Pieces of Summer

“No, she doesn’t. She just wants to be better, and all you’re doing is making her worse. You’re torturing her.”

Another cut.

“It’s all in your mind,” Dr. Kravitz says as I scream, restrained to the bed. “The pressure isn’t real.”

“It is. It hurts. Make it stop. Cut it. Just cut it and let it out! Please!”

“It’s not real, Mika. Play the story out in your head. Finish it. Let it work the way you need it to. Get control.”

Another cut.

“Her heartrate is too high. Someone call an ambulance,” a woman yells.

“No! She can do this. She just has to get control.”

“Dr. Kravitz, she needs a hospital!”

Another cut.

“Stop! No!”

“Tell me a time, Mika. Tell me a time to be here. I might show up early or I might show up late. You have to break past this barrier. It’s the biggest trigger.”

“No. No times. Please no. Please don’t. I can’t do it again. It gets worse.”

Another cut.

Another.

Another.

Another.

Chapter 38

CHASE

The second Blake told me he was having a drink with Moose Knuckle because he just got back into town, I knew it was time to get some answers. Yeah, it’s shady as shit, but I don’t care.

We’re at the bar in the bowling alley, and I’m staring over at the lone bald eagle near the entryway.

Hunter and Blake act like they’ve been best friends for years, but I have a reason for being here, and I’m impatient.

“What’s up with Mika?” I blurt out. In my head, it had more finesse than that.

Hunter’s drink pauses in front of his lips, and he slowly shifts his gaze toward me.

“What about her?” he asks warily, lowering his drink as he studies me.

Blake’s eyebrows knit together like he’s confused.

“When I knew Mika, she loved numbers. She kept a strict schedule, and she was a major control freak. Now… things are different. What happened?”

He shifts uncomfortably, and Blake studies him.

“Not my shit to tell. If Mika wants you to know, she’ll tell you herself.”

“I want to be with Mika, but she’s holding back,” I explain, trying not to feel like a prying bastard.