ABSTRACT
This short story is the first one where we see one of the teenagers from Part I in the consulting room as an adult. This offers, I hope, another perspective on how arresting trauma can be, but also on how the past and the present are inherently intertwined. Therapy, in this story, is used as a safeguard against further trauma and loss, but also as a defence against accepting the risks that close relationships and intimacy entail. The story raises questions about the nature of grief and trauma, and whether either can ever be fully overcome. It also hints at the potential parallels in the therapist and patient life trajectories, and how those often constitute the unconscious fabric of their connection.
