BOOK TWO OF THE SCARLETT CHRONICLES |
After being kidnapped as a young child, seventeen year old Scarlett Grey found her way home to her family. For months, she struggled to find a balance between the girl she'd left behind and the girl she had beco...
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I STARED AT my father from across the dining table, a look of half-confusion and half-disbelief painted on my face.
"I am not going to therapy, Dad. That's not happening. I don't need a shrink," I stated, shaking my head stiffly.
It had been well over a month since Mum had died; over a month since the man who'd taken me had been killed.
Exams had come and gone. I hadn't returned to school for them, however. One of my professors, Professor Mao had generously offered to proctor my written examinations at home, which meant I'd been able to write them from the comfort of my father's office.
Christmas and New Years had also passed. As excited as I'd been for them just weeks before, I hardly noticed them arrive amidst the cold, Connecticut snow storms we'd been plagued with. Isobel had put up the tree and had me help her decorate it, but my father and I had barely acknowledged the joyful holiday.
I mean, what exactly did we have to celebrate?
Most of my time had been spent at home, with only the odd excursion when properly motivated by my friends and coffee. The purpose might have been for me to take my time to grieve and come to terms with all that had happened, but I had in fact tried my hardest to put all of those feelings away in a box and ignore them until they stopped bugging me.
So, I had read my way through half of my mother's old novels, studied for my exams and gotten ahead on my readings for next semester.
And, of course, I'd had plenty of "help" completing a final project and studying for a certain anthropology exam.
"Scarlett, I'm just asking you to think about it. I think it would be good for you to have someone you can talk to, and so does your school. They're concerned about how your academic standing may falter."
That was a load of bullshit if I'd ever heard one. "Dad, I have a four-point-oh GPA and I aced all of my exams. I don't think my grades are anywhere near being in jeopardy. That's just Karlesson trying to keep me out of her perfect little school because I'm bad for publicity."
My father shook his head. "Headmistress Karlesson was a dear friend of you mother's, Scarlett. She has your best interests at heart, I'm sure."
I placed my fork down beside my plate, pushing away the barely touched food. "I'm not crazy, I don't need to see a shrink. And I would appreciate it if you could tell her that the next time you talk to her."
