Chapter 1: From The Depths Of Despair

Danny read the message from Grace and gave it some thought. He wasn’t sure if his usual approach would wipe out such a terrible memory. In the end he decided to let Grace decide.

‘Hi Grace,’ he texted back, ‘Sorry to hear that. I’m not sure if my counselling would be the answer. Your experience has been far worse than any other I’ve dealt with. It might turn out to be a waste of your time, but if you want to give it a try, I’ll certainly do my best.’

Love Danny x

A reply came back within a few minutes. ‘Danny, I’ll try anything before I go on sleeping tablets,’ she said. ‘But I’m sure that even if it doesn’t solve it, your counselling will at least help. Please can we try. I don’t know where you usually do your counselling, but if it helps, I live alone in a small flat.’ Grace x

Danny replied, ‘I usually use a friend’s house on a Saturday whilst he’s out, but if you think that you would feel more relaxed at home any evening would be ok too.’

‘I don’t mind where,’ Grace replied, ‘I’m sure being with you I’d be relaxed were ever we were. But if you could fit me in before Saturday, I’d be grateful. You can come here any evening this week if you’re available.’

She sounded quite anxious so Danny replied, ‘I can come round tomorrow, Tuesday at six pm, if that suits you.’

‘Danny, that would be wonderful,’ she replied. She added her address and said, ‘Thank you so much.’ Danny replied, ‘See you then.’ x

TUESDAY

Six o’clock saw Danny buzzing on the communal door of a fairly new looking block of eight flats. A few seconds later Graces voice came out of the speaker. ‘It’s Danny.’ he said. ‘I’m on the second floor.’ she said as she buzzed him in.

When he reached the second floor Grace was standing waiting at her open door. As soon as he stepped over the threshold, she threw her arms around him. She kissed him on his cheek and told him, ‘Every morning when I wake up in my own bed, I say to myself, ‘Thank God for Danny, and I imagine I’m doing that.’

She closed the door and took him through to the lounge. ‘Would you like a coffee?’ she asked. When he said, ‘Yes please.’ she went through to the kitchen. Returning a few minutes later with two coffee’s she put his on the small table by the end of the settee where he was sitting. She sat at the other end where there was another table.

‘Apart from the nightmares, how have you been?’ Danny asked. ‘Great,’ she said, ‘It’s like I’m a new person.’ ‘Did they start right away or later?’ Danny asked. ‘A few nights later,’ she said. ‘I suspect the hospital gave me something that stopped them happening the first few nights. When they started, I thought it was quite reasonable that I would have them, so I wasn’t too bothered. But I expected they would start to fade.’

‘But they didn’t. I’ve put up with them up until now, then the other week I went to see the doctor. His only suggestion was that either he gave me sleeping tablets or sent me to see a psychiatrist. I didn’t like the sound of either of them, so I said I’d try for a bit longer.’

‘Then yesterday when I woke up and had my usual thought of you, it suddenly hit me. Why don’t I ask you.’

Danny smiled at her, ‘Thank you for your confidence,’ he told her. ‘However, although I have counselled a lot of people successfully, this situation is rather different. I would love to succeed, but at this stage I can’t offer you any certainty.’

‘I’m sure you can’t make it any worse,’ she told him. ‘If you’re willing to try, at least we stand a chance. I won’t complain if it doesn’t work.’ ‘I have no qualifications in this,’ Danny told her, ‘Although I have been very successful, I have no idea how much of that is me and how much is luck.’

‘That’s not what the police told me,’ Grace said smiling, ‘They seem to think you’re a miracle worker.’ Danny smiled, ‘I’m flattered, but they are just happy to be able to lock people like Gerry up.’

‘You’re too modest,’ she said. ‘Anyway, I’m in your hands. Tell me what to do.’ ‘I usually start off by getting you relaxed with me and finding out all about you.’ Danny told her. ‘The hardest part is usually getting the victim to feel able to open up and tell me what actually happened. That is extra hard in the case of a rape.’

‘In your case, I know what happened already, but I know very little about you or what led up to it. So, I will start off doing the same. When we start, I’ll ask you to stretch out on the settee and I’ll start off by massaging your back from head to foot and back. That will start to get you relaxed.’

‘At the same time, I will ask you questions about your life, and everything connected to it.’ Grace liked the sound of the massage and she saw no problem in telling Danny anything. ‘That sounds ok.’ she said.

‘Nothing will take you by surprise,’ Danny told her, ‘Before I do anything I’ll tell you what I want to do, why I want to do it and what I hope to achieve by it. Even then nothing happens until you say ok.’

‘Some of the questions you may find embarrassing or difficult to answer. If you do, just say ‘Pass’ at any time and we’ll move on. We can try that one again later.’

‘If for any reason you want to stop, just call out ‘Stop’ and we’ll pause instantly. Then you decide if we wait and resume or if I leave. If I leave you can call me back again another time if you wish.’

‘Now it’s time to decide if you want to give it a try. I will stand up and move away from the settee. If you’ve changed your mind, just get up and show me out, it’s no problem. If you want to start, just lie down flat on the settee. If you do that, I will come and sit on the edge and tell you the next step.’

He paused a moment to give her chance to digest what he had said. Then he stood up. Before he had taken one step away, Grace had kicked her slippers off and laid down on the settee.

Danny smiled at her. ‘Well, that was definite enough.’ he said. He sat on the edge of the settee by her waist. ‘In a moment I want you to turn over onto your front,’ he told her. ‘Then I will put my hands on your head and massage it. When you say ‘Go’ I will move on down and also start asking questions.’

‘Turn over when you’re ready.’ Grace turned over right away. As Danny rested his hands on her head, she felt a happy shiver run through her. Danny massaged her head gently. He studied her back. She was around the same height as himself. She had dark hair and whilst not a pin up figure, she was well proportioned and reasonably trim. She was wearing a white blouse and jeans.

He was just about to prompt her thinking she had forgotten about saying go when she called out, ‘Go.’ Grace had been enjoying the massage on her head and was quite happy to stay there. Then she suddenly remembered and spoke.

As Danny moved down onto her shoulders he said, ‘I’ve met your mum and dad, do you have any brothers and sisters?’ ‘No,’ she said, ‘I’m an only child.’

As he moved down her back,’ he said, ‘Sorry about this, but how old are you?’ ‘I’m thirty next month,’ she said. Then she added, ‘How gallant that you don’t think you should ask a lady her age.’ As he reached her waist he asked, ‘Am I going to upset you when I ask questions about Gerry.’ As he massaged over her cheeks, he felt her stiffen up. She said nothing until he moved onto her thighs then said, ‘If it does, it’ll be him upsetting me not you, so I’ll cope, don’t let that hold you back.’

As Danny moved down to her feet he asked, ‘Counting from your very first kiss from a boy, what number boyfriend was Gerry?’ Grace didn’t hesitate. ‘Two.’ she answered.

As Danny reached her feet and started back up, he asked, ‘How old where you when you were kissed by your first boyfriend.’ ‘Thirteen,’ she said. ‘Peter was in the year above me at school. We hit it off the moment we met.’