[ TT ] `` Everyone here is running from something . Me ? I 'm ... ''

“ Everyone here is running from something. Me? I ’ m…at a standstill. I don ’ t run from my problems, I fight them. ” He says. 
 Tasha Kozlov bit her bottom lip, unaware of how to reply. Countless sessions with this man, and it was only now becoming apparent that Hudson Keller was not in any way motivated to change. “ What are they running from, then? ” She asked, dropping her pen and giving up for the day. They were getting nowhere, and she wasn ’ t being paid enough to council this man, in fact, she wasn ’ t being paid at all. 
 “ What everyone is running from, ” He grins, one of those all-knowing, almost creepy kind of grins, “ Themselves. ” 
 It annoyed Tasha that Hudson could say such morbid, yet insightful things, and still remain so beautiful. So poised, and statuesque, as if he should be the one counselling her. Although, the fact she was sitting in this room with him was reason enough to know beautiful things are not always good things. Hudson was anything but good. He was the definition of the beautiful and the damned. 
 “ I think that ’ s all for today, Mr. Keller. ” Tasha said, pushing herself up. 
 “ Giving up already? ” He ’ s turned away from her now, staring out the window as if he ’ d never seen the sky before. She watched his eyes roam over the grassy plains, and the blue, cloudless sky. The sign outside the institution said ‘ Mount Pleasant ’, but Tasha knew better, everyone inside this building knew better. 
 “ You wish, ” She couldn ’ t help the small smile pulling at her lips. “ Same time next week? ” 
 “ If I ’ m still here by then, ” He replies, still not looking at here. 
 Tasha chuckled, and picked up her bag. “ And where would you be going, Hudson? ” She usually doesn ’ t refer to him by his first name. It ’ s a line that she ’ s never crossed, but with Hudson it didn ’ t feel wrong, sometimes, it felt like the only right way to address him. She wouldn ’ t dare say it, but sometimes it felt like they were having these conversations over coffee, like it was a casual meetup as opposed to a health and wellbeing session. 
 “ These appointments have been nice, ” He says, after a moment. “ I will miss them. ” 
 Tasha froze. He couldn ’ t be insinuating what she thought he was insinuating, right? She looked over him again, from his bronzy coloured hair, to his tan skin and magazine perfect smile. Another pang of despair, and misplaced attraction, hit her right in the gut. She gripped onto the edge of the chair she ’ d just been sitting on, to keep her balance. “ Well I ’ ll be here next week, only seven days. ” She said again, staring at his face, hoping, praying, he ’ d crack a joke in response. Hoping that his last words wasn ’ t his goodbye to her. 
 “ I know, your presence is constant. ” He replies, standing up too now. “ Not everyone can be so… ” He paused, and glanced at her again. His eyes roaming her face, and settling on her lips. Tasha tried to scream at her body not to react, but she could already feel the heat radiating of her cheeks. 
 “ So what? ” She whispered, god what the fuck is she whispering for? 
 “ Resolute. ” He smiled at her, and Tasha cursed to herself because she felt her knees buckle a little bit. 
 Unable to take it any longer, his cryptic words, and his soul-sucking kind of stare, Tasha turned away. “ I ’ ll see you next week. ” She said, determinedly. As an afterthought, she added, “ If…If you need someone to talk to, after hours, you have my card. ” Then she walked out of the room, and down the stairs, and she didn ’ t even realise until she reached her car that she ’ d been running. 

