Story 3 Revised

Sal walked into her office to meet with her next appointment. The receptionist had reminded Sal that it was Ashanti. Ashanti was a freshman at the university and who was having a hard time transitioning into her new life away from home.

"Hey, Sal!"

"How are you?"

"Well, not great and that is why I am here for counseling!"

"How is school?"

"Very busy!! I am so stressed out that I began cutting myself again! I thought I would never cut myself, but I just do not know what else to do!"

"Everyone has relapses, and you need to understand that this is like any other addiction. In your case, you get your high from cutting. We need to keep you busy and surrounded by people who will help you get back on track. First, we need to figure out what exactly caused this relapse."

"Like I said earlier, I was just really stressed out from school, work, and my family."

"I think that you should consider quitting your job, and focus on school. I also think that you should set aside some time every morning to meditate. You could even set aside an additional thirty minutes every day to exercise, because that will reduce stress. Watch what you eat. Also, you should probably have a planner and try to stick to your schedule so that you can stay organized. Okay, enough with that! I am probably preaching to the choir. You need to take one day at a time!"

"I can do those things."

"The second question I want to ask is how you felt after you cut yourself?"

"Honestly, I felt great! I do not remember any pain! I had absolutely no worries. It even made me realize that I missed doing it! That for me was quite a surprise!"

"Interesting. So you were not upset at yourself at all?"

"No, not really!"

"How many times have you done it since that time?"

"Do you want to hear the truth?"

"Only the truth."

"I have been doing it every day for the last couple of weeks. I even cut myself right before I got here!"

"Ashanti!!! Do you even want to stop? Or would you rather cut yourself to death?"

"Uh..."

"Wait, do not tell me yet! I want to tell you a story. It is about this man named Yudhistira. He had an addiction too, although his addiction was different than yours. He was addicted to gambling or you could say he had a weakness for it. When someone invited him to gamble, he just got so into it that he could not stop himself! He gambled everything he had, including his whole estate, riches, and animals! Before he knew it, he even gambled his five brothers, himself, and his wife and lost so they were supposed to become slaves to their enemies. The king felt sorry for Yudhistira's wife Draupadi and granted her three wishes. Her first wish was to free Yudhistira and the second wish to free his brothers. With the third wish, the king decided to give back Yudhistira's kingdom, wealth, and status. On their way home, a king's messenger summoned Yudhistira and his party to return and play another game of dice. Yudhistira could not stop gambling and so they went back. In the final game, the loser had to go into exile for twelve years, and of course he lost. Yudhistira was a king who was happy and wealthy, but lost it all and forced into exile."

"Wow, how could someone let him do that? That would not happen to me!"

Sal knew that Ashanti was kidding herself! "The point is that when you are in the moment, you do not think of anyone except yourself. You do not think about your loved ones and how they will feel! You do not even care if you live or die, as long as you get that adrenaline rush!"

"I know where you are going with this, but I can make my own choices! You are not my mother! You are nothing to me! I thought I could talk to you about this, but obviously you do not understand!" Ashanti grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. She was very upset!

"Wait, Ashanti!!! I am only trying to help you!" But it was too late and she was gone.

One week later, Sal opened the paper only to read that Ashanti was dead. Her roommate found her body in a pool of blood. Apparently, she had cut her neck and bled to death. Sal cried and wished she had done something to stop her, but it was all too late. Ashanti had so much potential and was such a young woman. Sal blamed herself and hoped that one day she could forgive herself for not doing more.

Author's Note: First, I wanted Sal to have a patient unlike the previous ones. I also wanted Ashanti to have a problem that might not be as common, which is why she was a cutter. Plus, her addiction was different than Yudhistira's, but I wanted the readers to realize that she still had the same problem and that it carried over from Yudhistira. They both had addictions and were so addicted that they forgot about everything and lost it all. Ultimately, Ashanti lost more-her life. I was not exactly sure how Sal was going to deal with Ashanti's addiction, because in these situations you just do not know what to do or say. Second, I wanted Ashanti to be somewhat of a rebel and go against Sal. In the previous stories, Sal's patients do exactly what is morally correct and so the stories ended happily. In this story, Ashanti walked out on Sal, and Sal later learned that Ashanti died from cutting herself. Obviously, counselors cannot be successful with every patient and that was the case here. Finally, I wanted the retelling of the dice game between Yudhistira and Sakuni to solely focus on Yudhistira's gambling problem. That was why I left out Sakuni's name and Duryodhana's intentions. I also left out the things that occurred during the dice game between those who were watching. Overall, I wanted the story of Yudhistira's reincarnation as Ashanti to have a twist and end rather unexpectedly.