The Truth
The Truth
I don't belong here…
"Gaara? Are you listening to me?" The counselor studied the red head. When Gaara glared up at the man he corrected his glasses and stated, "I am Ebisu and I will be counseling you from this day forth." The man flipped through the documents in his hands and sighed.
"Gaara…do you know why you're in my office today?" The redhead's brow furrowed as he glared at the man in front of him. After a long while he finally answered, "….I don't belong here." Ebisu nodded his head and scribbled something down. He noted how the boy would tense up whenever he tried to answer his questions. It's as if the redhead had to interpret what was being asked of him into his own language before responding.
After capping his pen he tucked it in his shirt pocket and sighed again. He crossed his legs and calmly placed the documents down on his desk.
"Gaara you can tell me anything, anything that's on your mind." Gaara sat with that threatening glare still plastered on his face. He studied his counselor for a long time. The boy must have come to a conclusion now that he was folding his arms across his chest. "I hate you" was his response. Ebisu frowned. Not quite expecting to hear that he corrected his glasses again and continued to speak in an uncomfortable matter toward the rude teenager. "Yes well...expressing yourself is a good start." The man cleared his throat and nervously messed with the pen in his shirt, "Um…there will be more students in here tomorrow. They will most likely share what they're feeling just as …you have."
There was another long pause before a dry snapping noise sounded throughout the bland room. Gaara blinked at how loud that clap was. His counselor's palms were now locked together. The red head glared at Ebisu's intertwined fingers as if to intimidate them for making such a racket. Despite how uncomfortable Ebisu was he forced upon a smile.
He shouted, "But never mind that! Would you like to talk about something else? Your past perhaps?"
The stoic boy narrowed his eyes at his counselor. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for about half an hour until Ebisu spoke again, "Would you like to talk about your siblings…your family maybe?" Gaara flinched. His eyes widened in sudden realization…fragments of his life played through his mind in an order that made no sense. Ebisu noticed the quick change in Gaara's posture. The boy was hunched over in his chair with his palm beside his temple. "No!" His fingers tightly curled into his red locks as he whispered, "I hate them…I hate them…I hate them!"
Ebisu stared at the boy in front of him somewhat fascinated with the quick change that had taken place. In all his years of counseling, he hasn't seen anyone this unstable since…
"I need to help him." He didn't want to fail like he did with…
Ebisu swallowed hard, his lips dry all of a sudden. He had to get this boy to tell him something…
"Why…" Ebisu wasn't quite sure how that word escaped his thoughts but he didn't think much of it. The fact of the matter is: the child in front of him needs help. His help.
Gaara's whispering had stopped. It appeared as though Ebisu's words (word) made some sort of impact on the frail boy. Certain that he had the boys attention Ebisu continued, "…Why do you hate them Gaara?"
The hand that was gripping his skull loosened a bit…his eyes still frozen in pain. His lips moved but nothing came out. Ebisu strained his ears to hear. Gaara mouthed the words again and this time he caught a faint, "They hate me…" Ebisu was taken back a bit by the comment. He swallowed again, "…Why do they hate you?" The red head gripped at his shirt and shook his head.
"Gaara, you have to talk to me. Why do they-"
The boys red locks swayed over his eyes as he shook his head wildly, "They blame me…they blame me!"
Ebisu furrowed his brow in worry. This boy wasn't making much sense. It's as if there was so much thinking going on inside his head that he wasn't able to form proper sentences. He was just speaking fragments of quotes overflowing in his mind…his world. Ebisu continued in a hushed manner, "…What do they blame you for? Don't shut me out; tell me…talk to me."
The boy gripped at both sides of his head and screamed, "I don't belong here!"The boy darted out of the counseling office without so much as a glance at Ebisu.
"Wait, Gaara!"The man had one hand outstretched toward the boys fleeing form. His arm dropped down to his side in a lazy manner. Shaking his head he fell back into his chair and sighed loudly. The man removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Damn it…he almost told me something…"
Ebisu looked at the scattered documents on his desk. He narrowed his eyes at them. With a quick swipe of his hand the papers flew into the air and parachuted their way down to the carpet floor. Ebisu stared into space with a frustrated look painted on his face. He then let his eyes wonder the room aimlessly as if he were trying to get his thoughts together. He sighed again and eyed the scattered papers on his office floor. One document in particularly stood out. On the top it read: Gaara Sabaku. Under his name was his age, grade level and information the school needed to know about him. Ebisu read the passage under the tab Illness's: Insomnia due to the traumatic loss of his mother.
"…Yeah…but how did she die? Kids don't freak out like that unless something happened…something big. And Gaara was going to tell me…"
He read the date and furrowed his brow, "This was written ten years ago…" He shook his head and mumbled, "Poor kid…he was only six when it happened." Sighing in defeat he got out of his chair and picked up the scattered documents. He organized them properly before stacking them on his desk (neat freak).
"Sir?"Came a hushed voice. Ebisu turned to see a nervous boy in his doorway. He was wearing a tight fitting green polo and a pair of blue jeans. His hair was short to his head like a bob but his square bangs clearly showed what style he had (a bowl cut.) A question lingered over his features. Questions like: "Why are his arms bandaged up?" and, "Why does he keep fidgeting with them?"
The boys round eyes were focused on the man before him. "Um…I-I'm here for the counseling session." He tightly curled his fingers in the loose bandages around his arms. Ebisu studied the boy and then said, "Yes well…the group sessions don't start until tomorrow. You must have got the date mixed up." The ebony haired boy tightly clenched his arm and nodded. "Sorry for intruding. I'll be back tomorrow." Before the boy turned to leave Ebisu stopped his movements with the words that left his mouth, "You wouldn't happen to be Lee would you?" The ebony haired boy clutched his arm. "Oh…so you are. I heard you had a run in with a boy by the name of Gaara Sabaku in middle school." Lee bit his lip and shook his head. "I'm not going to pester you about it. I just needed it to be confirmed. Now then…" Ebisu looked at the chair Gaara had recently been sitting in.
"Gaara left his jacket in here…care to return it to him?" Lee twitched and stared down at his shoes. Ebisu hurriedly put his glasses on with one hand as he fished for the pen in his shirt pocket with the other. He fumbled with his pen before finally getting a good grip on it. He quickly brought it to his lips. He freed the cap with his teeth and leaned over his desk to scribble something onto a small sticky note.
He picked up the note and harshly stuck it onto Lee's polo, "Here's your pass."
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