“Hi, my name is…”

Why am I even here?

“I’m an alcoholic”

Yea, yea, we all know. Get to the point.

“So, who else wants to share?”

Looking from left to right, there doesn’t seem to be much happening. The man to the right of me, “legally overweight” yawns, and goes back to slowly munching on his hoho, and the woman across from me lights up, in quiet defiance of the red-white sign hovering over her head, a bit like an anxious mother over a sick child.

“No-one?”

The clock doesn’t even tick anymore. It’s too tired of our slow pace, too bored of us, too worn to give us any of its time.

“Weeeell….” The counsellor adjusts her silvery cufflinks, grimacing as she does so, but then, as though someone had given her praise, smiles broadly again, and points at me.

Yes, what? What do you want?

“How about you then? Come on, spill the beans. What’s been going on in your life?” Terse smiles, smoke, and mirrors. She’s the only one in a suit, and the only one smiling.

Hag.

“Uh…” Shuffling on the spot, it seems that my shoes are the most interesting thing in the room.

“Yes?” Now all eyes are on me, expectant, wondering what I could possibly tell them, hoping I’d brighten their lives one way or another.

“W-well…I…”

She wrings her hands and picks at her nails, but still smiles at me.

How can she even…?

I take a deep breath, look at the ceiling, and…

“I’ve been called here via a court summons to attend this…meeting, melting pot of minds you could say, and it really does feel like my mind is melting away…”

“Just get to the damn point.” The smoky woman huffs, before going back to the silence and comfort of her choking prison.

“The point is that I’ve been convicted as an arsonist…except I’ve never touched a match or a lighter, ever.” I sink back into my seat, watching cautiously for their looks of hatred, their judgements.

It’s not like it matters though, right? I’ve just got to get through this idiocy, and then go back to my regular life.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Yea.” Curiosity creases the counsellor’s features, but she says nothing more.

Hmph…like there’s more than one way to skin a cat, there’s more than one way to burn something…

I remain silent, probably intelligently so…who knows what might happen if I told them?

Maybe more than one way to burn a cat, too…