Counselling

Life is hardly simple, so when you're thrown a curve ball sometimes all you need is someone to talk to.

Counselling

It wasn’t exactly my deepest, darkest secret but I had to tell him something! We’d been sat in silence for twenty minutes already; him staring at me and me staring right on back at him.

            My parents had paid a great deal of money to send me to this guy; to try and figure out what was wrong with me. So I had to say… something. Right?

            ‘Why don’t you tell me more, Alex? Maybe we can work through some things in the… forty minutes we have left.’ Dr. Zimmerman leant back in his armchair, legs crossed, pen at the ready.

            I cleared my throat. He pushed his glasses further up his beak of a nose and waited. ‘I guess it all started when my sister came home from University last summer…’

 

‘Mum! Mum! Why’s there a slug in my room?’

‘Be nice to your brother, Fee!’

‘Muuuum! I told you not to call me that! I’m not eight anymore!’ My mother just tutted and continued putting the washing away.

‘Fee Fee! Fee Fee! She smells like-’

‘Alexander! If you want any desert tonight you better not finish that sentence!’ Mum threw a glare my way before heading back downstairs, empty washing basket under her arm.

            Just as I opened my mouth to whisper the rest of the song, her voice thundered back up the stairs. ‘And get out of your sister’s room!’

            ‘Yeah, Alexandria!’ Fee stuck her tongue out just as I hurled a cushion her way. It hit her full in the face. ‘Why you little-’

            ‘Eep!’ I darted past her and out the door, hearing it slam shut behind me. ‘Good to have you back, Fee! Not!’ In truth, I had actually missed her. Having her home took the pressure off me; it meant I could get away with stuff. Since Mum and Dad would be too focused on Fee, all the late nights she’d be having and the hundreds of boys she’d be bringing home.

            ‘Alex, get down here and empty the dishwasher! It’s your turn!’

            ‘Aww but Mum-!’

            ‘Don’t you ‘but Mum’ me, young man! If you want your pocket money then you have to help around the house! That was the deal!’ Muttering every bad word I knew, I did as I was told.

Though I was sent to my room after dinner; but only for flicking mash at Fee. It wasn’t my fault she didn’t understand the words ‘Heads up’. It also wasn’t my fault that she didn’t like ‘see-food’ either.

            ‘Stupid, lousy, boring parents!’ I slammed my door as hard as I could and was rewarded with my Mother’s shout of ‘Don’t make me come up there!’ I always knew I was doing it right when I heard those words.

            I found my Gameboy under a pile of dirty socks and flicked it on. Throwing myself on my bed, I settled down for an evening of Mariokart and Pokémon.

But half way through the last gym battle I heard a car pull up in the drive, a shout from my sister and the front door open and close. I sighed. Guess I’d better have a look which boy she’d picked up now. In case I had to toilet paper his house or let the air out of his tyres, like I’d done with all the others that had broken Fee’s heart.

            ‘Oh my God! You came!’ Fee was already at the car, hugging him, blocking my view. ‘And you can stay? You totally rock!’ She pulled back and kissed him, wrapping her arms round his neck.

            I heard the front door open and they flew apart. That’s when I saw him. The thing was the ‘him’ my sister had been kissing wasn’t actually a ‘him’ at all.

            ‘Mum, Dad, this is Steph. Remember I told you about her?’

            ‘Yes, of course! It’s so nice to finally meet you!’ Mum hugged her and Dad shook her hand. ‘I’m Claire and this is John. Fee’s told us so much about you!’ As they all headed inside, I saw Fee take Steph’s hand.

            What the hell was going on? Had the world gone completely mad? My sister, the most popular girl in our High School (even though she’d left a year ago), was a lesbian?! Not possible! I had to have made some mistake; maybe my eyes had been playing tricks on me! It was getting dark outside… yeah, that’s it, you were meant to see weird things at twilight! Weren’t you?

            ‘Alex! Get down here!’ My Mother’s voice yanked me from my almost hysterical, inner babbling.

            I dashed downstairs, following the voices into the front room. ‘This is Fee’s brother, Alex. Alex, say hello to Steph. She’s a friend of Fee’s from Uni; she’s going to be staying with us for a while.’ I stared at the girl sat next to my sister on the sofa. She sent me a smile and a wave but I just frowned.

            ‘Mum!’

            ‘Alex, be nice or no desert for a week!’

            I sighed and gave a half hearted smile. Maybe I had been wrong. She looked too… too… normal. I sat on the floor and started flipping through the TV guide, the rest of them ignoring me as they continued talking.

            A small movement right in front of me caught my eye and I glanced up, only to find my sister linking hands with Steph under the cover of the sofa cushions. My mouth dropped open.

            ‘Alex, are you alright, son?’ I managed to drag my eyes away to meet my Dad’s gaze.

            ‘Uh…’ They were all looking at me now. Of course, my parents couldn’t see what I could, which I guess was the whole point of the cushions. My eyes flicked back to my sister, then to their hands, then back up to Fee. I watched as her face changed.

            ‘I-I think he’s fine, Dad, just tired, right, Xand?’ Glad Fee wasn’t doing a Drama course at University, she was crap at it! Luckily for her, no one but me noticed how desperate she was. ‘Xander’ had been her nickname for me when we’d been younger, and actually liked each other. Hearing her use it again made my mind up for me.

            ‘Yeah, just tired. Night all.’ And with that I disappeared back upstairs.

 

‘I see.’ Dr. Zimmerman clasped his hands together and peered at me over his glasses. ‘And that’s why you set fire to the gymnasium?’

‘Huh? Course not! I just really wanted to get that off my chest. I set fire to the gym ‘cause it was full of vampires. Anyway, I guess our sessions up, see you next week, Doc.’