The ticks of the clock echoed in the small office, punctuating each second of the silence like a sarcastic slow clap. Thea twisted a loose thread of her sweater around her finger and tried not to cringe at each one.

Great job, Thea. You've even managed to render your therapist speechless.

"I think we should stop there for today," Dr. Harper said, clicking her pen closed.

Thea squirmed and ducked her head, half in shame and half in acquiescence with a nod. After six months of therapy, she had expected some sort of change, possibly a revelation. It was obvious Dr. Harper felt the same, considering the stiff, aggravated tone and her inability to keep from scowling.

"Listen. I want you to try some things this week," she added just as Thea got up to leave. "You need to push your boundaries in order to grow, Thea. You have to start getting outside your comfort zone."

"How far outside my comfort zone? Like are we talking changing the TV volume without a remote, or living in a commune? Cause if I'm being honest I'm not comfortable with either," Thea tried to joke.

Dr. Harper crossed her arms, wrinkling her silk blouse in her frustration. Thea bit her lip and tried not to think about how much of her income it would take to even afford a shirt that nice.

Realizing the doctor was being serious, Thea shuffled her feet and asked, "Are you sure I'm ready to be doing things outside my comfort zone?"

Dr. Harper ran a hand across her tired eyes. "Thea, if you waited until you were ready to do things, you'd never do them. It took you three years to decide if you wanted to switch to a different shampoo. You have to start taking chances. You have to start living."

"Chances? Like what? Nothing dangerous, right?"

Dr. Harper shook her head and sighed. "Just start small. Go to the grocery store instead of having the groceries delivered. Take the elevator instead of the stairs."

Thea took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "The elevator?"

"It will be fine, Thea. Just try to do those two things this week, okay? You can do it. You have to start challenging yourself. You don't need to be a recluse at 23. There's still so much of your life to live!"

Thea huffed. "I've made some progress," she argued. "After all, I started coming to these sessions in person, rather than on video chat."

Dr. Harper nodded. "You're right and that was great, but it's been three months since then. You need to constantly keep pushing yourself if you want to get better."

Thea forced a nod. It was either this or listen to her mother cry for half an hour about how she would never have grandchildren because her daughter was too weird and antisocial.

Out of habit, Thea made her way out of the office and toward the stairs without thinking. She pushed open the door, but then paused, turning back to look at the elevator. Taking a deep breath, she let the door to the stairs close and walked over and pushed the call button.

Elevators were designed to make people feel uncomfortable, Thea thought. They were cleverly marketed for convenience, but were in actuality a torture device. The sensation of being packed together like sardines while being forced to listen to tinny, irritating music could easily stretch a person's patience and sanity.

In the past she had tried relaxation exercises. She had closed her eyes and chanted "ohm" while facing the wall. It hadn't fixed her anxiety. What it had done was freak everyone else out and get her concerned stares.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, Thea prayed, for the sixth time, that they would reach the ground floor soon. But since the elevator had already stopped at almost every floor between here and there she had her doubts.

"Oh, why didn't I take the stairs?" she whispered under her breath. "Today was not the day to confront my fears-"

"You talking to yourself?" A woman standing next to her inquired.

Thea had been trying not interact with anyone, but now that the woman had addressed her, she had little choice.

Putting on a strained half-smile she replied, "I'm afraid of elevators. Should have taken the stairs." And hoped that would be the end of it.

"That's a stupid thing to be afraid of," the woman replied with a roll of her beady eyes. "Kids these days. Afraid of their own shadows."

"Uhm, I guess," Thea croaked out, trying her best to inch farther away from the woman.

Thea had never appreciated the definition of claustrophobia, which immediately starts off by saying that it is an unreasonable fear. Nothing made more sense to her than the fear of being trapped in an enclosed space with complete strangers. Gross, sweaty strangers. And television had done nothing but encourage that paralyzing terror, with scenes depicting people falling to their deaths.

Another person stepped onto the elevator and Thea was forced even farther back, caught somewhere between a little boy with his finger jammed up his nose and a man who kept tapping his foot and checking his watch.

Her heart rate skyrocketed and her lungs compressed to the point of pain. Knowing a panic attack was imminent, which would surely lead to an asthma attack, Thea fumbled for the inhaler in her pocket.

The sheer panic she felt when it slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor was indescribable. It wasn't like in the movies. It didn't fall in slow motion and there was no cry of an exaggerated, "Nooooo!"

What she did do was make a sound akin to the yelp of a dog having its paw stepped on combined with a deflating balloon. Embarrasment and blind terror caused her to shrink back against the wall as people turned to stare.

"What's wrong with her?" One of the people near the front of the elevator asked.

"Who cares? She's probably one of the crazies from the therapy offices on floor twelve," another person very accurately deduced.

She had just come from floor twelve and was absolutely, without a doubt, fruit loops crazy. Dr. Harper had assured her that she was an expert on handling phobias, but after today's incident Thea wasn't so sure. She felt more afraid than ever. What would more likely happen, instead of her overcoming her fears, was an asthma attack that would kill her and she would die surrounded by smelly people who would probably leave her body in the elevator to rot.

It was that thought that finally triggered the panic attack and without her inhaler, Thea soon found herself succumbing to unconsciousness from lack of oxygen.

When she woke up it was to the feeling of a puff of air brushing her face. Coughing, she opened her eyes and blinked repeatedly in an attempt to make sense of what she was seeing.

They had left her on the elevator. Every single person had witnessed her faint and they had just left her to rot, just as she had predicted. And Dr. Harper wondered why she disliked people. Standing up and brushing herself off she thought, 'Well at least I can get to the ground floor without stopping now.'

Thea pushed the first floor button and waited for the elevator to move. Just as the doors were almost completely closed, a hand shot out and a family of four ushered their way inside and the nightmare began all over again.
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A/N: Well, how do you like your reintroduction to Thea? Now you get to see more of her prior to her change in purgatory. Hope you enjoyed reading!