{"sf1_id":870171,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Your Girls Are in Your Corner","author":"Tigercougar","words":1899,"posted_at":"2015-06-06T22:16:00.000Z","tags":["Cat","Depression","Weasel","Wolf","bengal","story"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/870171-your-girls-are-in-your-corner","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/870171","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=870171\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"A weasel and wolf talk their friend, a Bengal cat, into accepting help for her depression.","content":"Jeanice\ntipped her head down and became quiet. She sat on the couch\nstoically, her hands lightly clenched on her lap. Sue, her wolf\nroommate and friend, looked on from the kitchenette. She was becoming\nquite disconcerted. It was rare for her to see even the mildest frown\non the face of her normally chipper weasel friend. \"But\nwhat can we do?\" Sue broke the silence as she nervously twirled one\nof her grey curls in her finger. \"Cassie - she said for us to\nleave her alone. If we go over there, maybe we'll make things\nworse.\"Jeanice\nthought for a moment, then turned her head to look at Sue. With\ndetermined eyes she said, \"We've known Cassie since we were in\nmiddle school. You know how timid she can get. I don't care what she\nsaid - she's just not going to be able to get through this on her\nown.\" She closed her eyes and shook her head. \"We've got to go\nover there.\"Sue\ngave a sigh punctuated with a slight whine. She was never good at\ndealing with serious issues. The good part of her sheltered\nupbringing was that she had never had to face poverty, or a hostile\nor unsupportive family growing up. The bad part of it was that her\nlack of experience with true adversity meant that she was helpless in\na crisis. \n \"Well...I\nmean, I want Cassie to get better, too, but...we're not\ntherapists....\"\"Sue!\"\nSue was startled when Jeanice suddenly barked her rebuke. The weasel\nscowled and shook her head. \"I don't like this either. Honestly,\nI'm kind of scared to go over there. But....\" Jeanice's expression\nchanged to one of a mixture of sadness and worry. \"We've been\nthrough so much together, the three of us. I just think of us\nabandoning her and her-\" She couldn't say the words. She was not\nthe type of woman to be candid about the issue of self-harm. \"Sue,\nhoney, sometimes you have to stick your neck out for a friend even if\nyou really don't want to do it. Let's go see her. Please.\"After\nseveral seconds of hesitation, Sue sighed and nodded. \"I guess we\nhave to.\"Fifteen\nminutes of driving and Jeanice pulled into Cassie's condo driveway,\nwith Sue as her nervous passenger. The ignition was turned off and\nthe two women got out of the car. Jeanice steeled herself towards\nwhatever scene she might have found in Cassie's home. Sue had her\nears pinned back, the inside of her mouth dry. They walked to the\ndoor and Jeanice carefully knocked.\n No\nanswer. Another set of knocks with no answer and Jeanice took it upon\nherself to call Cassie on her cell. After\nenough rings that Jeanice feared her call would go to voicemail: \".\n. . Hi Jeanice. 'Sup?\"\"That's\nme knocking, Cassie. Open up.\" Jeanice heard a slow sigh and then\nthe phone cut off. After a moment she and Sue saw the front door open\nto reveal their mutual friend.She\nwas not doing well. Even with the short hair of her breed, a Bengal\nfeline, she looked disheveled. Her coat lacked luster, and the\nstripes patterned on her head seemed to smear into each other; all in\nall, she desperately needed to groom herself. Her shirt and pants, a\nfavorite outfit that her mother had bought her as a birthday gift a\ncouple years prior, were horribly wrinkled with the shirt being\nbuttoned up in a childishly lopsided fashion. Her eyes were\nbloodshot, and her head was low. She barely lifted her head up enough\nto look her friends wearily in the eyes.\"Why'd\nyou guys come over?\"Sue\ngave Jeanice an anxious look. The weasel was the first to step\ninside, letting Sue close and lock the door behind her. Jeanice\nreplied, \"Cassie, look at yourself. You've been a mess for months.\nYou've become so withdrawn lately. We're worried about you!\"\n Cassie\nlooked sadly at Jeanice, then Sue. Despite the lump in her throat,\nSue was able to say, \" . . . Yeah. You were always so fun to be\naround. But lately you've just been so sad. I know Jeanice has been\ncalling you every week-\" She was silent for an instant as a sudden\npang of guilt hit her. She'd been too scared to call Cassie. But she\nwas here now, she thought, so it was best to focus on what she could\ndo for her friend - \"But you keep giving her one-word answers. We\njust want to know what's going on with you, and if we can help\nsomehow.\"\"Mhm,\"\nCassie grunted wistfully. She reflexively stroked a whisker - they\nwere the only part of her person that wasn't disheveled. Sue and\nJeanice waited a moment, and were both relieved when Cassie nodded\nand motioned for them to sit on her living room couch.Sue\nsat down and took a glance at the furnishings, which were in their\nproper places, but in obvious need of dusting. She noticed two\nunorganized piles, one of various documents, the other of what were\npresumably clothes that needed to be washed. Jeanice had headed\nstraight for the kitchen, hoping to find tea or some other calming\ndrink. All there was a 4-pack of bottled mocha, so she too sat on the\ncouch, using her hands to ensure that her long tail dangled elegantly\nat her side. \n Cassie\njoined her girlfriends at the end portion of the couch where they\nweren't sitting. She leaned her head against the couch and looked at\nnothing in particular. \"I\n. . .