AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you for the positive feedback on the prologue. Here's the next one. Read and review!

Chapter 1

THE WHY.

"Why is this happening to me?" Ross found himself asking the one question that had plagued his mind for almost a decade now.

Doctor Pearson flipped the pages in front of him, and glanced through his notes for a while. He looked back up at him. "Ross, this is only our third session. You need to open up a lot more if you need answers." Ross kept his mouth shut. Sensing his apprehensions about opening up about his issues and fears, the Doctor continued. "Okay, here's what we are going to do. We will take baby steps, okay? We shall explore different aspects of your past and present life in the coming sessions. Let's start with simple things at first, like, uhh-" He paused and looked down at his diary. "Ahh.. How about studies? Do you mind talking about it?"

Ross shook his head no. "I am a senior in college, a paleontology major."

"And why did you elect paleontology?"

"It was my tenth birthday." Ross started speaking as a little smile appeared on his face. "My parents had gifted me a tyrannosaurus robot, almost my height." He sighed. "As I grew up, I started reading up on extinction of dinosaurs and evolution of human beings. That's, uhh.. when I decided to pursue it as a career."

"That's a good start. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Dr. Pearson encouraged without really expecting an answer from Ross, and continued. "So, how did you manage to keep up your grades in school? From what I can see here, in your university records, is that you are a straight 'A' student, here, in NYU, on full scholarship, which is commendable, given... the circumstances. How do you feel about that?" Doctor Pearson said in a cheerful tone.

"My mom was a registered nurse, and my dad owned a business. They both valued good education." He took a moment to recall something, and the doctor remained silent. "My.. uh-Dad, before he.. you know, passed away, he used to always say to me that everybody deserves a decent education. It makes one aware about stuff, I don't know, it eventually helps us to deal with the vicissitudes of life." He gulped. "I always had this thought, 'why bother?' at the back of my mind, you know? Why not just give up? But I could not bring myself to actually do it. I didn't have the guts."

"Do you think your parents would have liked it if you threw it all away?" Doctor Pearson asked consciously. Ross simply nodded his head 'No'. "Perhaps that's the reason you held onto your books, as the only string that still connected you with your parents."

"Maybe.." He said with little confident in his tone.

"Hmm.. We are almost at the end of the session. Before we call it a day, I need to ask you what made you come here to me? You never said anything about why you felt you needed therapy." Doctor Pearson wondered.

Ross took a deep breath at the question to brace himself. "I was an alcohol addict until about six months ago. I started during the first spring break. I used to start my day with a can of beer and end it with a bottle of bourbon. But something happened when I was walking back home one night." Ross looked down, almost ashamed of the thought that entered his mind.

Doctor Pearson noted his nervousness. "Don't worry. Go on, I am not here to judge you." He assured.

"I was-I was wasted, you know. There were these two guys on the street. It was late. They demanded I give them my wallet. I saw no weapon, so I put up a fight, yeah, I wasn't thinking straight. But I was outnumbered, so when I was tackling one of them, the other guy grabbed me and banged my head to the pole nearby, and I.. I passed out."

"You said you WERE an addict. Do you not drink anymore?" Doctor Pearson needed to clarify.

"You see, when I was knocked down on the street, I-I had a vision, one from my childhood. It was not clear, but I remember it was a road trip. My whole family was there, Mom, Dad, myself.. and my little sister.." He sniffled. "Monica."

Doctor Pearson almost widened his eyes, but he did not want Ross to see it so he just probed him about his sister. "Where is she?"

"That's the thing, Doc. Before that night, I had completely forgotten about her. It was like she never even existed." Ross seemed helpless.

"Could it have been that your brain created an imaginary sister? You know, because you needed some connect with your life when your parents were still alive."

Ross nodded frantically. "That's what I thought. The truth is.. when I had that vision, I figured my mind was playing tricks on me, or it was the effect of alcohol, you know, it made me hallucinate or whatever." He sighed aloud. "So I realized I should stay away from alcohol until I know the truth, which I did. I have been clean, I swear. But I kept having these memories, that-that told me I was missing out. So I decided to take a trip to Adirondack, to the hospital where I was admitted. As it turns out, I was in a coma for three months due to a brain injury. I woke up only to know about my parents' death, and I passed out again." Ross furrowed his eye brows. "To make the long story short, my brain scans showed an internal injury that may have caused me to forget some aspects of my life, one of them being my little sister."

"You didn't answer my question, Ross. Where is she? Was she also involved in the car accident?"

"No. She was camping, that's what my brain tells me. And I have no idea how she has been all these years, if she is even alive. God.. I am disgusted by myself. What kind of a brother I am?"

"Don't blame yourself, Ross. Did you try to find her?"

He nodded. "I went to the social services, and explained everything. But they could not help me!" Ross shut his eyes tight. "They figure she must have been adopted, and got a new family name." With that, he put his hands on his temple, as if in pain. "I don't know what to do."

"Trauma can be tricky. It haunts you when you least expect it. So tell me this, you are certain that you had a younger sister?" Ross nodded. "But you can't seem to find her, and that is what has caused distraction in your life." As Doctor Pearson said these words, Ross pierced his lips together, which showed his remorse.

(...)

Ross was exhausted, he was physically and mentally drained. He came out of Doctor Pearson's office with a note in his hand. He had asked him to hand it over to the student helping at the welcome desk, so that they could put an official seal on it. He had to present it to his professor for missing two lectures in a row. He reached the table, and rung the bell. He waited impatiently for someone to attend to him as he tapped his fingers at the platform. A few seconds passed, and he heard footsteps, almost like running. He looked up as a girl started speaking.

"Hey, I am sorry to keep you waiting. How can I help you?" The girl was a blonde with blue eyes, must be about 19 years old.

"Dr. Pearson said you would put the seal on this paper." Ross said, with no apparent emotion. He slid the note on the table towards her.

She looked down at the piece of paper, and read its contents. She looked back at him and nodded. "Sure." She opened the drawer, and pushed the seal hard on the paper. "Counseling, sure, is the perfect excuse to miss boring lectures. Isn't it?" She chuckled. She looked up. "So what story did you make up to get the note?" She asked intrigued, as she handed the note back to him.

Ross stared at her coldly, before snapping at her. "Some of us do have real problems!" With that, he turned away and started to walk. "Thanks." He yelled, as he raised the paper in his hand, but not looking back.

Being oblivious to what was going inside his mind, something struck her about his hazel eyes. The way he stared at her was really unsettling. She could not point if it was in a good or a bad way. Maybe because he was the first person who did not lose his ability to speak in front of Rachel Greene.

And she was not going to rest, until she discovered his story.

And that was Rachel - was this a decent enough introduction? Let me know in your comments.

Also, do not stress on the fact that Ross could have easily found Monica in today's day and age (just go with the flow :p).