Free And Then Came A Lion (Lions and Lambs Book 1) by Cecilia Marie Pulliam Page A

about the dreams.”
    “I dream about bears…”
    He listened to her descriptions without comment, speaking only when she finished. “Susannah, do you know what the bears represent?”
    “The pedophile monsters?”
    “No”
    “No?”
    “They represent your repressed anger. As mentioned earlier, you’ve tried to bury your emotions and it isn’t working. They are like those raging animals, growing larger and larger until they explode. You are afraid to express them for fear if you do, they will destroy you, and everyone around you.
    “Now, I have some exercises which will diffuse your anger in a constructive, positive way...”
    Susannah drove straight home, went directly to the bedroom, and locked the door. She sat on the edge of the bed, pulled out a sheet of blank paper and a pencil from the packet Dr. Sekelsky had given her. The idea was to write a letter to the monster that had attacked her and tell him how he made her feel, how much he hurt her.
    She wrote his name at the top of the page. Emotion rose and overflowed. I hate you. I hate you for what you did to me! I hate you for what you’ve done to those sweet little girls. She stabbed at the name until the pencil broke. Her anger unabated, she tore the paper into tiny pieces, threw them on the floor and crushed them into the carpet, stopping only when her legs could no longer move.
    She picked up the scraps, flew down to the kitchen, and tossed them into the sink. She grabbed the kitchen matches and set the pieces on fire. When nothing remained except a pile of ash, she rinsed the residue down the garbage disposal.

Chapter Eight
     
    “Susannah.” Dr. Sekelsky began. “Do you know you can manipulate your dreams?”
    She shook her head.
    “When you have your next dream about the bear, don’t run. Face him.”
    “I’ve tried, with terrible consequences.”
    “No, I am not talking about fighting with it and trying to destroy it. I mean facing it, forcing it to back down away from you.”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Try.”
    Susannah walked out of the office with knots in her stomach. Face the bear and not fight for her survival? Wouldn’t the animal tear her apart? So far, all of her encounters were horribly violent. She prayed the dreams would just end ― just go away. Her heart was tired.
    ***
    Rachel was waiting in the break room with coffee.
    “You must be physic.”
    “I just know my best friend, coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.”
    “You’re right, Rachel. Thank you.”
    Susannah accepted the mug, and gestured toward Aaron’s office. “And how is he this morning?”
    Rachel’s eyes flickered to the office and back to Susannah. “Good. The quarterly report showed increased sales, lower overhead and increased profits. Not a lot, but some, and he’s in a much better mood this morning.”
    Susannah sipped her coffee. “Well, can’t blame him if he’s anxious when sales are down. After all, he’s held accountable. They couldn’t pay me enough to take his job.”
    “Me either. I’m happy as a clam just doing my daily tasks, shutting everything down, and going home.”
    Susannah nodded and glanced at the clock. “Well, guess it’s that time, already.”
    She followed Rachel down the hall to their desks, turned on her computer, and groaned. “Ugh. I forgot, end of the quarter reports. Wanna trade jobs today?”
    Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? I have to close out the pay period, the monthly and quarterly financial statements, and reconcile the bank statement. I’ll take your reports in a heartbeat as long as you do my stuff.”
    “On second thought, I’ll take the boring data entry.”
    “Such a friend you are.”
    At lunch, they took Susannah’s car to the park.
    Susannah stared out the windshield. “I hate it when the snow blows sideways.”
    “Yeah, I do too. Hey, instead of staying here and eating cold lunches, let’s go over to the café and get soup. A bowl of hot soup in a warm building