Couples Therapy

The two entered the elevator, joined at the wrist by a shining pair of handcuffs. The two exchanged looks as the door slid shut, neither beaming smiles. 

“You know this isn’t gonna work.”

“Why not?”

“Didn’t work for my parents. Ain’t gonna work for us Lewis.”

“Sal, we’re not your parents. We’re us.”

“Fine.”

Sal crosses his arms for a second, pulling Lewis along with him.

“But do we really need the cuffs?” Sal asked.

Lewis looked into the emerald green of Sal’s eyes and said, “You know why.”

Defeated, Sal’s pitiful attempts at grumbled dissent were muffled by the ringing of the elevator door. 

Ahead, past the metal of the elevator, a placard read Donagan and Associates: Therapy and Counseling.

“Well, here we are!”

Lewis led the way, tugging behind him his hesitant partner. Wandering through halls of cheap wood paneling, and with the help of a less than thrilled cardiologist, Lewis managed to guide the two to the right office.

Through the office door, Lewis and Sal walked through a vacant waiting room, only occupied by an attendant typing away behind a sliding glass door. Crossing the swirling patterns of purple and green, the two made their way across the room, Sal lagging behind. 

The attendant, busy at work, stopped to look at the two, her eyes tracing down to the handcuffs. 

She rolls her eyes, “Couples counseling?”

“Yes!” Lewis beamed, a stark contrast to the frown growing on his partner’s face.

“Names?”

“Should be under Sal and Lewis,” Lewis answered, still smiling.

“Ah, It’ll still be a few minutes. Dr. Donagan will come to get you in a couple of minutes. Thank you for your patience.”

Those minutes felt like hours as the two sat linked together. One chair apart from one another, Lewis and Sal worked to occupy themselves, flipping through ancient magazines and health brochures. 

Sal could feel himself drifting off to sleep, the quiet chatter of the attendants and the gentle rustling of turning pages the only sounds between him and full-blown, snoring sleep. As he drifted off, he dreamed of fading away, outside of the office and back home. 

“Sal and Lewis? Sal and Lewis?”

Sal stirred at the voice and felt himself rising along with Lewis, towards the door. 

The same swirling patterns of carpeting spread outside the lobby into the office rooms, including the office room of Dr. Donagan. The attendant opened the door for the two. Behind a large mahogany desk sat Dr. Donagan, putting the finishing touches on a pile of notes. 

“Hello, Mr. Lewis.”

The doctor glared over the rims of her glasses, up at Lewis and away from the pile.

“That may be an impressive magic trick, but this is couples therapy.”

Lewis turns to look at the handcuffs. No one on the other end, but as he pulled the chain of the cuffs, it pulled taut. 

“Oh god damn it, Sal! Stop that!”

Like a tug of war, Lewis slowly walked backwards into the room, his free hand locked around his forearm. 

“Sal! Stop hiding,” lewis says in a frustrated growl. 

“Mr. Lewis, is everything okay?” 

Dr. Donagan takes off her glasses, watching the strange performance slowly force its way into the office. 

“Everything's perfectly fine Dr. Donagan. I can explain.”

“I sure hope so,” Sal mumbled, the voice drifting across the room. 

“Who said that?”

“Sal, sweetheart, stop hiding please.”

“Fine. I promised I’d give it a try anyway.”

Sal’s voice echoed as he took form, his body shifting in and out of corporeality, eventually taking a solid form. He stands frozen, still handcuffed at the wrist. 

“That always takes the wind out of me.”

The doctor slouched in her chair, her mouth hanging open. 

“It’s a long story Doc,” Lewis says, guiding Sal into the empty chair and sitting down next to him. 

Shaking out the cobwebs, Dr. Donagan placed her glasses back on, hanging on the bridge of her nose. 

“Alright, so what exactly seems to be the problem with you two?”

“As you can see Doctor, Sal can turn himself invisible. At first, I thought it was so fascinating. I mean how many people do you meet with honest to goodness superpowers!”

Lewis cleared his throat and in a low tone said, “Not to mention the, uh, bedroom opportunities.”

Sal glared at Lewis. With a quick blush, Lewis turned back to the doctor. 

“But then, at the drop of a hat, whenever we had a fight or even a minor disagreement, he’d disappear. He’d still be there of course, but I could never see him. Sometimes I would hear a door slam and there he’d be, a few hours later, sitting in the living room. And when I say little, I even mean just like evening plans going wrong.”

“And what about you Sal?” The doctor turned away from Lewis. 

“Doc, I’m against this whole thing from the start. It didn’t work for my parents. It won’t work for us.”

Donagan sat up in her chair. “What didn’t work for your parents Sal?”

With a grimace, Sal said, “Oh a lot of things. Marriage, Me, their house. It’s a long list.”

“But did therapy work?”

Sal sat up in his chair, staring at the doctor and past the doctor outside the window, “Did they even try therapy?”

“Well, did they Sal?” Lewis asked, looking at Sal’s blank face. 

“I don’t think they did.”

“What did they do instead?” The doctor asked.

“They argued, either about me or about their marriage. They didn’t like me much. Or anyone really.”

“Yes?”

“After a while I found myself wanting to disappear. Eventually, I found out I could. After a week away, those two finally got their shit together and got divorced. And I found myself emancipated.”

“Which, in a roundabout way, leads us back here,” Lewis squeaked, “Why’d you never tell me about that?”

The room echoed in silence. 

“What? And rope you into long-dead family drama?”

Lewis sticks his hand into his pocket, fishing deep into his pockets. He pulls out a small metallic object. A key, measuring less than half an inch. Taking the key, he turned the lock of the handcuffs on each side, releasing its grip. 

“Because it would help us now. We don’t need to be like them. We don’t have to argue. We’re us.”

Sal’s face changed, away from his reoccurring frowns or grimace. His mood changed, his eyes welling, a slight smile over his face. Lewis’s face followed in turn. Sal and Lewis rose from their seats, hand in hand. 

“Another appointment next week?”

“I think that’s a good idea doctor!” Lewis and Sal answered in tandem, shoulder to shoulder as they walked, shutting the door as they left.