(WARNING: This short story contains the topic of suicide. If that triggers you, please do not read! I totally understand.)

Today was the first day of my therapy session. Dealing with so much shit for the past 3 in a half years, I was tired of holding everything inside and constantly staying angry all the time. It was time to make a change. I didn't like who I was becoming as a person.

"Ms. Lane?" I looked up at the lady who called my name standing at the door waiting.

I got up from the seat walking over towards her.

She took me to some chairs that were waiting outside of a door.

"Please, have a seat, Mr. Jackson will be with you in just a few moments."

"Okay, thank you." I said while taking a seat.

Everything started rushing to me all at once while I was waiting. All of these negative thoughts. I tried pushing them away, but it didn't help.

What if it's just some creepy strange ugly old guy who doesn't really care? Why does it have to be a man? I mean, I knew when I made an appointment it was going to be with a man. I don't know why I am making a big deal about it now, it is already too late. Maybe I can just leave and forget all about it?

All of a sudden, the door open and stood Mr. Jackson.

"Ms. Lane?" He said in a manly, but very sweet toned voice.

All I could do was stare up at him in pure awe. I have never seen a man look like that before in my whole entire life. I take back what I said about him being old, ugly and creepy, he was far from that! He took my breath away.

Mr. Jackson was tall, but not too tall. He had on a green button down shirt, tucked in to his black jeans, that hugged his small body perfectly. Mr. Jackson's hair was pulled back in to a low ponytail, with a few curls that rested on his face. He is by far the most beautiful man that I have ever laid eyes on.

"Ms. Lane?" Mr. Jackson said again.

He took me out of my day dream when he spoke my name again. I felt like an idiot and so embarrassed.

I stood up walking towards him not making eye contact and he let me in the room. When I entered he shut the door behind me. I just stood there being awkward.

"Please, take a seat." He directed me towards the couch that he had in his spacious office.

I took a seat admiring his beautiful office. Everything was so high class. The paintings on the walls must have cost a fortune. His pristine furniture.

Mr. Jackson took a seat in front of me in his chair. We looked at each other in silence for what felt like forever, but it was only for a matter of seconds until he spoke up.

"Shall we begin?" All I could do was nod my head.

"Okay, Ms. Lane, just to get started I'm going to go over a few things with you first. First thing, whatever is spoken about in this room, stays in this room. Everything is confidential. Secondly, in order for this to work, you have to be open and honest with me, so that we can work on your situation and help you get through whatever you are going through. Thirdly, this is the safest environment that you can openly share anything that is on your mind. I don't judge anyone. I am just here to help, okay?" I just nodded my head in agreement.

"Okay, Ms. Lane, start off by telling me about you and what brings you to seek therapy?"

"My name is Marleigh, and I am still going through a tough time after my divorce."

"How long were you married for?" Mr. Jackson asked me.

"Together for 5 years, married 3 years and been divorced for 6 months."

"What was your marriage like? How did it end up in a divorce?"

"It was hell. I was being mentally, emotionally, verbally and sometimes physically abused by him. I got tired of him cheating on me constantly after we got married and him denying it every time I confronted him about it. Every time I brought it up, bad things would happen."

"Please elaborate, what kind of bad things?"

"Sometimes he would choke me out until I was unconscious. That was only whenever he was really outraged. He would throw stuff, hit me, and blacked my eyes. One time he broke my arm and I had to lie and say that I fell down the stairs. He would call me vulgar names. His favorite thing to call me was a dirty little slutty cunt, whore, sometimes a bitch. He told me I was a worthless piece of shit that I would never amount to anything in this world and that no one would ever want me and how horrifying I am to look at."

"Did you ever reach out to your family?"

"No, he made me lose any type of contact with my parents and siblings. Only because he didn't want them to know what was happening and he wanted full control over me."

"I see. How did you cope with everything for so long? Did you ever talk to anyone?"

"You are the first person who I have talked about this with. I don't have anyone to talk to. I couldn't have friends, I couldn't have my family. Instead, I started cutting myself, I have tried to commit suicide before a few times and I started sleeping around with different people. Men and women."

"Please don't tell me that you are still cutting yourself and that you are still hooking up with other people." I stayed quiet for a couple of minutes.

"Listen, hurting yourself and sleeping with random people isn't going to resolve the issue. You are better than that, I know that you are." Mr. Jackson said sincerely, however it just pissed me off.

"Mr. Jackson, no offense, but you don't know me. Only besides what I just told you. You can't sit there and tell me that I am better than that when you haven't experienced the shit that I did. I don't need you to pretend that you care, all you are here for is to listen to peoples problems and to get a damn pay check."

"And that's where you crossed the line, Marleigh. You are so wrong about everything. I wouldn't be here if I didn't care about people so much. I am here to listen to you talk and vent about anything and everything you need to let out. You are the one who decided to come, no one forced you to be here. If you don't like me and the way I do things, you are always free to leave. However, you aren't going to sit there critiquing me and my job when all I'm trying to do is help you."

"I don't need you judging me for cutting myself and sleeping with other people! You said this was a judgment free place."

"When did I ever judge you? I never judged you. I just simply asked if you were still cutting yourself and if you were still sleeping with other people. That's not judging, that's a question."

"You told me that I was better than that. That is judging."

"That's not judging, that is just stating the obvious. You are too perfect, beautiful and attractive to hurt yourself and just to give yourself to hopeless men and women freely that want to use you and your body. Save yourself for someone who wants to enjoy getting to know you better and who will appreciate everything about you. I am pretty confident that you have some good redeemable qualities, more than what you realize. You just have to give it a chance and be happy. You need a real man, not a little boy or girl."

Wait, did Mr. Jackson just call me beautiful and attractive?

"Mr. Jackson, d-did you just call me beautiful and attractive?"

"Yeah, so, what if I did? And please, call me Michael." Michael asked getting up from his seat sitting down beside of me on the couch.

"B-but I'm none of those things." I said putting my head down.

"Yes, you are." Michael placed a finger under my chin making me look at him.

"You are perfect Marleigh. We are just going to have to work on boosting up your confidence again." I stared into Michael's big brown eyes, while he stared into my brown eyes too.

Before things went any further, Michael pulled away standing up.

"I think that is all for today, I would like to see you back next week sometime and we will go over some exercises. Sound good?"

"Y-yes, sounds good."

Michael grabbed my paperwork leading us out of his office to the check out desk where they scheduled me for another appointment.

"See you next week, call me if you need to see me sooner." Michael said.

"Okay, will do." The lady behind the desk gave me an appointment card with the date and time on it after she scheduled me for another appointment.

"See you soon." She said and I gave her a nod before walking about.

(This chapter was written short, but stay tuned for the next chapter. It'll be getting spicy!)