Free Straightjacket by Meredith Towbin

willing to do anything. He asked if she wanted to try medication. She immediately answered yes. He told her about some side effects she might experience, but she all but ignored his words. If there was a possibility that she would no longer be ruled by this, she would risk anything.
    “Our time is up, but I think we made a great deal of progress. There’s a lot more to do, though. Good work today.”
    “Thank you so much,” she said with her heart full of boundless gratitude. A thank-you couldn’t even begin to cover it.
    “You’re very welcome.” He stood up and opened the door. She followed, but stopped abruptly before leaving with the attendant.
    “Just one more thing.”
    “Yes?” He smiled.
    “Do you think you could have them take me back using the stairs instead of the elevator?”
    “Of course, of course.” He nodded at the attendant. “I guess we’ll cover that in our next session.” A tiny spark of hope flickered deep inside Anna, little by little incinerating the dread and misery that had taken root years ago.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Caleb spent the rest of the day in his room. He didn’t want to push Anna away more than he already had, so he avoided the common area. Lunch had come and gone. He’d head over for dinner but keep his distance from her, eat quickly, and get back to his room. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice he was there. Maybe after a few days, he could try again.
    He kept running through what had happened that morning. She was right; he didn’t know anything about her. He should have waited much, much longer to tell her. Everything was worse, and he probably caused her to plunge deeper into a depression. He couldn’t bear the thought that he’d made her suffer when all he wanted to do was make everything that was bad in her life go away.
    Having been at his desk for hours, he had nothing to show for it, just the barest outline of a face looking out from the paper—blank eyes, an expressionless mouth, a line that might become a chin. It was no one, and he didn’t know who it would become. His mind was too busy with thoughts of Anna; there was nothing left over to give to his drawing. Sitting there was useless, but he didn’t want to get up and face the fact that he was failing, face the crushing boredom spanning in front of him until the lights went out.
    Maybe if he put on some music it might distract him long enough to get some momentum going. He wiggled the ear buds from his iPod into place and flipped through the menu, settling on a track by the Killers. The music flooded his mind. It felt good to let something outside of himself in. He closed his eyes and let his body slump down over the desk, resting his chin in his palm.
    Just as the song ended, Caleb flinched from the sensation of a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to find Anna standing over him. The urge to drift off to sleep vanished instantly thanks to a fresh surge of adrenaline. But then again, maybe he was dreaming, since there was no way this girl would voluntarily get near him. He yanked the ear buds out and stood up, shoving the chair out from behind him. She was still there.
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “You didn’t answer when I said your name, so I just figured…”
    “No, no, it’s okay, you didn’t scare me.” Why did he have to jump up so fast? “What are you doing here?” It didn’t come out right, and he felt like an idiot. “I mean, I thought after what happened, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Somehow he’d managed to make himself look like an even bigger idiot thanks to his stupid babbling. He prayed for someone to stop him.
    She backed away a little. “It’s okay. I actually came to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It’s not like you were being awful to me or something.”
    “No, you have nothing to apologize for.” His tone was almost scolding. “I’m the one