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“Brave words,” Malik murmurs

After giving me one more squeeze, he pulls his hand back I think it’s because the contact ry The sandwich is back in his hands, and he takes another bite

“One ,” I say as he chews He lifts his eyebrows to indicate he’s listening to whatever sage advice Ihim a pointed look that means business “Give Corinne a chance I saw her for several weeks after Jimmy’s death, and it s in a healthy, private environment I’m always here for you to talk to, but Corinne is a professional who is good at what she does”

Malik can’t hide the slight gri to counsel with her But he’ll thank ives it half a chance He has deep issues to work through… h torture and isolation I hope he understands that processing everything safely, while learning how to accept it, is going to be crucial to his happiness in the future I’ure that outCHAPTER 7Malik“And how did that make you feel?” Corinne asks

It’s a dreaded question, and it isn’t the first ti session this week, and she hasa bit more today Adentle prodding around the edges

Today, when I sat in her chair, she point-blank said, “We’re going to talk specifically about your captivity today”

Which was fine

Monday, we talked about torture

Today, we could talk about captivity if she wanted

Neither event was more important than the other in my mind because they both sucked

“I felt hopeless,” I say truthfully “I figured the chances of being found and rescued were near to iningexecuted”

We had been focusing on the months of isolation I had to endure with no one to co cold, filthy, and hungry all the ti able to talk to anyone The guards hadn’t spoken English Or, if they did, they’d refused to engage with e had been when they yelled for me to hand up my shit bucket or threw my food down

The worst had been hearing their conversations filtering through the door—hearing the with each other I couldn’t understand thehter, I could tell they’d been happy and having a good tis ithin spitting distance and I couldn’t have any part of it had made the loneliness a million times more unbearable

“You sound so matter of fact,” Corinne points out