"Elsa, Mr. Henderson would like to see you."

Elsa's head shot up to catch her AP Norwegian teacher walking to where she sat, a small slip of paper in hand.

"It says immediately so I suppose you should go now."

That can't be a good thing.

The blonde grabbed the paper, packed her things and walked out of class, fearing the worst.

Down the hall, to the right, down the stairs, to the left, and into the office. She'd gone that same way almost every day, save for the entrance to the office. It wasn't a particularly long journey, but, given the circumstances, today it felt like it went on for an eternity.

When she entered the office it was completely empty aside from staff. Mrs. White waved Elsa into Mr. Henderson's room without the girl even having to approach her. It seemed as though everyone there was expecting her.

Upon entering Mr. Henderson's office, Elsa noticed that another figure sat in the seat she had occupied the previous day. Something about him was off, but Elsa couldn't put her finger on it.

After a second or two the man looked over his shoulder. His mouth curled into a slight grin when he caught sight of Elsa.

"Oh, hello!" he said. The man stood to offer Elsa a seat.

"Hi," Elsa said shyly, hardly acknowledging the man's presence. She took her seat farthest from the door, where her sister had sat the day before.

The other man took his seat as well. "Alright then," he said. "Let's begin, shall we?" Clearly whatever he planned to "begin" was not something anyone was looking forward to.

Mr. Henderson cleared his throat and Elsa turned her attention to him. "Elsa, given the circumstances you and your sister are living in," he began, "I had no choice but to contact child protective services."

How wonderful.

Mr. Henderson sped up his speech briefly. "Now, that may sound bad, but, in reality, it's quite good for you two."

Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Now, what's going to happen right now is Dr. Westergard here is going to take you and your sister to his office for regression therapy. Then, you'll both come back here to discuss what we're going to do about your living situation."

For the first time, Elsa felt the need to butt in. "Wait," she said, "regression therapy? Why do we need that?"

Mr. Henderson opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Dr. Westergard. "I know you've both been through a lot," he said. His voice was incredibly soothing and calm. "...And I believe that regression therapy is the best way to help you."

Elsa let out a sigh. "Whatever," she said.

Dr. Westergard hesitated, but then stood and opened the door, gesturing Elsa to exit the room with him. The girl obliged.

I'm probably gonna regret this.

As soon as Elsa was past the door, Dr. Westergard stepped ahead of Elsa, leading her out of the office. As she made her way to the front door of the school, she counted her steps.

One... two... three…

She looked to her left to see her reflection in the large window that enclosed the office.

Eight… Nine…

As she drew closer to the door, a feeling of loss grew within her.

Twelve… Thirteen…

Even though she hated going to school every day, leaving under these circumstance made her wish she could stay for eternity.

By her twentieth step, Elsa was outside the door. As the door closed behind her, she realized something:

I might not come back after today.

The sliding door of Dr. Westergard's minivan opened, sending a bright light into the back seat. As the two sisters exited the minivan, both girls brought a hand up to their forehead, shielding their eyes. Elsa was outside first, so she took some time to look around. While her sight was still not fully adjusted to the bright light, she could make out a small, white building in front of her, surrounded by trees. It looked exactly how she thought a psychiatrist's office would look.

Once Anna was out of the minivan, Dr. Westergard took some time to talk about his office and how he became a doctor. Nearly all of what was said flew right past Elsa's ears. All she could think about was what would become of her relationship with her sister after this whole thing was through. She had already done research on the protocol for orphans in their teenage years, and had found that one possibility was that her sister would likely go to a foster home while she would become an "emancipated minor." Then, when Anna turned 16, she too would become an emancipated minor, and they could live together again.

That was the best case scenario.

In reality both girls' lives would likely be ruined by the foster system. They would be sent from city to city, constantly transferring schools, and they would almost certainly be separated.

As if we ever spend any time together anyways.

These thoughts kept Elsa in a Glass Prison for the entire day. She walked through the halls of Dr. Westergard's office only partly there. She went through the monotony of introducing herself to the secretary, finding her way to Dr. Westergard's room, and then waiting outside the door for Anna, who had gone first, to finish her session with the doctor as only half a person. Her thoughts kept revolving around her parents' death, her future, and Anna's future, and somehow it always managed to make her feel at fault.

For everything.

The door opened with a click followed by a low whoosh of air escaping the small room in which Dr. Westergard conducted his business. Anna exited first, her entire form blank and absent of emotion. Then came Dr. Westergard.

"Alright, Elsa," he said. "Your turn."

Elsa stood without a word and Anna sat down in the chair beside Elsa's, closest to the door. The older girl entered the office and was immediately hit with a rush of cold air. Dr. Westergard offered Elsa a seat in an incredibly plush chair before sitting down himself in a much less comfortable chair. He cleared his throat, and for a moment he had Elsa's full attention.

"What's up with the huge chair?" the girl asked.

"Well," Dr. Westergard replied, "you'll dream more easy in a chair that really fits you." His face lit up in a slightly reassuring grin. Regardless of how badly Elsa wished she had never had to meet him, she couldn't deny that Dr. Westergard was quite charming.

