How Green Becomes Wood

Dark thanked her again and then tossed his phone onto the coffee table before just holding his his head again. With his elbows resting on his knees, he had the palm of one hand against his mouth while his other arm hung limp at the wrist, and he just stared into the distance, trying to think of anything he could do. But he didn't know, he felt like a fraud, and he was terrified for his son. He still remembered the day he came home to find Alec collapsed in the bathroom. It wasn't intentional, then, but Alec had admitted to thinking about it. And he remembered intervening one day with Daizi in the bathroom. Most of all, he remembered being the one in the bathroom.

"Hi baby," Daizi said gently, "I wanted to talk to you: your therapist sent us an email. It was pretty important."
 
"She won't break confidentiality, even to us," Daizi reminded him gently, holding out her hands without actually reaching to him. "But she told us you do not often open up to her, so she feels you may be helped more by a different professional."
 
"Oh." Alec hesitated, conflicted. How did he react to this? He had so many conflicting emotions fighting for dominance! Finally, he said, "Then I guess that's fine. I don't know about not opening up. I think I just don't have much for her to work with. Maybe I should just take a therapy break. I mean, every other week is a lot, isn't it?"
 
Daizi listened, wrapping her arms around herself, "People go at different rates. I used to go only once a month, now I go every three weeks. Your father goes every other week, there was a time he went weekly. And a time more often than that. We don't need to decide right now, but she did send a list of recommended therapists we should go over."
 
Last edited:
Alec ran his hand through his hair in frustration, biting his tongue for a moment as he ran through various responses, trying to hide his irritation and glad his mother couldn't see his movements. "That's alright," he finally said. "We can do that later, I guess. I didn't know it was possible to lose at therapy," he tried to joke. "Are we sure it's me that's the problem and not her methods and she's just trying to cover her mistakes or something?"
 
"If it's a problem with her mistakes, would you want to keep seeing her anyway?" Daizi asked, trying to be light and easy-going while doing her best to keep her worry from her face. He was talking to her, she and Dark couldn't afford to lose that again. "It takes most people time to find the right fit. I once made the mistake of going to a naturopath who kept using one of those cat toys with feathers on the end to pet me."
 
Alec started to respond to Daizi's question and then got distracted by her statement. "A feathered cat toy to pet you?" he repeated, utterly confused. He took a moment to try to think of the answer himself before blurting, "Why? What would that do?"
 
"Yeah..." Daizi replied, "I think the idea was something to do with the spiritual meaning of feathers, and I thought I would like naturopathic treatment because of my own spiritual beliefs, and the acupuncture was nice, but the treatments got weird, the diagnoses got weird, and then I learned they aren't even recognized in the DSM-5, so." She paused, for a moment wondering if she had nearly joined a cult, and then shook it off, "Anyway, my point is, it's normal to not click with every therapist you visit."
 
Last edited:
"I think that's a little more than just not clicking," Alec pointed out, "but I do take your point. I really don't want to talk about them now, but I guess we could maybe look at the list later."
 
"Mama," Alec said, letting some of his exasperation show, "I have all the support I need, more than enough. I have so much support I'm starting to feel a little suffocated. Really, honestly, and truly, I'm fine. I'm not wildly amazing, but I'm not in the depths of despair, either. I'm just middle-ground fine."
 
"I'm sorry," Daizi replied, "We're not trying to suffocate you." She stood there for a few moments, holding her arms around herself, trying to think of something else to say. Everything which came to her mind seemed like something that would just make him angry with her, too, and she didn't want that. It was imperative he spoke to at least one of his parents. Finally she just gestured towards his room and asked, "How are your projects going?"
 
"I know, Mama, I know," Alec sighed. "I know you're just concerned." He paused, looking over his shoulder. "They are coming along slow but steady. Do you want to feel the rug I've been making?"
 
"We always are," She said softly, similar memories to those Dark was recalling going through her mind too. But she made herself smile and said, "I'd love to feel the rug."
 
Last edited:
Alec fetched the rug and brought it to her. It was only about a foot and a half in diameter and not fully straight around the edges. He'd been braiding sections, hand stitching them together in a circle, and then adding more to the braid, patiently working his way around. The colors, not that Diaizi would care, were mostly in the red region as he had attempted to color-coordinate. The end of the braid had a safety pin to keep it from unraveling, but the rest of it was soft and safe for Daizi. He handed it to her and let her feel around it.
 
As she ran her hands over it, she took the time to ask what colours it was and why he chose them. She also inquired about the process and how many t-shirts he had used so far to make it, "Besides the sewing, it feels like something I could do. And your brother actually told me he thinks I could sew, I think I'd prick my fingers constantly."
 
"You would definitely prick your fingers a lot, but I think I use my eyes less than I think," Alec admitted. "I find my better stitches are the ones I do by feel instead of trying to see what I'm doing. Some bits are harder to sew than others because it's not all the same fabric, but the nice thing about this project is that it's not necessarily supposed to be neat and tidy. It can be, after a lot of practice, and I've seen some with some really cool patterns, but it's supposed to be a messy, practical project that anyone can do."
 
"That's interesting..." Daizi said softly, trying to find and feel out his stitches, "It is a good way to make use of old clothes. I like braiding, I think if I could see I would have learned to weave tapestries. The feeling would be similar to braiding, I'd guess. And then I'd be a proper Spider."
 
"Why didn't you want to weave? I think you'd be a fabulous weaver, and you'd use things that feel different, which usually look different in that medium," Alec pointed out. "I'll get you a mini loom for Christmas!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top