Candy Sweetie
My mate, Alex, had a childhood friend named Emily who was a healer. When she discovered that I was a highly sensitive person, she volunteered to put me through what she called 'desensitization therapy.'
The first time, she told me I needed to learn to control my emotions, so she locked me in a noisy bar's storage room for an entire night.
The second time, she said I needed to overcome my tactile sensitivity. She drenched me in ice-cold water and forced me to stand in the freezing wind for three hours.
Alex was present every single time.
Each time, he told her, "Thank you for all your hard work, Emily. I know how much you're doing for her."
Then came the banquet, where she poured an entire vial of wolfsbane-laced potion into my champagne and announced that this would be my final desensitization therapy session.
I clutched my swollen throat and collapsed to the floor. I couldn't speak or catch my breath.
Alex merely frowned and said coldly, "Elena, this is for your own good. Just get through this one last session."
Lying among the shattered glass, I closed my eyes and pressed the beacon badge I had never used before.
When Dad finally burst through the doors, tears I'd held back for three years streamed down my face.
It was time to end this.