Page 1 of Examined

CHAPTER 1

Kirsten stood outside staring at the imposing building for what seemed like far too long before she summoned the courage to make her way to the front door.

She reread the big black lettering again.

Correctional Therapeutic Facility

It was such a simple, unassuming title on a building that she had driven by hundreds of times on her way to work and back each day. She’d never given it much thought; it was a backdrop in her daily routine, not unlike the State Capitol. She was aware of its existence and its purpose, at least to a certain degree, but she’d never thought she would enter it herself.

Especially not by court order. Yet hear she was, in trouble with the law.

Behind the large, daunting front desk sat a severe-looking woman, her hair pulled back in a tight bun and a sour look of concentration on her face as she typed away at her keyboard.If intimidation was a job requirement, this woman was its embodiment.

Kirsten approached the desk, her throat tightening a bit when she was completely ignored.

“One moment,” the lady finally said in a voice that dripped with scolding, still not lifting her eyes from her computer.

“Oh, sorry,” Kirsten mumbled, suddenly feeling like a naughty student sent to the principal’s office.

In many ways that was what this was, she thought, except for naughty adults.

Only one of her friends had ever been sentenced to treatment at the CTF, for shoplifting. Though Kirsten hadn’t known her quite well enough to probe too deeply, seeing her blush bright red any time they even drove by the facility together had certainly piqued Kirsten’s curiosity…

But now that it was her turn, all traces of that curiosity had been replaced by a sense of nervous, fearful anticipation.

“Name?” the woman finally asked, peering over her glasses.

“Kirsten Bennett.”

The lady searched through a pile of forms on her desk, then slipped a stack of papers onto a clipboard and extended it with a pen. “Fill out these forms, then you’ll be brought back to change and take your initial attentiveness test.”

Kirsten already had so many questions, but one glance at the woman’s expression quashed any notion of a friendly Q&A, so she just nodded and withdrew to one of the waiting room chairs, flipping through the documents filled with daunting legalese.Some of them had some pretty… personal questions on them, about her sexual background and habits. She scanned and scribbled her way through, driven by a keen desire to get this day over with.

She handed the clipboard back to the front-desk lady, who shot her another reproachful look before taking it from her and paging through the packet.

“Did you fill these out carefully, young lady?” she asked.

“Yes,” Kirsten affirmed, a twinge of guilt washing over her. The woman had an unspoken aura of accusation, and Kirsten felt it acutely.

Nervously shifting from one foot to another, she awaited further instruction. Thankfully, respite soon arrived in the form of a much friendlier-looking nurse beckoning her.

“Miss Bennett?” the nurse asked brightly, staring directly at her with a smile.

Kirsten nodded her head.

“Come on back, honey,” she said.

Kirsten followed the nurse quickly, grateful for every additional bit of distance put between herself and the front desk lady. They entered what looked like a small classroom, with a table and chair in the middle and a projector at the front.

“Go ahead and change into this, sweetheart,” the nurse said, and Kirsten turned around to see her holding a thin hospital gown. “You can set your clothes and purse in this bin.”

Kirsten stood there blinking for a moment, and the nurse’s sweet face seemed to take on a look of pity.

“It’s alright, dear,” she said. “You’ll get it all back at the end of your session.”

That was supposed to be reassuring, Kirsten supposed. But she was still stuck on the fact that she had to take her clothes off at all, let alone leave her belongings and her phone, her only lifeline to the outside world, here in this room while she was presumably brought somewhere else.

She took the gown from the nurse, who smiled brightly at her again.

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