Doctor-Patient Confidentiality: Chapter Eighty-Two

For a split second—that, in a really strange, paralyzing way, also feels like a long stretch of eternity—I freeze in place, as if my entire system just shut down on me without so much as a warning. But then, just as quickly, a surge of energy shoots through me out of nowhere and my brain suddenly demands that copious amounts of adrenaline mix with every ounce of my blood, and without the slightest thought, my body lurches itself forward, moving on its own accord. Before I can stop myself or even realize what’s happening, I’m closing the distance and snatching the phone away from him with a speed and ferocity I didn’t know I possessed.

When I realize what I’ve just done, it’s too late. My crazy, freakish reaction has already played out, and he witnessed every second of it all too clearly. Which, of course, only makes me freak the hell out even more.