“Close your eyes and focus on your room, are you feeling cold? Hot? Maybe a little thirsty, can you ask for some water?” Wendy softly said.

When she was studying for the psychology major, she didn’t stop there. Wendy was curious about different types of methods to make the patients talk. She wasn’t very found of the traditional methods, the ones where the therapist is asking random questions to the patients and waiting for them to get triggered and speak out. She tried different times multiple methods, with the kids and the young adults. One time she was studying for a huge test about trauma and she stumbled across with hypnosis therapy, unlike in the movies, there were different ways for a therapist to reach or trigger memories, not only by swinging a clock around and wait for the patients to lost consciousness. Krystal was different form her previous patients, the first and most important difference is that she wasn’t here on her own will, she was kind of forced by Luna and that obstructed the communication between them. Because of this, Wendy started right away with her hypnosis, making Krystal have no other option but to try and remember the things she went through, informing Wendy of the things they needed to work on while the other is conscious.

“I can really leave my room” Krystal said, eyes shut and palms sweaty.

“When can you leave that room, then?” Wendy asked, her voice tone never raising or dropping, she needed to serenade her way to Krystal’s memories.

“Just when we eat… and when they do the checkups” Soojung said.

“Breath. Focus on your room, focus on the walls, can you tell me what color are they?” The psychologist asked, her sight never leaving Krystal.

“Grey” The younger girl replied. She seemed like she was relaxing a little bit, so Wendy thought of pushing a little further.

“You mentioned the checkups twice now, can you walk me through them?” Wendy asked the girl and the latter nodded.

“Don’t forget to breath. Are you ready to leave the room?” Wendy asked again and Krystal nodded. “Let’s go to the checkup, Soojung” Wendy finished and a trigger was pulled in Krystal when she heard that sentence.

🍂

“Let’s go to the checkup, Soojung” A nurse said as she entered Krystal’s room. She looked around and remembered that she was in solitary, because her roommates kept on complaining that she was being loud and disquiet. The nurse was still waiting for her on the door but when Krystal tried to stand up, she was stopped by the restraining leather strings that were tied on the bed and to her wrists and ankles.

“Oh, right” The nurse said as she approached to Soojung and untied her, she helped her stand up and gently walked her towards the doctor’s office.

“Why… why do you tie me up?” Soojung asked.

“It prevents you from hurting yourself when you experience the nightmares” The other answered.

Krystal was way too dizzy; she could barely stand by herself and stumbled her way through the corridor with the nurse almost having to carry her around. As they made it to the doctor’s room, the nurse opened the door and notified the doctor that Soojung was ready for the checkup, the doctor nodded and as the nurse was about to leave, Soojung articulated a very faint “Don’t leave me alone”

“Well, Soojung. Let’s see” The doctor said as he positioned Krystal on the small chair he had in front of his desk. She started with the normal stuff, checking her pulse, telling her to open , and shining the light on Krystal’s eyes to check the eyes.

“You seem fine, but let’s be sure the sedatives are actually doing the job” He said as he moved her now to the examination table, he a blinding light and went to grab the scalpel that was on top of the small metallic table.

“You’re always a good girl, I’ve never had to tie you up a single time” He said and put his silicone gloves on. He ran his hands over Krystal’s clothed body and lifted the gown to her tights. He put a hand on Krystal’s left tight for support and directed the scalpel to her skin, making small cuts on her body, Soojung didn’t even flinched, she was still dizzy and out of it. Nodding, the doctor moved from her lower side to the girl’s abdomen. As usual, he now proceeded to lift the gown even more, revealing the girl’s underwear in the process.

“Please… don’t… I can’t feel a thing, I’ve told you… stop doing this” Soojung said as she covered her face with her hands, as lost as she was in the drugs, she was still conscious and very much aware that the doctor had her half in his room. She felt disgusted, but she deserved it, after all she killed a man.

🍂

“No… please” Krystal pleaded, her hands were trembling and she was crying.

“it’s okay, Soojung. This is a safe place; they can’t hurt you anymore. We’re here with you… can you tell me what happened?” Wendy asked the crying girl.

“He cut me…” The younger girl said and sobbed uncontrollably. Wendy saw the signs the latte’s body was sending to her, she was vulnerable enough for the next step.

“Let it go, Soojung. Breath, cry as much as you need, let go of that feeling of guilt. You don’t deserve it, you don’t deserve being treated that way… try to calm down and picture yourself when you were a five-year-old, what do we see?” Wendy instructed and Krystal took deep breaths.