"I don't think any of this is necessary, honestly," Elsa said. She knew it was hopeless to try and get out of doing therapy now, but it was still worth trying.

"Well I do," the man replied. "After all, it did help your parents quite a bit."

Elsa felt a rush of adrenaline hit her at the notion of her parents. "Wait," she said, "you were my parents' therapist?"

Dr. Westergard looked slightly surprised. "They didn't tell you?" he asked.

"No…"

They never told me anything.

"Oh… Well, yes, I was their therapist," he said hesitantly. "They were going through a bit of a, um, rough relationship, in the last few months of their lives."

Elsa sat straight upright in her chair. Dr. Westergard now had her completely attention. "Well? Talk!" she commanded.

"No. I'm here to listen to you, not the other way around," Dr. Westergard replied. "If I may ease your-"

"No, you may not," Elsa said. "I'll do your stupid therapy crap but first I want you to tell me about what happened to my parents."

"I don't think you want to hear it."

"I don't care."

Dr. Westergard paused. "Fine," he said. "Your mother was in a bit of a 'love triangle' with another man. She was never very cooperative during our therapy sessions, and your father became filled with rage. It got worse and worse, until… one night…" he paused again. "He took her to a park for a… a date, and… and he killed her, before taking his own life."

The room fell dead silent. Only the ticking of a clock and the whir of the air conditioner filled Elsa's ears.

"I… I was told… that they died in a, a car crash," Elsa said. Her voice was frail and weak.

"Well…" the man started, "I suppose that whoever told you that was just trying to protect you."

Both Elsa and Dr. Westergard paused. Then, the doctor pushed his chair over to a cabinet on the wall. He opened it and removed a folded up piece of notebook paper.

"I, uh… I don't know if this will help anything, but, I have your dad's suicide letter."

Elsa reached out and took the paper from him. It was stiff and stained with what appeared to be either coffee or alcohol. She unfolded it and read it aloud.

"I feel there's only one thing left to do…" she began. "I'd sooner take my life away than live with… losing you."

She tried to fake a laugh to lighten the mood, adding "at least he made it rhyme," but it was only a matter of seconds before her attempted humour gave way to her true emotion. An onslaught of horrific wailing and tears pelted the girl, her only thought: "why?"

The regression therapy session was rescheduled.

Elsa and Anna now both sat in the back of Dr. Westergard's minivan, on their way back to the school. No one dared speak.

The card Dr. Westergard had given Elsa had a handwritten date and time across the back. The girl sat staring blankly at the words written across the paper. Then she reached into her pocket for the suicide letter she had been given. She didn't know why, but part of her felt like if she saw it One Last Time she might finally come to terms with the reality of her parents' death.

It didn't help even slightly. Elsa's eyes again welled into tears, but she held them back. When she finally regained her composure she forced herself to read it in its entirety.

The exercise was nothing short of self torture.

She folded the paper and shoved it back into her pocket, pulling back out the business card Dr. Westergard had given her on accident. As she put the card back into her pocket something caught her eye.

The letter "u" looked identical on both papers.

So did the letter "g."

So did every letter.

It was then that Elsa realized the truth behind her parents' death.

My father didn't kill my mother. This man did, and now he's using my dad as a scapegoat.

Elsa's thoughts raced. She knew it was a stretch but she would've sooner believed that than that her father had committed a murder-suicide. All at once, she thought about screaming, crying, punching Dr. Westergard, punching herself…

She did none of these.

Tears welled up in Elsa's eyes as the minivan came to a stop at a red light. After the vehicle had completely stopped, Elsa's eyes erupted once more into another onslaught of emotion, this time one more of rage than of sadness.

Anna tried to comfort Elsa, but it was no use. Still crying intensely, the blonde unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the sliding door of the minivan and stumbled out onto the curb.

"Hey!" Dr. Westergard yelled. He too unbuckled his seatbelt and flung his door open, hitting the car next to him. Anna also got out.

Elsa ran. She couldn't see where she was going, but she didn't care. She was at least certain that she was getting away from the man that had killed her parents.

Dr. Westergard and Anna pursued the blonde along the sidewalk. A few other people watched from their cars. "ELSA!" Anna yelled out.

Elsa kept running with no intent of stopping. Her tears made it nearly impossible to see, however, and she came crashing into a pole.

As she noticed Dr. Westergard and Anna approaching her Elsa began to sob even more violently. She tried desperately to crawl away from them but they caught up to her within seconds. As the pair tried to calm her down, she began screaming at the top of her lungs.

"YOU KILLED THEM!"

"Elsa! Calm down!"

"YOU FUCKING KILLED THEM!" she exclaimed, still sobbing intensely.

"Elsa!" her sister yelled.

"NO! STOP FUCKING LYING TO ME!"

"Please calm down, Elsa."

"NO! YOU'RE A MURDERER! YOU'RE A MURDERER, HANS WESTERGARD!"

A/N So... I cried writing this. Not gonna lie. Anyways, this whole chapter is pretty much one big reference to Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater but there is also a reference to "The Glass Prison," also by DT, and "Heart of the Sunrise" by Yes.

Happy reading,

for-the-first-time-in-never