The thing that had surprised Amber the most about the kids was how quiet they were around her. They were all quiet in general, even just talking among themselves, but when either Brian or her were around, the kids were significantly quieter, if not silent.

Or they had been.

Because in the van, on the way to the group therapy session, all six kids were talking in a normal conversation. No hushed voices, no secrets and seemingly no fear that someone would overhear them. It wasn’t a very interesting conversation, they were just talking about the forest and Derek was explaining something about physics to Claire, who couldn’t figure out how they were staying still in the car and not being pushed against the back of it.

It was kind of strange for Amber to be able to look back in the car and see the group of six kids who had seemed so awkward and ill when she had first seen them in the hospital. Now they were joking and talking in the back of the van, looking less pale and less starved and like they had actually been getting sleep. And it had only been two weeks.

The therapy clinic was modern and furnished smartly. The conversation between the kids died down as they headed inside the building. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait for very long, as the room was ready for them, they just had to get all signed in. Amber wished them all luck as they left with Dr. Riley to the room.

“Okay.” Dr. Riley said with a smile as all of the kids sat down in chairs that formed a circle. “So, you all know what you’ve been through, so you know that everything is going to be safe. To talk about anything that happened to you.”

“No.” Sam said, making a face. “How do we know we can trust you?”

Dr. Riley sighed. “I’m not going to say anything. Everything that is said here stays private unless it directly shows self-harm or harm of others that is currently happening.” The doctor looked around the room. “I will be able to use this to assess your well-being, but no specifics will be said in a testimony. This is a safe place.”

Amelia frowned and scooted her chair closer to Sam. Savvy and Naomi were holding each other’s hands, and Claire was fiddling with her skirt. Derek was the only one who seemed comfortable with the idea of the therapy, but even he wasn’t entirely okay with it.

“Now that that’s been said, who would like to start? Anything you feel or think is open to discussion.”

Everyone’s eyes moved towards Derek, because he was the one who always handled the situations with the doctors at the hospitals. “Uh.” He said, looking around. “Well, this isn’t my first time I’ve had talk therapy.” The boy looked a bit awkward as he talked, as if he was unsure as to what to do with his hands. “But I’ve never done group, so… I guess we can talk about how we got there?”

Dr. Riley nodded, and Derek did as well, then he looked down at his lap and twiddled his thumbs for a second before sighing. “Well. He was my dad.” He licked his lips and focused on Dr. Riley for a moment, his expression saying something that he didn’t. “And he was never around when I was a kid. I mean it. Never. I saw him maybe twice a week, if I got up early or was up late for whatever reason. He was gone from like 6 in the morning to 10 at night, and most the time later. I don’t even think he came back some nights. Mom never said anything about it, and she had me and Alicia and Kennedy to worry about anyway, so… So we didn’t really have time to worry about dad. He had a job, that’s what mom said, and he worked with kids with cancer or something. That’s what he said. But I feel like that would have made money or something, but dad never brought home money. Mom worked to pay for our food and clothes, and sometimes dad went shopping and never brought anything back.

“It was the kind of thing that you get used to and after a while, you don’t even notice it, y’know? You get so used to something being a certain way, even if it’s wrong and terrible and shows that your dad’s a total asshole, and you just accept it and you don’t question it. That was my dad. And for some God forsaken reason, I wanted him to like me, to pay attention to me, to spend time with me.”

“That was stupid.” Sam muttered, and Derek glared at him for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah. Yeah, it really was.” The other boy replied. “The man’s an ass, but all I wanted for 14 years of my life was for him to be around and for him to care about me and to spend time with me. And as soon as I got that, I was happy. Then I was scared, and I did some terrible- fucking terrible- things. And then suddenly I realized that I’d hated him for so long that I didn’t even know it, and that everything I thought him to be was a lie. He was only an abusive asshole and he never gave a shit about me or my sisters or anything else other than his stupid fucking lab.”