You guys are slipping... 2 reviews for chapter 11?

"So, your sister is taking psychotherapy sessions?" Via asked.

"Yep," Keely sighed. "She's taking some antidepressants or something, too. For now she's staying in the psychiatric ward, but in a few days she'll be able to come home and just go there for the sessions… but they said she was a threat to herself right now and they had to keep her there… I don't know. I wasn't really told much about this. I guess Mom doesn't want me to worry. I guess that's nice of her, but I sometimes wish I could know the truth."

"Well they do say ignorance is bliss…" Via sighed, sitting down on her bed. "After all, knowledge is power, power corrupts, corruption is a crime, and crime doesn't pay… You don't want to be broke, do you?"

Keely laughed. "I guess you're right…"

"Of course I am," Via said. "That's nothing new."

"And so modest about it, too…" Keely said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, with people saying I'm right all the time, how could I not be affected by it?"

Keely shrugged. "I guess you're just that good." She let out a sigh. "I know that I'm depressing as hell... I'll probably feel better once Ashley's back here… it's weird being the only one in the house with Mom… not that it wasn't weird with just the three of us, but…"

"I understand… you just don't want to be alone… and you're not depressing as hell."

"Yeah… and you always seem to know what to say to make me feel better about stuff…"

"I thought that was Phil that made you feel better all the time…"

"Well he does, yeah, but it's complicated… well, I guess not. I don't feel the same way about you as I do about Phil, okay?"

"Well that's a relief…" Via laughed. "You're lucky to have Phil, you know."

"I know," Keely smiled.

"I mean… it's obvious Owen likes me… but he's just really weird, you know?"

"Hey, who knows? Maybe he'll change someday."

Via chuckled. "They'll put a man on Mars before Owen faces commitment."

"I bet you're right," Keely laughed. "Owen usually ends up regretting his decision after he gets a drink at lunch. But who knows? I certainly can't predict the future… maybe Owen will end up changing."

A brief moment of silence ensued before the two of them burst into hysterical laughter.

"Again, though," Keely said, "probably not until a man lands on the moon."

"Indeed…" Via muttered.

"I'm never going to forget you said that," Keely said, still chuckling.

"Now, that, I doubt…"

"Hey, I'm good at keeping promises!" Keely defended.

"Mmhmm. And what are these promises you've kept?"

"Well…" Keely raised an eyebrow. "Hey… I see what you're trying to do. It's not going to work, missy!"

"Okay, so maybe you can keep secrets… Just maybe…"

"Of course I can," Keely laughed.

"Right…" Via smiled, picking up a book.

"Know what I find ironic?" Keely asked.

"What?"

"The fact that my sister is in a psychiatric ward, and that you want to go into the field of psychiatry when you grow up."

"Hey, that would be ironic, if only it wasn't…"

"How is that not ironic?" Keely asked, confused as usual.

"Because they're two separate things, Keely. It would be ironic if Ashley helped me earn my degree, and then I went on to treat her after she developed these problems years later."

"Oh…" Keely said. "Wow. I'm an idiot."

"Yep."

"Hey!"

"I'm not the one that said it," Via defended.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"I just…" Ashley stammered, looking down at her hands, "I so badly wanted him to be different… He was different, at first…"

Every time you come around
There's a bouquet for me
A corsage of promises
And I am pinned
Like a butterfly on a card
I'm naked and I'm scarred
And you're so perfect to me…

"I guess I'm a little pathetic… but I wanted to believe him… I mean, I was so shaken up already by the other stuff that was happening in my life… I… I felt like I finally slipped off the edge when I found him cheating on me… after all he said, and all we went through together… I just… I can't…" She buried her head in her hands.

Violent ties with hands like a steeple
Tell me lies with a tongue like a needle
I let the words shot down my throat
A face like an iron fist
That I can never resist
I learned it all by rote…

"I can't believe I thought he'd be different…" she sighed. "Everything in my life just seems to be going downhill… Honestly, there are times I don't think I can honestly get better. I really don't."

"Have you ever experimented with ways to relieve yourself of these feelings?" Dr. Thurmann asked.

"Well… one night, I got really drunk… but I vowed that I'd never do anything like that again…"

"Was this before or after your break-up?"

"Before," Ashley said.

"That's the only time you've tried to escape from these problems?"

"Yes, if you mean actually tried… I remember one day I was thinking of suicide, as I told Dr. Schipper…"

"Do you often have thoughts of dying, if not suicide?"

"Yes," Ashley said.

"Do you remember the first instance of any such thoughts?"

"The first time I can remember is when I pictured myself dead in my sister's coffin at her funeral…" Ashley replied. "The most recent was when I thought I'd die alone after Alex and I broke up…"

The mention of Alex's name had an obvious effect on Ashley, who heaved a deep sigh. "I can't believe I was such a fool, to think he'd change my life…"

Words of wisdom from your tyrant mouth…
Words of wisdom from your tyrant mouth…

"Tyrant" - The Bravery

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