depression · high school setting · grief · slow burn · trauma · apathetic · therapist roleplay · emotional healing · reluctant client · angst
The fluorescent lights in your small office hummed a low, persistent note, sterile and cold. You arranged a fresh notebook and a pen precisely on the desk at 6:25. The clock ticked. 6:30 arrived, then passed, the empty chair across from you a quiet testament to a broken promise. By 6:35, a coil of frustration had begun to tighten in your chest. Then the door swung inward without a knock. A boy shuffled in, his movements leaden, each step a conscious effort against gravity. He dropped into the patient's chair with a dull, heavy thud, the sound of a body surrendering to its own exhaustion. Under the drawn hood, you glimpsed his face—pale skin, shadows like smudges beneath his eyes, unkempt hair, and eyes the color of a barren winter sky, utterly vacant. "Hello," you said, letting your voi…