The Red Evening

Chapter Five

Elijah:
10:00 AM: I'm outside.

It was clear that Elijah was upset with me. I grabbed my duffle bag and lumbered out of the apartment. He saw me exit the building and left his car to grab my bag. Even when he was upset with me, he was still chivalrous. He walked ahead, placed the bag in his truck, and slid Into the driver's seat.

"Hey there," I greeted, trying to sound upbeat.

"Hello," he said, not making any eye contact and immediately pulling out of the parking lot.

I sighed and sunk into the leather seat of his Jeep Cherokee. I noticed that he never drove his Porsche anymore. I preferred the jeep, it felt safer and it was also more spacious.

"What happened to your Porsche?" I asked, in attempt to make conversation.

"In maintenance," he stated

"For weeks?" I questioned.

"Yes."

Within a few minutes, we arrived to a tall glass building. Dr. Richardson had an opening before Thanksgiving which was ideal considering that I would need advice on how to get through a holiday without an outburst. I had been more prone to them since the incident.

"Morena, it seems as though you're undermining the significance of what happened. That was not an incident, it was a tragedy."

I scoffed and laid back onto the white leather couch. "It was an unpleasant occurance."

"Very well," he said, jotting down notes into his notebook. He had only seen me three times and it seemed like he had enough of me. I wondered how my friends and family felt about me. I had a dreadful feeling that my life wasn't going to go back to normal.

"Elijah is upset with me," I sighed. It was my attempt to trying to diverge the conversation

"Why so?" He closed the notebook and lowered his thin framed glasses.

"He caught me having dinner with a friend."

"That was all?"

"I had told him that morning that I wanted to be alone so I'm guessing he was upset about finding me with another guy. Which is weird since he's never been jealous before."

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that. You're  emotionally vulnerable and I believe he might think that you could be easily influenced."

I furrowed my eyebrows and glanced side to side. "As in, getting close to another guy and fall for him?"

Dr. Richardson simply nodded.

"I don't even find him attractive," I mumbled, talking to myself. 

"An another note, how have you been sleeping?"

"About five hours of sleep a night."

"Are you having flashbacks?"

"Not really... I mean, the dark makes me uncomfortable but other than that, I'm okay."

"Okay?" He questioned. "You seem to be taking it all lightly. You've experienced a tragedy..." I shifted awkwardly as he repeated that word again. "... it's perfectly normal to not be okay right away. If you're trying to jump back into your old routine and hope for normalcy, you will be disappointed. This is a progress. Healing takes time."

It wasn't easy for me to digest words that I didn't want to hear. Although I knew that I wasn't okay and for the most accepted that fact that I wouldn't be for a while, I did hope that I could suppress all the dark memories and continue with my life again. I wanted normal.