Reestablishing The Connection

(Takes Place Wed.)

Sydney had been focusing, as much as she could on the Melissa/Doug incident but she did have other students that she needed to see. Ones that she also cared about. Some of them she’d be seeing for the first time and others she had seen in the past, basically, picking up from their summer break.

Summer was an odd time for the doctor. She technically had no clients in the summer because she wasn’t in private practice. She did however keep up with all the students she counseled, via zoom calls, and the ones that needed it she referred to private practices in the areas they would be at over the summer.

One student she had started counseling last year, at the insistence of her brother was Rose Newall. Sydney pulled out Rose’s folder. It had been about a medium thickness before this year but due to the trauma that Rose endured from the accident and losing her brother; all of the counseling sessions Rose had done when she was away, in the hospital, the physical rehab center, and when she was home were now all in here. as well. Making her folder substantially thicker than last year.

Sydney looked through the folder marked, Newhall, Rosemarie, familiarizing herself with it once again but she had known some of it. She knew that Rose’s relationship with her parents wasn’t good; to put it mildly. She knew that Rose had been close to her brother, William, and the fact that losing him had devastated the girl hadn’t surprised her. Also, Sydney had, last year, counseled her about what had happened with Declan and the arranged marriage situation. Sydney wished, many, many times there was a magic wand to help make at least some troubles go away for some of her students but there wasn’t.

It had been Sydney’s call to insist that Rose and Sam room together. Knowing that Sam was best friends with Rose and protective of Rose made that decision easier. Rose would need someone looking after her, and Sam had already decided on that job, herself.

As for other things in Rose’s file; like many of the students here she had been tested but in Rose’s case it had to do with her art. The official report of her being tested as a prodigy was in here. Sydney knew about Rose’s art career and how and why it had been kept a secret. Rose got good grades and never got into trouble but the ones that needed help weren’t always the trouble makers.

It was time to call the girl in; so like always, Sydney called Rose out of class and to her office. Rose arrived a few minutes later and Sydney instantly noticed a difference between now and the last time she had seen her. Rose sat down when offered; Sydney was well aware of how polite Rose was just by the way she had been raised. So, she knew the girl wouldn’t sit until offered or start the conversation.

“It’s good to see you back, Rose.” Sydney did mean that. “I wanted to see how you’re adjusting to being back.”

“Thank you,” Rose responded. “I’m glad to be back and I’ve been adjusting fine. I’ve not been back long enough to know for sure but it seems to be going well.”

Dr. Williams nodded; unlike other students, she knew Rose was telling the truth. “That’s good to hear. I heard you had some issues, last week at gymnastics. Are you doing well physically?”

“I did but I’m fine. Dr. Hammond checked me out though I’m guessing that’s in my folder. He said to just not overdo it.” Rose was trying hard to not say something else.

The doctor made a note and then asked. “I know sometimes it’s hard to judge what exactly overdoing it means when you deal with new parameters for that.”

“It’s, kind of, impossible to tell. Sam is worried I don’t know when to just tell someone that it’s too much or that I ignore the signs.” Rose said.

“Do you ignore the signs?” Sydney asked, taking notes as she went.

“I don’t know. I just…” Rose suddenly stopped talking.

“You just?” Sydney’s way of easing her back into it.

“I just don’t want to miss out on not doing something. I feel like if I don’t do it right then; I might not…” Rose once again stopped talking. Sydney realized what this was directly linked to and she understood it was hard to talk about.

“Get a chance later.” Dr. Williams finished the statement. When Rose nodded; it made sense. “I can understand that. Traumatic events sometimes have a way of changing us. Some people become scared to go about their everyday lives, others turn to drugs or alcohol or other addictions, and then others do other things. What your experiencing isn’t uncommon nor is it that bad; as long as you don’t make yourself sick.” She paused and then asked. “What is your greatest fear?”

“Losing someone I care about but that’s already happened,” Rose stated.

“I am sorry you lost your brother. You two were close and it makes sense that would be your biggest fear.” Rose thanked Sydney for the condolence and the doctor went on. “What about you, for yourself? What is the greatest fear about what might happen to you?”

“You know there was a time I would have said death but I now know there are fates worse than that. I mean I don’t want to die or anything like that but when I was in the coma and near death; I had no idea that’s what was happening to me. I have far more of a fear of somehow knowing everything that’s going on but being trapped in my body.” She paused. “Why is that? I’m not scared I’ll die before I get to do everything I want I’m scared I just won’t be able to do those things for some reason.”

“My guess is it’s because you were trapped in your body. You don’t remember being in the coma which is common but it’s been proven that people in comas can hear what’s going on and are aware of what’s happening.” Sydney paused as she spotted Rose acknowledging what she said. “Like I said your response to what happened to you is fairly normal but if you’re pushing yourself too far sometimes we need to address that and get you to recognize when you’ve had enough and work on slowing down a little. We will work on that in future sessions.” She made a few more notes and then asked. “How are you doing riding in vehicles?”

“Pretty good, I still get a little nervous in cars but it’s really minor. I’ve only done short trips though so I can’t say how I’d do on a longer trip.” Rose explained. “I did sign up for Driver’s Ed next semester so I’m nervous about that but I also really want to do it.”

A few more notes and Sydney said: “ That’s common as well. We can work on making you feel more comfortable before you take Driver’s Ed.” The doctor then asked. “‘Is there anything else I should know?”

Rose nodded and then a smile crossed her face. “I’m dating someone.”

“Oh?” Sydney explained. Coming from Rose, that was actually really good, well, if the person was good.

“JD or sorry I mean Jonathan Davenport. We just started dating this past weekend, at the beach party.” Rose said.

Sydney nodded. She knew Jonathan was a transfer, military family, that kind of thing. Anything else she knew about him was shoved to the back of her mind for the moment. Rose seemed rather happy and that was important. “Well, you seem happy which is good.” Rose nodded in agreement. “Anything else?” When Rose responded no; Sydney said. “Ok, well, then I’ll see you next week.” She gave the girl a note and sent her back to class.

Sydney liked that she already had a good doctor-patient relationship with Rose; something that had to be worked on a great deal when Rose had first arrived at the school but they had gotten there and she was glad it hadn’t slipped away despite Rose not being in school for all those months.