\" the Bengal sighed. \"I don't know. I've just been . . . not\nenjoying my life right now. Life's stressful, you know? It's just\nhard to get away from your problems.\"Jeanice's\nexpression was full of empathy. She replied, \"But sweetie, you're\njust not yourself anymore.\" She looked to Sue for agreement; the\nwolf gave a somber nod. \"Have you seen yourself lately? You're a\nmess, baby! You look like you haven't been outside for months. I\ndon't mean to be mean, but I'm surprised Fly Fashions hasn't fired\nyou yet!\" Fly Fashions was Cassie's job of two years. It was a\nboutique store for trendy women; Cassie's knowledge of what looked\nbest on her clients caused her to be promoted from part-time\nassistant to assistant manager in rapid time. \"I\ndon't look a mess when I'm at work,\" said Cassie with absolutely no\nenthusiasm. \"Don't worry, I'm not gonna make myself homeless. It\njust sucks having to be there until closing.\"\n \".\n. . Does your boss give you shit?\" Sue questioned.\"No,\nshe and the other workers are actually alright,\" Cassie admitted.\n\"It's not them. I don't even know if it's the job. I used to really\nlike helping other women choose a new wardrobe, but for some reason .\n. . the fun's just gone out of it. It's like, one day I was happy\nwith my life and career, and the next everything became so blah for\nsome reason.\"Jeanice\ntwiddled her hands, thinking. \"Really? You just got into a\ndepression for no reason? I mean, I know that happens to people, but\nyou seemed to be so happy. I can't see why - hey, where's\nKent?\" Cassie\ngot very sad, and looked downcast. \"He left me.\"Jeanice\ngasped. Kent was Cassie's boyfriend, a lion. Jeanice and Sue didn't\nsee him very much but when they did, he seemed to be a good match\nwith their friend. Sue gave an awkward \"Oh,\" and looked away.\nWith her eyes wetting, Jeanice said. \"Oh, honey, what did I tell\nyou about breakups? You don't throw your life away because a man\nleaves you!\"\"No,\"\nCassie sighed, \"I'm not like this because he left.\" Seeing\nJeanice be so concerned reminded her of her wounds after the end of\nthe relationship. She lowered her ears and became misty-eyed as well.\n\"I started feeling depressed months before that. Kent tried to help\nme get over it. He told me to see a doctor about it but I wouldn't. I\ndidn't feel like a doctor could do anything to help me. I'm sure he .\n. . got tired of me hiding under the covers as soon as I got home in\nthe evening.\" Her frown turned into a grimace in a show of\nregretful realization. \"I wasn't fun to be around, we weren't\nhaving sex, I didn't want to do anything to change the situation -\nno wonder he couldn't do it anymore.\"\n Sue\nalso made a grimace when she saw that the tears welling up in\nCassie's eyes were threatening to cascade down her cheeks. \"Hm.\nWell, it's true that no one can help you if you don't want to help\nyourself,\" said the wolf. She absentmindedly stroked her lap. \"But\nare you sure this depression came out of nowhere? Because if it did,\nit must be clinical. I mean, lots of people have to take medicine\nbecause their brain chemistry is out of whack. You . . . don't have\nto be ashamed if that's what you need to do to get better. I mean,\ngirl . . . you've got to get your life back together. Seeing you like\nthis - scares the hell out of us.\"\"It\nreally does. It really does,\" Jeanice repeated, nodding sincerely.\nShe patted a hand on the couch cushion. \"Sweetie, come\nhere.\"Cassie\nlooked questioningly at her. At length, she scooted over close to\nJeanice. The weasel placed her hand on top of Cassie's and eyed her\nwith compassion. Cassie looked down, feeling guilty but silently\naccepting the gesture. Being on the other side of Jeanice, Sue leaned\nin and focused on Cassie, one hand on Jeanice's shoulder, the other\nplaced on her own chest. Now she, too, had moist eyes. \n For\nseveral moments, the friends were quiet. When Jeanice felt that\nCassie was ready to receive advice, she said, \"You should've told\nus you were struggling. This isn't something you have to deal with\nalone. We've been girlfriends since we were eleven. Did you think\nwe'd ignore you if you came to us for help?\"Cassie's\nears flattened and her features, including her whiskers, dropped. \"I\njust . . . didn't want to bother you guys. I mean, if my mom died or\nsomething like that, well, that's a reason to be depressed. But\nhaving you see me sad and crying for no reason . . . I wanted to\nspare you. I didn't want you to worry about me over\nnothing.\"\"Nothing?!\"\nexclaimed Sue. \"Look at the mess in this place. You're a mess! And\nKent left you! You're gonna ruin your life if you don't do something\nto get over this. Here,\" thought Sue, \"why don't Jeanice and I\nfind a list of psychologists, and you can call one to get an\nappointment?\"\"Yes!\"\nurged Jeanice. \"All we want is to help you to get better. Let your\ngirls help you, Cassie.\" She wrapped an arm around Cassie's\nshoulders and squeezed. \"Okay?\"\n Cassie\nlooked away. After several moments' thought, she quietly nodded her\nhead. Her\ntwo best friends smiled. \"That-a-girl!\" said Sue\nhappily.Jeanice\nadded, \"Okay, honey. We're a family, and Sue and I are going to do\nwhatever we can to help you get better.\" She gently squeezed\nCassie's hand. \"We'll always be here for you.\"With\nthat, Cassie gave a small, but sincere smile. She had newfound hope\nthat her friends would get her through this time in her life.\n"}