The Abyss of Misery...

She looked down at her usual clipboard and when Derek stepped forward to shake her hand she ignored it.

“Cocaine, huh, booze … what else?”

Derek noticed the rebuff but forced a smile, hoping to charm her for future purposes. After seeing she would be unmoved, he responded with hesitation: “Sex addiction.”

Ms. Fisher nodded, “And…”

“Nothing.”

“Says here you’re also a pathological liar.”

“Huh?”

“Your first evaluation,” she flatly responded.

“Oh.”

“Go on in. Your bags will be in your room. How are you as far as detox?”

“Huh?”

“Detox,” she repeated with irritation in her voice.

“Oh, um, fine.”

“Hmm,” she studied him. “We’ll wait and see about that. After you detox, expect orientation to begin.”

“No, I’m clean,” refuted Derek.

“Uh-huh,” she wrote something down.

“What did you write?”

She looked up and went to the door, opened it, and waited for Derek to enter. Derek still wanted to know what she wrote. He dropped it and looked up at the doors and into the still interior.

“Fuck,” he said under his breath as he walked into what seemed like the abyss of misery.

The Abused -- Coming Spring 2020