"How was your week Alene?" Sabrina wondered as she placed a cup of tea next to Alene.
"Nightmarish, I keep having bad dreams..." Alene gazed at the floor below her, her eyed bloodshot, she was skinnier than ever before, a shell of her former self.
"Still can't sleep?" Sabrina asked, her voice full of concern, "this is our fifth meeting Alene, you want to tell me you didn't sleep for over a month?"
"Not really, I sometime get a short nap but it's never longer than a few hours and I wake up screaming and crying." Alene took a sip of the tea, a futile attempt to gain a small measure of comfort. "Can I be honest Sabrina?"
"Of course you can Alene. Your opinion in this room is not judged." Sabrina said, trying to put on a positive smile for her patient.
"I stopped having sex, I am no longer sexually active..." Tears started forming in Alene's eyes, the words felt like hot knifes as the left her pale lips.
"I have to admit I am concerned with what you just said. You strike me as a very sexual individual, am I right." Alene nodded yes, she was once a goddess of sex but now... now she is a broken shell...
"I want to hear about your social life, are you going out with the girls? When was the last time you took any of them on a date?" Sabrina talked in a slow, deliberate voice, she considered every word that left her ruby lips, when she finished silence filled the air as Alene thought about the question. Sabrina used the time to adjust her bra, she felt it was too tight like her breasts were growing bigger recently.
"I think it was a few days before Jen's visit." Alene said in a hesitant voice.
"You mean before the rape?" Sabrina shot at her, secretly gauging her reaction. Alene nodded in silence, tears started to stream down her face. Again, Sabrina noticed and reacted. "I seem to have upset you Alene, I am sorry, here, wipe the tears," she handed a box of tissue paper to the now weeping girl, "please go outside and take a few moments before we move on."
When Alene returned to the room Sabrina set in her chair with a small booklet by her side, "Well Alene, there are some bad news and some good news. Please take a seat," Alene did as asked and listened attentively to what Sabrina had to say. "The bad news is that I have concluded my assessment of your mental state and I have the results. I am going to say a few words that might come off as scary and offensive but please understand that they are only labels to help us find a way to overcome this ordeal." Alene nodded and listened carefully, "I have diagnosed two problems, the first is post-traumatic stress, you probably know it as PTSD, have you ever heard of this?"
"I did," Alene rubbed her face as if trying to hide it, "but doesn't it only happen to solders?"
