Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Isla sat in her counselor's office with a gloomy look.
She did not want to be here, nor did she want to talk with the woman.
Surprisingly, she had a note to deliver and spending time there meant she'd have less time to form a response to the letter Isla assumed was waiting for her in the tree.
Her correspondent was speedy at replying - as speedy as leaving one letter in a tree could be.
So, she tugged on the happiest smile she could muster in order to fool the woman.
Lizzy, or so the woman addressed herself as, asked too many questions.
Isla gave short witty answers and kept her eye on the clock.
She asked if she'd been writing her letters, to which, Isla nodded.
The torn pages from the journal became proof she'd either torn pages out or started writing.
She thought about telling Lizzy about her secret correspondent but decided against it.
She didn't want Lizzy to assume she'd start writing letters to her.
Isla knew Lizzy would tell her parents about her problems and she wasn't ready for that.
She wanted space, but Lizzy was the weak link. She took her space away.
Isla could survive without a lock, but she couldn't survive without her space.
She told the woman she was fine and that the letters were helping.
The woman stopped asking questions and instead, wrote something in her own notebook.
At the end of the session, Isla fled from the school and to the tree to begin her actual therapy session.
