Beaten, Battered, Bruised
Chapter 10: Cycle
"Jason," The receptionist said, "It's time for your session."
The teenager frowned and followed her into a room where a man wearing a white shirt and a bottle-green sweater was sitting behind a desk, there was a couch in front of the desk.
"Good afternoon Jason," The man said, he held out a hand for a handshake but it went ignored, "Take a seat."
Jason did as he was told.
"I've been given a short rundown of what happened from your school counsellor. But I want you to try and tell me as much as you can. If you don't want to tell me everything, that's okay, we'll work towards it."
"I don't want to be here."
"I know," The man's eyes glinted behind his glasses, "But I think it would help."
"How would you know? You've never been through something like this," Jason growled.
The man remained calm.
"Fuck this shit," Jason sighed, "I'm going home."
He could hear the man stand behind him.
"Five minutes, then you can leave."
Jason turned, "What makes you think you understand?"
The man lifted his shirt showing off his torso.
Failure
Worthless
Faggot
Slut
The words were red on the man's chest and they stuck out from his pale skin.
"Where do you think I got these from?" The man asked, "Very similar to your case."
"Your parents?"
"Ten years ago," The man confirmed.
Jason came back and sat down, "You had it much worse."
"Doesn't make your case any less significant," The man said, "Why do you think I'm in this profession? To help those who have been forced to go through what I went through."
"Okay Dr…"
"Marsh."
"Dr. Marsh, you know how I can recover?"
"I think I do. It will be tough, I've been through this process and I nearly gave up so many times. I'm lucky I had my boyfriend to stick by me."
Jason nodded.
"You'll need people to help out, people who care."
Dr. Marsh lifted a lime-green ushanka that resided on his head to wipe his brow.
"I'll let you help."
Dr. Marsh smiled, "We don't have to go over your ordeal right now if you want, we can get to know each other better so we're better prepared for next week."
"I'd like that," Jason nodded.
"You can ask me anything."
"You're gay?"
Dr. Marsh laughed, "And married. My husband is the boyfriend I mentioned earlier."
"I have a girlfriend, but I don't think she's willing to deal with this."
"Then she isn't worth your time, right now, you need support and if she isn't willing to provide that, don't concern yourself with her."
Jason nodded, "I don't want to break up with her though."
"You should try and talk it through with her first. She might be willing to support you."
Dr. Marsh's watch beeped, "That's the end of your hour, it was nice meeting you."
Jason nodded.
"Same time next week?"
He received another nod in response.
Dr. Marsh could see his husband's car in the driveway when he got home, he opened the door and could hear the oven from the kitchen.
"I'm home," He smiled as he opened the door.
"Hey Kyle," His husband returned the smile, "How was your day?"
"You won't believe it Stan," Kyle said, "My last appointment was with someone who had abusive parents."
Stan turned his attention from the pan, "What?"
"I felt like I was talking to myself from ten years ago, it was surreal."
"You okay?" Stan asked, "Did it bring back bad memories?"
"Not really," Kyle shrugged, "But I want to help the kid."
"Ike dropped by," Stan said, he usually had Fridays off, "He said that your parents want to see the both of you."
"Ike's twenty," Kyle said, "He can do what he wants, I'm not stepping within sixty feet of them. I never want to see them again."
Stan walked over to give his husband a kiss on the cheek, "I understand."
"What do you think I should do?"
Stan thought for a second, "I don't know, I've never been in the situation."
"I don't want anything to do with them."
"Then don't," Stan shrugged, "It's your life."
Kyle looked at himself in the mirror after his shower, he still had many of his scars, but they didn't hurt anymore.
That's the end of Beaten, Battered, Bruised. I made the time skip now because if we were to see Kyle go through his recovery again, it would just be me repeating myself and I'm having trouble thinking up new stuff for it (see the shorter length of the the last three chapters). I did enjoy writing this, it was something different, but I did prefer writing Dysfunctional.