“I want to see my dad” She said, her eyes still closed.

“Let’s go see him, meanwhile, can you give me a house tour?” Wendy asked the ice-looking girl. This is the hypnosis therapy, Wendy induced Krystal’s mind to scents, colors, things she could’ve perceived in certain situations, that way she can be immersed in the rooms of her mind, lurking for memories.

🍂

Little Soojung walked out of her room, she was tired of playing on her own and wanted to look for her sister Jessica. She passed by the huge corridor that connected her sister’s room and parent’s room to hers and peeked on her sister’s door. Annoyed by the fact that Jessica was nowhere to be found, she walked down the stairs to her dad’s office to find him sitting on his chair, looking through some papers.

“Hey there, my little princess. Are you looking for your sister?” Mr. Jung asked the small girl and she nodded.

“She went out with you mom; they are grocery shopping” The man said. “Come here” He added while he grabbed the girl and sat her on his lap.

“But why didn’t they invite me?”

It was a Sunday, the only day they had as family bonding, well, that was before Mr. Jung became C.E.O of the tech company. Over the year, the Jungs were able to free their tight schedules and spend a few hours with the girls.

“I guess since you were playing in your room they didn’t want to disturb you” Mr. Jung comforted his little daughter.

“Can you play with me, daddy?” Little Soojung looked up to her dad with the biggest puppy eyes ever. Mr. Jung chuckled at her daughter’s cuteness and nodded.

“Yes my love, but only for five minutes” He said and his daughter whined.

“Five minutes?? C’mon daddy, let’s play for ten minutes better” She complained.

“I can only stay for five minutes” Jung said and got her daughter off of his lap.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that, love. I promise next time we can play princesses and everything you want to” He added. This little human being right here was his kryptonite, he always tried to show Soojung how much he cared about her, but sometimes he just couldn’t. His job was wearing him out and the connections he’s made for the past few years made it impossible for him to spend time in public with his girls.

The company he was going to be the C.E.O of was running out of profits, the current boss made everything possible to forge new relationships between multiple providers. His boss didn’t say much about them, but Jung was sure that they were illegal traders.

Little Soojung started to walk to the living room, thinking that her five minutes with her dad were over.

“Jung Soojung” The man called her. “I promise, love, that no one is ever going to hurt you while I’m still breathing” He said as he ran over to hug her, showering her face with playful kisses.

“I love you, daddy” Soojung said between her giggles.

“I love you more, sunshine”

🍂

“He’s just like Amber…” Soojung said, eyes shut tight.

“Is that why you’re pulling her away?” Wendy asked.

“I… I don’t want her to protect me, she doesn’t need to” The younger said.

“Because your father used to protect you, you used to feel safe around him. But everything changed when he neglected you and your sister, so now you’re afraid Amber’s going to neglect you too” Wendy tried to reason with the girl.

Krystal felt different, she wasn’t afraid anymore, she was willing to cooperate. She felt a huge weight was being lifted from her shoulders and she started to remember certain things, things that her brain blocked.

“You can open your eyes, Soojung. Let’s face reality” The psychologist said and reached for Krystal’s hand, caressing her thumb against the latter’s skin. Krystal carefully opened her eyes and saw Wendy smiling warmly at her.

“I… I remember things” She said, cheering.

“Yes, you did very well” Wendy congratulated her. “Can we talk about what’s going on then?” She asked Krystal.

“I think I get somethings now. You’re right, unconsciously I saw Amber’s behavior like a threat because she’s just like my dad… I still don’t know what to do about that but I don’t think it matters for now. What I realized was…” She sighed. “There was this time when Amber and I… uh, were about to… well you know” The younger girl tried to explain, blushing hard and Wendy nodded. “I have scars… from when I was abused… I thought Amber stared at me with disgust, but she was worried. I couldn’t help but to be mad at her… I needed someone to touch me so bad that it would erase that feeling of uncleanness… there’s so much more I want to remember… but” She stopped and looked at Wendy for an answer.

“It takes time, Soojung” Wendy reassured.

There was nothing left for Krystal to do but to try, she said previously that she wasn’t sure of having a relationship with Amber, but now thanks to Wendy, she could clear her head and aim for the problems she really had. She wanted to experience joyful feelings again, like when she spent time with her dad, like when she played with her sister on that big backyard of theirs. She wanted Amber to be the one and only for her, she wanted to be madly in love just like the teenagers in the movies. She wants to create new memories with Amber and her new, supportive friends. She took a deep breath and incorporated herself, no more running, she mentally said.