“Why don’t you starts at the beginning, Jia?” The woman suggested, using her pointer finger to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose, glancing up a the small girl from her notepad.

They sat in the small room, four beige walls that lacked any sort of decor closing them in. Jia sat, her deep brown hair curtaining her face from both sides as she leaned over her legs slightly, picking her nails with her hand in her lap. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her and screwing her chocolate brown eyes shut. Her leg was bouncing wildly. She was agitated.

“Susan, we’ve been over this about a hundred times,” the exasperated girl sighed. “I told you the beginning, middle, and end. How many more times am I going to have to explain this?”

“First, my name is not Susan, it’s Carmen,” the older woman told her with a pointed look. “Second, as many times as it takes for you to understand what really happened.”

Groaning, Jia buried her face in her hands. She didn’t know what else the shrink wanted from her. She had told her the story, word for word like she was asked. They wanted her to realize something about the situation, what that was, was obviously a mystery to her.

“Jia, think about it. A 42-year-old man entertaining a 16-year old child,” Carmen spoke carefully, trying not to set her off. “You’re a victim, and he is a predator.”

“William is harmless. If anything, he was the victim, he couldn’t prey on anything if he tried. Have you seen him?” she bit back, scoffing.

“He is manipulative,” the shrink began again, desperately wanting to get through to her. “He used you, and he controlled you.”

She snapped her eyes up to meet Carmen’s gentle gaze. No. That wasn’t true. She had been in control the whole time, she knew she had. She had that old man wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger. She had felt bad about it, manipulating a man that was there for her after her parent’s divorce, someone she had such an attachment to, even if she didn’t realize it.

“What? William- he didn’t- no,” she struggled to get her point across. “He’s harmless. I had it under control.”

“No, he made you think you had the control,” she replied, holding the girl’s gaze with her kind one. “You were just a child, Jia. Your parents had just separated, and he was the only one you felt you could turn to. He used that against you. He snatched you up when your guard was down. And now not only has he abused you, but he has caused you to form an emotional attachment to him that will be hard to break.”

Her lower lip trembled. It wasn’t true. Sure, she had always know that their relationship, if you could even call it that, was wrong. She knew that it wasn’t right for a grown man to love a teenager. Men like that were dangerous. Men like that were predators. But not William. William was her friend before anything. He didn’t force her to do anything. He wasn’t dangerous.

“No. You’re wrong.” she spat, trying desperately to blink back her tears and stop her shaking hands.

“I know that this is hard, Jia,” Carmen began. “But think about all the other little girls you’d be helping if you help us.”

She shook her head profusely. She didn’t want to believe this. She didn’t. But she knew. She knew that she had no control. She knew that somewhere along the line that friendly hand on her shoulder turned into a grabbing hand at her waist. She knew those warm side hugs turned into groping. Those fingers that wiped her tears became greedy for more of her.

“I just wanted to be loved.” she whispered.

“I know, Jia,” the shrink said, getting up to sit on the velvet couch beside the sniffling girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I know.”