His gaze sharpened slightly behind his glasses.
“But Haelyn, if you are experiencing episodes again you know you can be honest with me. Honesty is the only thing that keeps me from questioning whether you’re truly adjusting well outside the facility. I can’t help you properly if you only tell me what you think I want to hear.”
Don’t trust him.
He’s trying to trick you.
Dr. Loomis paused briefly. “My goal isn’t to send you back; it’s to keep you stable enough to stayout.”
Yeah, okay.
Ever since my release, you’ve been looking at me like I’m one bad day away from chewing through drywall and chasing pigeons barefoot through traffic. One wrong answer and suddenly everybody would start whispering about “regression” and “concerns” again. At this point, you should’ve just kept me locked up if you’re gonna spend every session waiting for me totwitch wrong, blink too hard, or accidentally confirm whatever diagnosis you’ve already made up in your head about me.
Those weremyactual thoughts, and I was itching to say every last one of them out loud.
I kept my face calm even while my pulse climbed.
“I’m fine,” I assured him softly. “I promise.”
Liar.
But smile. Normal people smile.
Taking the voices advice, I smiled.
And somehow, based on Dr. Loomis’s expression, that seemed to concern him even more.
Still, the rest of the session passed without incident. I answered his questions carefully, stayed calm, and gave him just enough honesty to sound believable without revealing anything dangerous. By the end of it, he still looked suspicious, but suspicion alone wasn’t enough to get me recommitted to Willowgate.
Thirty minutes later, I stepped out into the afternoon warmth and exhaled slowly. The outside world still didn’t feel completely real to me yet. Everything was louder than I remembered, brighter than I liked, and I had entirelytoomuch freedom all at once.
My phone rang before I even made it halfway down the sidewalk.
It was Zonnique.
A slow grin spread across my lips.
I cleared my throat, smoothed my voice into something bright and innocent, and then answered.
“Hello?”
“Talia? Good afternoon, this is Zonnique. I—”
There was a pause, the sound of papers shuffling in the background.
“Well… I have good news. You got the job.”
I gasped softly, hand to my chest like I hadn’t already known it was coming. “Oh my God, seriously? Are you… are you sure?”
Zonnique chuckled lightly, though she still sounded guarded. “I’m sure. Your background came back clean, and your interview was… memorable. But there’s still one more step before we move forward with the contract. You’ll need to complete a full health screening which consists of bloodwork, vitals, psych clearance, the usual.”
“Okay, sure. When?” I asked quickly.
“In two days. We’ll meet at a private clinic downtown. I’ll text you the address.”
I smiled softly, twisting a strand of hair around my finger.
“That’s fine. Um… will Mer—” I caught myself quickly. “I mean,Mr. Belviorbe there? I just thought it might be nice to meet the man whose child I’d potentially be carrying.”
