Anthony Hanible

Therapy Part 12: You Need a Psychologist

The words land

With the weight of a verdict

Not shouted

Not cruel

Just spoken

With the calm precision

Of someone naming

A storm already overhead

You need a psychologist

The sentence hangs in the air

A doorway I didn’t ask for

A threshold I’ve been circling

For years without stepping through

It isn’t an accusation

It’s a mirror

And mirrors are the most dangerous

Truth tellers of all

The room shifts

Walls breathing

Shadows leaning in

As if the past itself

Has paused to listen

I feel the old defenses rise

The familiar armor

The practiced lines

I’m fine

I can handle it

It’s not that bad

But the words don’t fit anymore

They fall off me

Like clothes I’ve outgrown

In the dark

The therapist watches

Not pushing

Not rescuing

Just holding the silence

Where realization blooms

Like a bruise

Turning into a flower

A psychologist

A guide

A witness

Someone trained

To walk the labyrinth

I keep getting lost in

The idea terrifies me

Not because of what they’ll find

But because of what I might finally

Have to face

Still

Something inside me shifts

A hinge creaking open

A door I’ve kept locked

Out of habit

Not necessity

You need a psychologist

Not as a sentence of failure

But as a map

A direction

A hand pointing toward

The version of me 

That refuses to stay buried

And in that moment

I feel it

The smallest flicker

Of willingness

Fragile but real

Like a match struck

In a long dark room