Treating With Silence Chapter 28

The goal of psychotherapy is not to change the past but to help the patient face and grieve his or her history.

---Alice Miller

I closed Alicia's journal and placed it on my desk.

I sat there motionless, listening to the sound of rain outside the window. I was trying to make sense of the diary I had just read. Apparently Ava Alicia's experience was far beyond my imagination. To me, she had been an unopened book, but now it was open, and its contents surprised me.

I had so many questions. Alicia suspected she was being spied on. Did she discover who this man really was? Did she tell anyone else? I needed to find out. As far as I knew, she had only told three people...Gabriel, Barbie, and the mysterious Dr. West. Did she just tell those three, or did she tell others? Another question. Why did the diary end so suddenly? Was there more, written somewhere else? Was there another notebook that she didn't give me? I didn't know why she was showing me this diary. She must be sending me some kind of message...only people who are extremely close would use this kind of communication. Was it a sign of full trust...a sign of how much she trusted me? Or was there something more sinister?