Therapy volume 1

The roach was back. It squatted on the couch, wriggling in place and flicking it's antennae at her. A cold glare from the ceiling light licked the lacquer of its back in a chilling caress. It was big. Bigger than any cockroach she had seen before. Bigger than she had thought possible. Horrifyingly, it was almost four feet long. And getting bigger. Watching her with hungry eyes, it clicked it's mandibles into a fervent rhythm. Blinking hard, Stacey tried to banish the sight. To tell herself that it wasn't real. The wet sound it made as it moved told her otherwise. She could hear the guttural swallowing of its throat as the roach opened and shut its jaws; smell the pungent and sour aroma of its bile. More than that she could feel its presence in the room with her. It repulsed her, like the inverse point of a magnet. But if that was true then, given the polarising properties of magnets, did that mean that she was just like the creature? A horrifying and disgusting roach. The throb of her headache pulsed beneath her scalp and fingers of dryness crawled up her throat. The parched sensation caused her to gag. Retching into her mouth, the ache raced through her hairs and acid burned her oesophagus. Limbs arching into spindled movement, the roach came for her. It crawled down onto the floor and snapped towards her. Stacey retreated. Her socks slipped over the laminate and she scrambled back. Back. Back. As far away as she could get. Into the corner of the room. Beside her, a vase toppled from its table and was obliterated by the floor. A shard of china sunk into her hand and pain screamed up her arm. Panic setting in, she tried to increase the distance. She tried to get away. Her back found the wall. She could go no further. The sound of her heartbeat eclipsed everything. It roared in her ears, like the beating of a hummingbird's wings. Rapid breaths trembled through her. Her eyes started to lose focus; her vision blurring with the tears.