Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Now he’s fucked off to Los Angeles to pretend to be a good person for money. He’s going to have hundreds, or even thousands of people hanging on his every word.
And I have to go to class and pretend like the last few weeks haven’t been an absolute whirlwind of stalking, sex, murder, and where the fuck is Dave, for that matter? I don’t want to talk to him, but at this point I’m worried he’s dead.
It’s so hard to focus in class. It’s hard to think about anything other than the fact that I got myself arrested and my kid brother thrown into military school. I was so proud of myself last night for adapting to this whole new world, but I think I might just be fucking up.
I don’t even have his number. That’s what’s so crazy. This man has violated me in every way possible and I can’t even…
Sam
“Professor Rollins, what’s your take on the new definitions of…”
I’m barely listening to the questions, and hardly listening to my own answers. At this point these conferences no longer require real thought. I am an accepted international expert on personality disorders, and I know the material inside out. There are no questions that I cannot answer, so I let part of my mind unburdened by consciousness take care of this Q and A while my conscious mind is in a smaller city in California, where a sweet co-ed is starting to become unmoored from her mundane reality and blossom into an entirely different creature. She’s so beautiful. So innocent. So perfectly corruptible. I see the dark flower in the center of her soul. I can imagine her potential, what she will be when she is thoroughly dominated.
“Professor Rollins, what would you say to someone who had a high profile career, public facing, but privately had a penchant for kidnapping young women?”
The question comes from the back of the room in a clear, insolent voice. I feel my lips curl up in a dark smile as I recognize the questioner. My sweet little protégé is here; my favorite student has made an unexpected appearance.
For the first time today, I feel a real bolt of excitement. She came all the way here to Los Angeles just to try to troll me. She wants my attention. How adorable.
“What would I say? I’d have to report them of course. Criminal activities undertaken while in treatment that harm anybody have to be reported.”
She’s dressed herself up in a way that makes her look a little older than she usually does. She has a black blazer and a professional dress. Her hair is swept up in a bun.
She’s stalked me.
The tables have been turned. I imagine she is incredibly proud of herself right now. She found me and she’s confronting me in a venue where she cannot be easily brought to justice.
“What if your client was high profile enough that you knew reporting them wouldn’t have any effect? What would you recommend in that case?”
Oh, she is really pushing my limits now.
“It’s a clinician’s personal decision whether or not to continue treatment with such a challenging client. There may very well be some value in continuing to pursue a therapeutic relationship in order to reduce harm.”
“How can you hold a client accountable if the world will not?”
“It’s not our job to hold clients accountable. It’s our job to explore with them, and to facilitate growth.”
“Can people exhibiting serious ASPD traits actually grow? Or are we just teaching them how to mask better? Helping them to settle into society and make fewer ripples while still preying on the vulnerable?”
“That’s a question that could be debated endlessly,” I say. “And there’s…”
“I think such individuals might be beyond repair,” she says, brazenly interrupting me. “I think they only become more sophisticated over time. But they can also overreach. Pick the wrong victim. End up in situations they never expected to be in.”
She smiles a little as she finishes her so-called question. She’s right at the back of the crowd, and she’s garnering more than a few irritated looks, but some people are finding this line of questioning interesting.
“The notion that people with ASPD cannot be helped is an old one,” I say. “And yes, in many cases, such a patient may weaponize the therapy. In fact, in my experience, that will almost always happen in the beginning. Someone who manipulates people is always going to enjoy learning new means to manipulate. I expect it in my patients. I often use it as a hook to garner further interest and increase treatment compliance…”
I use her question to provide a deep answer that is actually quite intriguing to the audience as a whole.
The moderator takes the microphone from her and moves onto the next person with a question. Laura smirks at me. Little brat. She wanted me to be afraid she was going to expose me. She wanted me to feel some of the fear she feels when I appear in her world unannounced. Unfortunately for her, I don’t feel fear the way most people do. I feel a mild amusement and some piqued interest, and I am aware that she is asking to be taken in hand much the same way a spoiled child is.