Traumatic Events IV: Volatile Temperments
By: Forlay
And he didn't. He'd barely sat down and opened a magazine before the door to the office opened, letting the last patient out. It was Cassie. Not wanting to talk to anyone, he turned away from the door and hoped he wasn't too noticeable to Cassie.
"Tobias?"
Dammit, she recognized him. "Hm? Oh, hi, Cassie."
"Anything wrong?"
"Oh, no, why?"
"Nothing, just...well, nevermind. I have to get home. Bye."
"Bye." He sighed with relief once she was gone, now it'd just be about five minutes...
"Tobias, you can come in now," the doctor said from his office door.
...Or maybe it'd only be one before he went in. He set down his magazine and went into Doctor Greenway's comfortable office. The peaceful blues and greens that the office was decorated in was almost enough to calm Tobias' frazzled nerves. Almost. He hadn't had the greatest week and a half, it would take alot more than eye-pleasing decor to lighten his mood.
"Have a seat," Doctor Greenway offered, Tobias took one, opting for the armchair rather than the couch most people sat on.
"How have you been since Tuesday?"
"Fine, I guess. Why?"
"Well, at the meeting you seemed edgy, and you didn't want to share the past week's events. While that's perfectly all right, I was just wondering if there was something concerning that you'd like to talk about."
"Nothing's wrong," Tobias insisted. "I was just having one of those days where nothing goes right. And seeing Rachel again was a bit of a shock..."
"She was for everybody, I'm sure."
"Yeah, well, everybody wasn't once engaged to the girl."
"That they weren't."
"I mean, what right did she have to first practically cut herself off from the entire group, only talking to Cassie occasionally, and me of course, then once she and I split, abandon everyone entirely, then suddenly show back up at the one place the four of us could feel comfortable, like we weren't all insane?"
"But didn't it perhaps make sense for her to 'abandon' everyone once you and her split?" the doctor asked. "You are the one who broke the engagement, and by then Cassie had completely forgotten Rachel, there wasn't anyone for her to talk to."
"I may have broken off the engagement, but I tried to talk to her. I called constantly, trying to get ahold of her to talk, but her mom never let me talk to her."
"Really? You never told me this before."
"So sue me, it wasn't relevent before. I wanted to talk to Rachel, I still love her, dammit, but her mother's being way too over protective of her. Rachel doesn't even answer the phone when she's home alone."
"How long ago did you two break up?"
"About three months, why? Don't you have that written in your notes there? You're writing in them often enough."
"I just wanted to make sure I had kept track correctly. If you still love her, why did you end your engagement?"
"The girl went nuts on me."
"Really."
"Yeah. All of a sudden, she became obsessed with her appearance and wouldn't mention a word about the war. We used to talk about it occasionally, but suddenly, she froze up. Completely. Practically the only time she'd talk to me was asking if her clothes were wrinkled before we went out of the house. So I broke off the engagement. But...well, frankly, life sucked without her, so I wanted to get back together."
"But you know now why she was acting that way, right?"
"Yeah, which makes me want to get back together with her all the more."
"How come?"
"Because I can sympathize. If I'd known before what she was going through, I wouldn't have broken up with her. Hell, it probably would have been a reason for us to get married even quicker, just so we could be together and help support eachother.
"But no. We both flipped, so bye bye every dream either of us ever had for the future."
"Those dreams aren't necesarily gone."
Tobias looked up, a cynical expression on his face. "Yeah? Well, then where are they?"
"Niether of you 'flipped', you have to understand that first of all, Tobias. You both just had different coping mechanisms."
"That term is really starting to tick me off."
"I'm sorry for that, but it's true. Her's was to shut out the war, and her OCD happened to develop. Your PTSD manifested itself in a different way: you can no longer trust anyone. Perahps that's another contributing factor to your break up with Rachel: you couldn't trust her or anyone else anymore."
"Oh bull. What do you mean I couldn't trust my own fiance? Or anyone else, I'm talking to you right now, aren't I?"
"But do you really trust me?"
The doctor and his patient stared eachother down for a moment. One passive, calming, the other furious. Finally, Tobias stood up, not able to take the doctor's inquiries any longer. "I'm leaving. See ya'."
Wordlessly, Doctor Greenway watched probably his angriest patient storm out of the office. He wasn't surprised, though. He'd been seeing Tobias for about two months, and had known it was only a matter of time before his temper got the best of him and he stormed out. He hoped, however, that even Tobias, with the most volatile of temperments, would be able to be helped, and helped soon.
A/N: Yeesh, these things are getting shorter...not cool. But anywho, I need to send a thank you out to TRIXSTER, who read the first part of this story and also gave me countless ideas for future Traumatic Events. This series ain't gonna die for quite a long time, people, rest assured in that! If you have any comments on this story, or suggestions for future Traumatic Events stories, please send them to me at inkypa@yahoo.com