him up in an instant. "What is so freaking wrong with me that no one is willing to tell me the truth! Why are you trying to hide the fact that someone has been bullying you, Devin?"

The boy looked away, guiltily.

"You... You just take it too hard Maddison. You get so angry and only make things worse..." He trailed off as he realised what he was saying.

"What is that supposed to mean Devin?" I asked flatly. Instead of backing down, he glared back, starting to get angry himself.

"Well, look at you now! How can you expect people to want I confide in you when they can't depend on you to take things calmly?!"

"This is Calm!" I shouted.

"No, it isn't! Your first reaction to everything is anger and violence!"

"That doesn't mean you get to lie to me!"

"What else am I supposed to do? If I tell you anything, you go and pick a fight!"

"And what's wrong with that!"

"That's the point!" He shouted, his voice so loud it sounded like an explosion. I hunched over in pain, clutching my ears to shield them from the noise.

We stared each other in the sudden silence, and as I slowly released my ears and straightened up, I realised just how much effort Devin had been putting into keeping his voice lowered.

He had been trying not to shout, even as I shouted angrily at him, because he knew that the noise would hurt me at this size.

Devin was the maturest person I knew and the fact that he looked like he wanted to cry right now made my heart throb sickeningly.

Before I could even attempt to reassure him that it didn't hurt, that it wasn't his fault, Devin spoke, his voice barely over a whisper.

"That's the problem, Maddison. You can't see how fighting is wrong and how it hurts the people around you."

He stood up, towering high above me like a skyscraper. So high up that I could barely see the tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

"You don't even see how all that fighting you do hurts us. How worried we are and how guilty you make Vain feel."

What's Vain got to do with anything?!

"You're supposed to be my older sister, but I can't rely on you for anything because if I do l, you'll go out there and get hurt, or get caught by the police and shrunk."

"That wasn't my fault!" I cried. "It's hard to believe, but this kid named Apollo..."

"It's never your fault Maddison. Every time you lose your temper and do something drastic, it's not your fault. As long as you keep thinking like that, you're never going to change."

He turned and started walking out of the room.

"Devin," I said, but he didn't stop.

"Devin wait!" I shouted, but he left the room without a word.

I ran to follow him, but by the time I reached my own bedroom door, I heard the front door slam shut.