The Psychologist

By Andres Cantu

At the age of twelve, I came to the conclusion that all the people in this world, including the members of my family, were against me. I was never a child of trouble, but my parents treated me as such.

For example, I always had to get home at five o'clock in the afternoon. This strict schedule drastically reduced my "hours of play" away from home, I couldn't get visits from friends at home and I couldn't go to anyone's house. I had to do my homework as soon as I got home, no matter how long it took. My parents never bought me video games, forced me to read books and then write essays to verify that I had read them.

But let's not talk about them anymore, let's talk about my school's psychologist. To save his entity, we'll call it Dr. Tanner. Like most private schools, mine had a psychologist available in emotional, academic, social, behavioral conflict class schedules, etc.

To be honest, I'd never seen any students talking to Dr. Tanner. Every day I would stop by his office when I would go to the cafeteria and look through the small door window. I was always alone, reading or scanning some documents. I think most children feared to express their problems to an adult who was practically a stranger. That's why it took me three weeks to get the courage to go to his office. March 2, 1993, was the day I decided to talk about my issues with Dr. Tanner, who was on recess, went to the office and knocking on the door. at threes from the window I could see him raise his head, smile, and make a gesture for me to come in. Between.

He welcomed me, introduced himself, and wondered my name. Dr. Tanner was a man who spoke very calmly, seemed to have an aura of kindness around him. In less than half an hour, I told him about how my parents were bad at a go and how little they cared about me. After a while, my voice started to break and I stopped talking. The psychologist listened patiently to all my sorrows always with my arms crossed and nodding. I was hoping that I would start to say how all I needed to hear was alike, that my father loved me and blah blah blah. But long did.

Dr. Tanner curved himself at me with a smile on his face and said," you know. I promise we'll fix this." Surround your eyes." it's okay, but in what way, I asked him. "I have my methods, " he answered. "I am a man of my word. I promise you, in a month the relationship with your parents will change for the better. Definitely."

After a short pause, I continue: "But you have to make me a promise. You have to promise me that you'll come back to my office tomorrow after school and not tell no one we had this conversation today. It's our secret. I promised. – The next day, I returned to Dr. Tanner's office after school. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I came in. After a warm welcome, he asked me to sit in front of his desk one more time.

As I was sitting, I saw him run the window curtain at the door. "Ready, " smile. "Now we have the privacy we need." We started talking about my tastes and interests, my favorite subject at school, the teachers I liked the least and stuff like that. You threw an hour of conversation, Dr. Tanner offered me a soda. I accepted it very happily, because my parents had never, and had left refreshments. Dr. Tanner went to his fridge and I searched until he came back with two open cans of soda. Then we continued to talk about what was happening with my life, but I don't delay much of a part for me to pass out with whatever that was the drug he put in the can.

-Late some seconds to recover my normal vision when I wake up...

... And when he came back, I didn't know what to think...

I was tied to a bed with my mouth covered with insulating tape. I'm in the panic- moving and fighting the ties- but I gave up soon after. My eyes were fixed while I saw the room where I was. There were posters of superheroes on the walls and also of famous athletes, in the middle of the room there was a television and a super Nintendo, with several games scattered on the floor.

I didn't know what to think. There I was in a room full of things that children my age would love to play with, I would probably have cried with happiness if I hadn't been bound and gagged. My stomach shook when the door opened, and Dr. Tanner came in. He sat in a bed's cinder. I said, "Listen." He said, "Remember I'm here to help you and I'd never hurt you, are we?" Dr. Tanner gently untie my hands and remove the tape from my mouth.

My first instinct must have been crying, but something in Dr, Tanner made me feel safe. He smiled at me. "You'll stay here for a while," continue, “and during that time you're allowed to play with any toy in the room while I'm at home." "But when I get out, I have to tie you back to the bed. You can watch TV, but I want you to only watch the news when I'm away." Permanence silently, I was trying to process all the information you'd given me.

"Come on!" said Dr, Tanner as he smiled from ear to ear and patted me on the knee. "Go to the front and play all you want. I'll be back by dinnertime." He got out of bed, walked through the room and turned on the TV before I left, and secured the door. All I had left was to plug in the console and play Mario until the night started falling.

