I woke up this morning and realized that Husk wasn't there. I looked around the room feeling slightly panicked until I find a note sitting on top of my nightstand. I picked up the note and read it and wondered to myself, 'I wonder what kind of errands he had to go on with Charlie and Vaggie.' I mean, it wasn't typical behavior of Husk to be spending some alone time with the girls so I was feeling a bit dumbfounded by the entire idea. Nonetheless, I've come to the conclusion that worrying about the whole thing wasn't the most productive way to utilize my time so I shrugged it off and got dressed to go to my morning appointment with Ms. Gracie Earnhardt.

I brushed my teeth and then head downstairs to go see what everyone else was up to. When I got downstairs I saw Nifty cleaning. Initially nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary until I heard her humming and singing to herself. I mean, sure she had good days but for the first most part, Nift wasn't much for singing or humming. She caught me looking at her and came up to me looking a lot more excited than usual, "Hiya Angel!!

How'd you sleep?" Her eyes looked a bit more crazed than usual which sent me reeling back towards the bar, "uh... I'm great, Nift how did you sleep?" She clasped her hands together and laughed like a mad scientist, "it was the best sleep I've ever had in afterlife!" Feeling slightly more freaked out by her demeanor than usual, I make my way to the kitchen to grab something to eat for breakfast. I get to the kitchen and open the refrigerator and grab the gallon of milk.

As soon as I close the refrigerator door I see that Alastor was standing behind the door. I jumped almost dropping the gallon of milk on the floor. I sat the milk on the kitchen counter, "Gosh Lucifer!! Alastor you've REALLY got to stop doing that! You almost gave me a damn heart attack!"

Alastor chuckled feeling somewhat amused with himself, "apologies, my effeminate fellow! I just came in here to let you know that you and I are going to the theater today. My eyes sparkled like an anime character, "really?! What are we going to go see?" Alastor pulled out two tickets, "we're going to go watch, 'Hairspray,' since I absolutely LOVE musicals."

Out of sheer excitement I wrapped my arms around Alastor and gave him a hug. Immediately repulsed by this reaction, he peels my arms off of him lifts me up with his magic and sits me down at the table on the far opposite side of the room from him, "while I'm content by your enthusiasm I would very much prefer that you keep your hands to yourself." I blushed and scratched the back of my head awkwardly, "oh, yeah... sorry, Smiles. My bad..." "Don't worry your furry little spider head about it! I'll meet you at the lobby at around 10am," he says disappearing into the shadows.

I let out a sigh and get up to go finish making myself some cereal before returning back to the table to eat it. Admittedly, I was feeling really lonely, bummed out, and disappointed that Husk was going to be out most of the day. It was at moments like these where I was regretting that I didn't take Asmodeus's job offer. Sure, I was in rehabilitation working on myself but outside of that I was feeling bored and empty, almost as though my life lacked purpose. My decline in having a social life was beginning to drive me crazy and I was getting stir crazy and bored with being cooped up in the hotel most of my days.

Husk has been trying his best to help me and to take me out places when I got in these moods and usually it helped a lot. However, now that he wasn't here the hotel began to feel a lot emptier. I was surprised at how attached I had grown to Husk and honestly, I was missing him like crazy right now. 'I suppose it's a good thing that I have an appointment with my therapist this morning,' I thought to myself as I finished up the last remnants of my cereal and placed my bowl in the sink before grabbing a glass of orange juice and opening up my medication that I had brought downstairs with me. I tossed my regular dose to the back of my throat and washed it down with the orange juice.

I then washed my dirty dishes and grabbed my orange juice and headed to Ms. Earnhardt's office. I sat just outside of her office for a few minutes before she gestured with her hands to go join her in her office. I walked into her office following close behind her and closed the door. She walked over to her desk and sat down at her computer chair and rolled out from behind her desk to get a better gander at me. "So how has your week been going so far, Angel?"

I looked apprehensively at my hands and fidgeted with the strings of my pink hoodie, "well this week over all has been pretty good for the most part however, I seem to be struggling today a little bit more than usual." She raised an eyebrow up at me and crossed her arms in her lap, "okay, tell me a little bit more about that." Still looking down and fiddling with my hoodie strings I let out a sigh, "well, I woke up this morning and Husk wasn't there. He left me a note and let me know that he was going to be out for the day and that he'd try to be home as soon as he could but, I don't know. I guess I was just looking forward to spending some quality time with him today."

She nodded her head towards me knowingly, "yeah, I can see how that would make one feel a bit disappointed. Did he tell you specifically where he was going today?" I shook my head and took a sip of my orange juice, "no he just told me he was going to run some errands with Charlie and Vaggie today." She nodded her head at me, "hmm... that does seem a bit odd that he didn't tell you where he was going. Knowing Husk, he's usually a little more specific about things when he's interacting with the people he's closest to.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though. Since I work with both of you and I already know that you guys are a couple he's told me that I can disclose some of the information he's talked about in our sessions with you. He told me that you guys have an anniversary coming up?" I nodded my head in agreement, "yeah we have an anniversary coming up but what does that have to do with anything?" She nodded her head and took a sip from her herbal tea, "well do you think maybe it's possible that he's just making plans and trying to surprise you?"

I thought about it for a moment, "I guess I never took that into consideration before. Like, I guess I just didn't put the two , together." She puts a hand up to her chin, "yeah, knowing Husk and how creative he is at expressing himself, I would say he probably planning something special. Now, what are some things that we can do to self soothe in moments where we are feeling either really high up in our anxiety or really down low in our depression?" I sat and thought about it for a minute, "I could... meditate."

She nodded her head, "yes that's one way we could practice mindfulness. What are some other techniques you could try?" I think hard for another moment, "well I could use a simple grounding exercise that allows me to be more mindful of my physical senses." She clasps her hands together and placed her hands on top of her knee, "okay, so let's try to do that one real quick so that we can get you ground." I let out a sigh, "okay so I need to list five things I see."

She nodded her head while I looked around the room, "so I see a box of tissues, a picture of an inspiring quote,

an essential oil diffuser, a chair, and a desk." "Okay, very good, Angel! Now what are four things that you can physically feel." I looked down at my lap, "my hoodie strings, the chair, my shorts, and my legs." "Great job, Angel," she exclaimed clasping her hands together.

We continued through the rest of the exercise until I felt a new sense of calm wash over. I looked up at Gracie and smiled, "thank you so much for this." She smiled, "of course! Just doing my job."