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He froze, as if caught in the act, hisgaze darting towards the door then back to her, a deer caught in headlights.‘It's nothing,’ he muttered, but the tightness in his voice betrayed him.
Penelope leaned forward slightly, bridgingthe gap with her presence. ‘It's clearly something. You're in a safe spacehere. Whatever it is, it's okay to talk about it.’
Darren looked away, his eyes fixed on somedistant point beyond the walls of the office.
‘I feel... lost,’ he admitted, each wordheavy, as if dredged from a deep, dark well. ‘Like nobody really sees me.’
Penelope remained still, allowing theweight of his words to settle. She observed him, a young man adrift in a sea ofunseen battles, his plea for invisibility now a cry for recognition.
‘It's like I'm screaming in a room full ofpeople, but there's no sound,’ Darren continued, his fingers interlocking. ‘Ican't connect... with anyone. It's all just surface, no depth. Everyone isplastic. I feel like I’m made of clay.’
Now Penelope felt like she was gettingsomewhere. It felt like a raw and unguarded confession. Exactly what she liked.
‘Feeling disconnected in a world thatprioritizes superficial interactions can be incredibly isolating. The sensationof being unseen, unheard, it's more common than you might think.’
‘Is it?’
Penelope nodded. ‘Absolutely. In fact, Ihave a daughter about your age, and I've seen her grapple with similarfeelings. The digital age, for all its connections, can ironically foster aprofound sense of isolation.’
She watched Darren closely, noting theflicker of surprise in his eyes at the mention of her daughter. It was adeliberate disclosure, intended to humanize her in his eyes, to bridge the gapwith something tangible.
‘It's challenging, navigating a worldwhere genuine connections feel increasingly rare. But acknowledging thisfeeling, as you're doing now, is a brave and crucial step towards finding yourway,’ Penelope finished.
Darren shifted slightly, the mention ofher daughter seemingly grounding him for a moment.
‘You’re a mom?’ the young man asked.
Penelope smiled softly, acknowledging theshift in the conversation. ‘Yes, I am. It gives me a unique perspective onthings, especially when it comes to understanding the struggles of the youngergeneration.’
‘What kind of mom are you?’
Penelope paused, taken aback by theunexpected question. It wasn't typical for therapy sessions to veer into thepersonal details of the therapist's life, but Darren's inquiry seemed to comefrom a place of genuine curiosity—or perhaps something deeper, a need tounderstand the person sitting across from him.
‘Supportive and understanding. I try to bethere for her, to guide her without imposing my own views too strongly. Just asI am here for you.’
Darren nodded, absorbing her words with apensive look. After a moment of silence, he ventured further.
‘How would your daughter feel if youjust... disappeared?’
Penelope wasn’t sure she heard thequestion right. ‘Excuse me? Disappeared?’
‘Yeah.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Like if you died. Suddenly.’
Penelope felt her blood turn cold. Thequestion veered into territory that felt too intimate, too fraught with anundercurrent of something she couldn't quite name. For a fleeting moment, shewondered if she had overstepped by bringing her daughter into the conversation,inadvertently opening a door she hadn't intended to.
‘Well, she’d be devastated, of course. Anychild would be, no matter how old. But she’s strong, and I trust her to be finewithout me. But we don’t need to talk about...’
‘So, you're saying children who aren'tstrong wouldn't be fine?’ Darren's insistence cut through Penelope's attemptsto steer the conversation back to safer ground.
Caught off guard, Penelope paused,assessing the depth behind Darren's question. The shift in his demeanor, theprobing nature of his inquiry, it all pointed to something more than casualcuriosity.
‘Strength comes in many forms, not all ofwhich are immediately visible,’ Penelope replied. ‘Resilience isn't about alack of vulnerability. It's about facing challenges, even in the absence ofsomeone important. It's about finding strength, sometimes even beyond what wethought we were capable of.’
‘Facing challenges,’ Darren repeated.
