Danielle took in the doctor’s words, but for someone as stubborn as she was, Dani didn’t believe him. Not when the answer to his last question was, “Yeah.” Danielle spoke quietly, her words heavy. “But she had the right to. I understand where she was coming from.” The complexity of their relationship wasn’t something that she could get into right now, and explain it to its fullest. It was ten years worth of ups and downs, after all – trying to condense it was difficult. “After I was discharged, I moved here… kind of started over with my family and everything.” She paused. “And then I ran into an ex and we started seeing each other again.” Looking back up at the doctor, Danielle grit her teeth, hating to divulge all of this to a relative stranger. Therapy was odd. “Spencer had been there for me before I ever met this person the first time, during it, and then after when they broke my heart.” Taking deep breaths through her nose as she spoke, Dani found it easier to concentrate if she settled the swirling rush of emotions in her chest, so she leaned forward to grab the mini-rake and start drawing in the zen garden again. “We were more than best friends – you know, when I wasn’t with the other person. But when I got here, I kind of cut contact with her and focused all my energy into the person i’m with now. But, uh… she kept calling…” Trailing off, Danielle’s heart began to hurt. “And that’s when it happened.” Alluding to the kidnapping, rape, and torture, Danielle unconsciously stabbed the rake into the sand in frustration. “I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most – as her best friend. Instead, I was touching someone else while some son of a bitch was putting his hands on her. And I didn’t even know; because I didn’t care.” Finishing, Danielle stabbed the sand again with the rake and then knocked it over so that it rested lifeless against the garden. “So, yeah, I get why she blames me. I blame me too.”Â