Around 7 o'clock at night, Dr. Tanner returned to the room with two plates of potato puree and chicken. I finally had the courage to ask you, uh, I'd stay in that room. "Well about a month, " I answered. "a few weeks. I just have to work on some things." – The next morning, I woke up with Dr. Tanner patting me on the head. "Hey, buddy, you don't have to wake up now if you don't want to, but I need to put them back on," he whispered while tying me up.

I looked at him. He was wearing a dress shirt, a vest, and holding a suit in his arms. It was going exactly as I always saw it at school. Before I left, I placed the remote around me and he told me to watch the news. The first thing I saw when I turned on the TV was the title of "last-minute news." A major police officer was on a podium surrounded by people. I started seeing him midway through his speech.

"A statewide notice was sent this morning. We have several researchers working on identifying potential kidnappers, but so far there is not much evidence. While the faculty claimed to have seen the children around five o'clock." I started to feel annoyed when a photograph of mine appeared on the screen. It was a picture I had been taken at school the year after. On the left of the image, It appeared my name, age, school, and city. Above the photograph and with big letters he said: FBI STARTS THE SEARCH OF THE CHILD/ SUSPECTED UNKNOWN ORESORY/ POSSIBLE GETAWAY.

The news kept life and then recooked my mother and my father on the podium. They both had red eyes. The tears ran down my mother's face when I took the microphone. I've never seen so much excitement in my mother until that time on television, babbling phrases like "please give me back my baby," I'm sorry, and "please come home." When my father took the microphone, I expected to see him in his typical attitude with a heart of loss, but also the tear in his eyes. I implore you to return your son and then asked me for the world, but I wanted to be here right now. Please return to our little one."

Turn off the TV after that. I had mixed emotions. I've never seen my father cry before. I felt bad about my parents going through it, but at the same time, I was relieved. Now I knew how much my father and mother loved me. -It was almost four weeks and Dr. Tanner had treated me with great respect. He'd go in the mornings, strapping me to bed, come back in the afternoons for lunch and dinner, chatting and playing with me. I would never have guessed that Dr. Tanner was so good at monopoly and world tourists.

But in the morning Dr. Tanner woke up before going to work, and I notice some urgency on his face. I also realized it was three hours before I usually woke up. "You have to see the news today. No exception. I want you to turn on the TV all day and pay attention," he said to me shadily. I of course obeyed and saw him from the room. Two hours later, a long-term news announcement interrupted a soap commercial I was watching. The title: HUMAN RESTS FOUND.

Two serious men in suits stood next to each other and started talking: "We are sad to bring such devastating news this morning about the missing children earlier this month. One of the men under his head and I sweep some papers he had in his hands. Continuous: "Remains of a body were located inside a garbage bag near the entrance to the highway. The body appears to be the children's, even if there is very little left. The body was decapitated, and the remains have been completely set on fire.

The image changed to the aerial shot from a helicopter flying over the highway. There was a group of cops gathered at the entrance. The voice followed: "Inside the bag, the police found an ID card." On the screen appeared my school ID card that was always in the backpack. The plastic was a little burnt, but my photo and name were intact. After the men left the scene, I focused on my parents. They were sitting next to a reporter. My mother's face was frozen in an expression of mourning, and my father's face sunk on his knees. Turn off the TV.

-Dr. Tanner returned late to the house already very late. He hurried to my room, uneven me, and put a bottle of soda in my hand. I put his hands on my shoulders and smile. "I made you a promise, didn't I?" I nod my head as a couple of tears rolled down my face. "You have to promise me something." Whisper. He told me to take the liquid out of the bottle, help me sleep - and from there I should never tell anyone or even that I'd known him. I promised.

"Did I tell you I was the best psychologist in the world, didn't I?"

-and he was right.

Wake up that night lying in the middle of a park, staring at the sky full of bright stars. I recognized the park. It's not too far from home. About 50 meters from there you could see my home. The lights were off, but I could see the silhouette sitting in front of the door. it was Dad. Vacialnte, call him. he slowly raised his head, and as soon as he saw me start running in my direction, with open arms and shouting my name. My mother left the house slowly soon.

Author Notes: great story to read.

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