Well, I'm finally back and I hope you all forgive me for being so late. I'm still on holiday but now I'm staying with family in some of the southern states of the USA and now my holiday has become a mess of snow, over enthusiastic dogs, rednecks and pickup trucks; all served with a healthy side of beer and cornbread.
Thank you to connielover and CSIHuntermom for reviewing the last chapter and to autisticspider for adding this story to story alert.
Megan was still smiling as she offered Catherine a coffee, Catherine agreed and Megan busied herself with the task. Catherine looked round the room and was struck by how simplistic the room was. The room had white walls, yellowish/grey carpet, a brown leather sofa and two brown leather chairs with a glass coffee table, a stylish metal and glass desk and a matching chair that sat slanted in the corner; with an iMac sitting atop the desk, surrounded by files and sheets of paper. A counter lined the back wall, with grey filing cabinets sitting underneath and a coffee machine and mini fridge, which Megan was using, sitting on top. Everything was meant to have a neat designer feel to it, but to Catherine it felt prison like – right down to the grey metal bin lined with a uniform black bin bag.
Megan turned round holding two mugs of black, strong smelling coffee and offered Catherine a seat. Catherine sat in one of the brown leather chairs because she didn't want Megan sitting right next to her on the couch and trying to hug her because she looked like the type who would. Megan sat opposite her in the other brown leather chair. She placed her coffee on a coaster on the coffee table, where as Catherine sat hunched in her chair gripping the mug with both hands, as Megan grabbed a pad of crisp white paper, a blue biro and Catherine's file off her desk. She started flipping through the file as Catherine took hesitant sips from her mug off coffee. The coffee tasted metallic, but was strong enough to keep her from dropping off in the comfortable chair.
"So," Megan said, "I haven't had a lot of time to go over your file, so tell me about yourself!"
Inside her head Catherine sighed, she hated it when this happened. "I'm the day shift supervisor, but always end up working a lot of over time especially at night." she said trying to give away as little as possible.
Megan's eyes flickered up and down her file, confirming what she had said, but also noticing the small amount of information Catherine had given her. She took her pad and made note of that. Inside her mind Catherine shuddered, this was worse than whispers, and it was like someone was talking about her behind her back as she couldn't tell what Megan was writing.
"You have a daughter, right?" Megan remarked.
Catherine nodded. "Lindsey." she told Megan.
"How is she?" Megan asked, a shimmer of concern in her eyes. Catherine noticed this and was surprised, counsellors were meant to care about people, but often it was fake, though for some reason the concern in Megan's eyes seemed genuine. Damn it she thought, she was already warming to Miss Stylish Sports Babe.
"She's fine." Catherine said, trying to draw herself away from Megan's piercing blue eyed gaze.
"Talking to someone?" Megan asked.
"Yes." Catherine told her.
"Who?" Megan asked.
"A counsellor." Catherine told her reluctantly, she really hated all these questions about her daughter. "Also me."
Megan smiled. She had read about what Lindsey had been through, and she knew it was going to be hard for both mother and daughter to recover; though she was also was surprised that Lindsey didn't blame her mother for what had happened.
"So, more about you." Megan said, looking up at her through those stupidly long lashes, her face hovering over the file. "What do you like to do for fun?"
Catherine thought about giving the standard, drinking at the Highball, but it caught in her throat, the Highball was where she was drugged, and she never wanted to go back there again. "I like spending time with my daughter." She told Megan.
Megan flashed a smile, showing her brilliant white teeth, before saying, "I heard you were the party animal of the group!"
"Not anymore." Catherine muttered under her breath, she couldn't take the risk, being drugged again.
"What was that?" Megan asked, for some reason seeming more sincere.
"Things change." Said Catherine as she swept her hair off her face, "I want to spend more time with my daughter."
"Or, maybe you don't want to take the risk of being drugged again." Megan stated.
"Excuse me?" Catherine asked, only this would be happening to her.
"Or, maybe you don't want to take the risk of being drugged again." Megan said again, adding more weight to the statement.
"Or, perhaps I'm tired of being the party girl." Catherine said.
"What actually happened at the bar that night" Megan asked.
Catherine looked up at Megan, cold fear flooding her blue eyes, hands gripping her coffee cup tighter and her shoulders hunching more.
"I was feeling dizzy," she began, studying Megan's reactions carefully, as if she was treading on thin ice and Megan was the ice, centimetres to and the only thing separating her from possible death. "Everyone had left, and I was by myself." Megan nodded, but then began taking notes which didn't help at all. "Then I don't remember anything at all."
Megan looked up, confused, her blue pen hovering over the white paper. "Nothing at all?"
"Nothing." Catherine lied, looking into her coffee mug.
Megan eyed her suspiciously, piercing blue eyes noting the hunched figure, the tight grip on the coffee mug, and the eyes that were fascinated by the slowly cooling black coffee. "You're lying." Megan stated.
Catherine sat up straight and looked Megan in the eye. "I was white," she began, her voice shaking, "A brilliant white, there was black hands that were reaching towards me and specks of red that didn't belong, and a back ground that was a greyish hue." She leaned back, feeling stupid - she sounded like she had been describing a painting, and it probably was a painting, one that she had painted in her head with pigments of her torn imagination. She set her coffee on a coaster on the table and watched as Megan wrote everything down.
"It's good that you remember something." Megan said reassuringly. Catherine rolled her eyes and the flood gates of her anger suddenly broke, and everything she had been hiding from Megan suddenly flooded out.
"No it's frickin not!" she said, aware that her voice had grown louder and that Megan was taken aback. "What I can't remember scares me, and these stupid flecks of memories are taunting me, not letting me shove my fear away, and lock it down inside me! Why the hell can't I remember?" She had leapt out her chair by now and crossed the room like the night before, hands sweeping at her hair, only pausing by the window.
Megan remained seated for a minute, trying to absorb what Catherine had said. She placed her pad of paper and pen on the coffee table before walking over to where Catherine stood and placing a hand on her shoulder. Catherine flinched at the light touch, reminding her of the black hands, but let Megan's palm remain where it was after a minute. Megan turned Catherine to face her and spoke, carefully choosing her words and weighing them in her mind.
"You can't remember because you were drugged." Megan said, as Catherine opened her mouth to say something, but Megan stopped her. "And you should also never lock things down inside you."
Catherine stared outside the window, eyes glazed but mind telling her not to cry. "It's what I have to do." She said. "It's what I have to do for myself and everyone else."
Megan gently took hold of her wrists and dragged her over to the sofa, forcing her to sit down before sitting next to her. "You need to look after yourself before anyone else." Megan told her. Catherine opened her mouth to say something but her cell phone rang before she could say anything. She flipped it open and talked for a few seconds before hanging up.
"Dead body." Catherine muttered as she walked away.
"You can come again tomorrow." Megan said brightly.
"Yeah..." said Catherine dejectedly.
She walked out the room, leaving Megan sitting on the couch.
Please review :)
