Fifteen feet of pure white snow
Chapter 12: It makes no difference
Tifa stared at the blond man with the notebook and the concerned eyes. He didn't look much like a therapist. He looked more like someone who would be likely to sit in her chair. Except for those eyes. They had that concerned, yet wise, look that she couldn't quite describe.
"Hi Tifa. I'm Cid. I am, as I'm sure ya know, a therapist. I'm here to help ya, okay?"
Tifa didn't reply, she just looked at the therapist, Cid. She had been so surprised when she heard him speak that she almost laughed.
"Not very talkative, eh? Why don't ya tell me a little about yourself?" Cid raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want to know?" Tifa said, "I guess you're not very interested in the story of my life. We're here to talk about Larxene aren't we?"
"Straight to the point, eh? We're here to talk about Larxene, but first why don't ya tell me a little about your childhood? Yer family 'n stuff."
"You don't wanna know. It's the classic story of the parents who weren't there. Mom owned a beauty salon, dad had some important job at some office. Mom spent her spare time painting her toenails or dying her hair. And popping pills. Dad didn't have any spare time. Have two brothers. Both of them are older than me. One of them moved out when I was five, other one moved out a year before me. I haven't had any contact with my parents since I left home. Not with my brother either. But what has that got to do with anything? That's all in the past."
"Ya said yer mom was popping pills? What kinda pills?"
"Anti-depressants. I think she had bipolar disorder or something. Or maybe she was just addicted to the meds. Or both. Do we need to talk about mom? My family is out of my life. I don't really want to think about them at all."
"I that's what ya want, then we don't need to talk about them anymore. How 'bout you tell me about your relationship with Larxene?"
Tifa was silent for about a minute. When she started to speak the words were slurred, and the sentences incomplete. She was battling with herself. Deep down inside she knew Larxene had mistreated her badly, but there was still a part of her that wanted to protect the girl. Cid listened to her story without interrupting.
"I understand if this is a bit hard for ya to be talking about. I won't force ya, but I was wondering if ya would tell me about yer suicide attempt, too?"
"I… I… I'll try. I don't really know why I did it. I don't really remember how, either. I remember searching the house for drugs. Aspirin, ibuprofen, that kind of stuff. And then I find some Ritalin. I have ADD, but I stopped taking the meds a few years ago. Never threw them away, though. Then I found my mom's anti-depressants. I stole them when I moved out. To punish her, I guess. She loved her drugs more than her daughter. Then I found my knife, and all I remember after that is swallowing what seemed like millions of pills, and the knife against my wrist. Don't remember any pain, though. After that it's black until I wake up in hospital. I remember today and yesterday and parts of the day before that, but the first day after I woke up is completely blank apart from something about Yuffie hugging me."
Cid made her talk about Yuffie for a while. Then she had to talk about Seifer and Zexion and what she felt about seeing a therapist and the snow and a little more about her family.
"I don't see where we're going with this?" Tifa said after answering thirteen questions about her youngest brother.
"Obviously Larxene ain't yer only problem. My job is to help ya, and to do that I'm gonna have to find out where yer troubles began, and I don't think Larxene started them. I think yer parents did. But our time's up now. I'll see ya tomorrow. Before ya go I just have to tell ya that I agree with yer friends, ya should report that girl. Both for abuse and for sexual assault. Just think about it, will ya?"
-
Zexion was tapping his foot impatiently. He was standing at the grocery store. More precisely, he was standing in the longest line of the century. He hadn't left the hospital for days, and neither had Yuffie or Seifer. Eventually, Tifa had ordered them to leave at least for a few hours. Yuffie had promised she would go snowboarding with Vincent the next day, Seifer had left to take care or something or other. He didn't want to tell anyone what he was up to, which made the rest of them very, very suspicious. Zexion himself had decided both he and Tifa needed candy and cigarettes, and had reluctantly left the hospital to go shopping.
Suddenly he felt something hit him in the back. He turned around to see a blond boy lying on the floor in a big pile of groceries. The boy looked at him and blushed.
"I'm… I'm sorry. I kind of… um… I tripped. Really sorry," the boy started picking up tomatoes, bread and milk. Zexion stared at him for a few moments. There was something about that boy. About his eyes, or the way he talked or something else. He was special, somehow. After a few seconds he realized what he was doing, and quickly bent down to help the unlucky guy.
"We all trip sometimes, eh?" he said with a smile, "nothing to worry about. I'm Zexion, by the way."
"I'm Demyx."
They didn't say anything else before Zexion had reached the counter and paid for the candy and cigarettes.
"Not a very healthy lifestyle?" Demyx commented with a smirk.
"I know," Zexion laughed, "the candy is for my friend who's in hospital and the smokes… Well, you get addicted to them."
Demyx laughed. "I guess I'll see you around," he said and waved goodbye to the purple-haired boy.
-
"Get out of my fucking way or I'll smash your goddamned nose!" Yuffie yelled at the blond girl in front of her. Yuffie had never seen her before, but suddenly the stranger had taken one step to the side so that she block the way, and refused to move. She hadn't said a word, just stood there and looked angry.
"I mean it," Yuffie said, "you don't move right now, and I'll break you're fucking nose. And I won't mind knocking out a few of your teeth while I'm at it."
The girl continued to stare for a few seconds. Suddenly, with no warning at all, she punched Yuffie in the guts. The black-haired girl was so shocked she needed a few seconds to realize what had happened. However, half a minute later the blonde was lying on the ground with a bleeding nose and a swollen lip. Yuffie walked away without even trying to find out why the girl had tried to block her way.
She walked for about five minutes before the second interruption that day. Tidus.
"What do you want?" Yuffie demanded. "I don't think you have any bones that I haven't already broken."
The threat seemed to scare the boy. After looking bewildered for a second or so, he walked on without as much as a rude comment. Yuffie resisted the temptation of sticking out her leg as he walked by.
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That was a quite short chapter. And for once, the author note will be short too…
Title from a song by The Band.
And y'all know I want you to review, right? So go on, review. What are you waiting for? I'll give you some candy and cigarettes stolen from everyone's favorite little emo-kid!
