The Broken Beauty

Support Me Before I Crumble

Maya was sitting quietly on the chair, every so often she'd glance over at her friends, but she would quickly look away again.

"Alright, Miss Hart-"

"Just call me Maya."

"Alright, Maya then. How are you feeling today, Maya?"

Maya shrugged. "Bored."

"Okay. I am going to ask you a series of questions and all you have to do is say yes or no."

She shrugged again. "Okay. Why are they in here?" She asked glancing over at her friends.

"They wanted to show you their support, but if you want them to leave just say the word and we can have a one on one session."

She looked away again and shook her head. "No. It's fine."

"Okay. Let's begin. Maya, do you ever feel lonely or unwanted?"

"Yes."

She saw the lady scribble on the notepad on her clipboard.

"Do you ever feel sad or angry, sometimes for no reason at all?"

"Yes."

More scribbling.

"Do you feel that way even when you are happy or laughing?"

"Yes."

Scribbling.

"Have you ever physically or verbally lashed out at a friend or family member?"

Maya looked over at Riley. "Yes."

She looked down at her hands.

"Have you ever physically harmed or tried to physically harm yourself?"

"Yes." She hung her head lower.

"Are you ashamed of that?"

"Yes."

A lot of scribbling.

"Do you sometimes want to just disppear, not exist anymore?"

Maya sighed. "Yes."

"Do you feel like you never should have been born at all?"

Maya looked up again. "Yes."

"Have you stopped eating?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to explain?"

"No." She shook her head.

Even more scribbling was heard.

"Have you ever been physically or sexually harmed by someone?"

She advoided eye contact with everyone. "No. Are we done?"

"We're almost done."

Maya focused on the red light by the door that meant the therapist was with someone, helping them.

She scoffed at the thought.

"Now I'm going to give you a word and you respond with the first word that comes to mind."

Maya looked back, shrugged, then crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever frees me."

"Red."

Maya blinked. "Blue."

"Strong."

"Weak."

"Hope."

Maya scoffed. "Suckers."

"Friendship."

"Useless."

She could see her friends frowns.

"Family."

"Absent."

"School."

"Boring." She chuckled.

"Happiness."

"Fake."

"Love."

"Stupid."

"Last word, Life."

"Death."

The therapist started scribbling on her note pad again.

"Okay, that's enough for today."

"Good." She rolled her eyes.

"I just go talk to your parents then we can schedule-"

"The Matthews aren't my parents. They're not even family." Maya snapped at her loudly.

"Alright, well I'm going to go talk to the people who brought you here then we can schedule another appointment and you can go. If you want to talk to your friends while I'm gone you can."

She left the room.

"Maya-"

"She said if I wanted to talk to my friends, Riley, and I don't want to talk so just leave me alone."

"But, Maya-" Farkle put his hand on Riley's arm and gave her a 'leave her alone' type of look.

Riley nodded and sighed.

Topanga and Cory stood when the doctor left the room.

"She is definitely depressed, possibly bi-polar even, but that would require more testing. There was a question that gave casue for concern though." She handed Topanga her notepad. "She answered no to the question however she reacted oddly after. It could be nothing, she could have just been annoyed with answering all those questions, but I felt as if the timing of it was reason enough to look into it."

Topanga brought a hand up to her mouth. "Cory." She handed the notepad over to him.

He skimmed it with his eyes and noticed her notes in the margins. "You think that Maya was-"

"I can't be sure. I'm sorry. Given the answers to her questions I would like to see her at least once a day, unless you would want to have her admitted to a psychiatric facility. I can give you some brochures and numbers."

Topanga immediately shook her head. "No, she's staying with us."

"Very well." The doctor opened up the door. "Alright, Maya, you may leave. I'll see you again tomorrow." She told her.

"Finally." Maya huffed getting up from the big black chair.

Lucas stood and walked out with her then Farkle and Riley followed behind them.

"Wait. Tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"I don't want to do this crap everyday." Maya snapped.

Lucas put his hand on her shoulder and she calmed down.

"You're options are everyday or a psychiatric hospital." Cory said.

"You want to throw me in a nuthouse?!" She snapped again.

"Daddy!" Riley yelled.

"No. We want you to stay with us and see this nice doctor everyday to talk about things. Okay?"

Maya nodded. "Do they have to come with me everyday?" She said referring to her friends, but not looking of any of them.

Topanga shook her head. "Not if you don't want them to." She put her arm around Maya. "Come on, sweetie, let's go have dinner."

"I don't want any."

"You're living with us for awhile so it's not optional." She said giving Maya's shoulder a soft, but forceful squeeze. "When your mother gets back in town she will be hearing about this."

Maya nodded. "I figured."

They all walked to the car, then drove to the Matthews' place. Maya was sitting by Lucas with Farkle and Riley behind her.

She didn't say a word to any of them throughout the car ride.