I really need to learn to keep things to myself, Ella thought, sitting on the couch in the tiny windowless room of the family therapists office. She was smushed in the middle of Heather and Danielle on an uncomfortable brown sofa only meant for two people. Susan, the family counselor they had begun seeing, was flipping through the back of Ella’s sketchbook with an unreadable expression on her face. When she finally put it down, she addressed Ella first.
“So, Ella. why did you refer to this man as The Monster?”
Ella shrugged. She was done sharing. Everytime she opened her mouth, literally or figuratively, she found herself in trouble.
“Do you remember this man from somewhere?” she tried again.