Her victim enters the room.

Gretchen opens the door and a small asian woman greets her with a smile. She has a big pair of brown eyes. Her fluffy, soft hairstyle resembles the long cut from the 1970s. Her name is Bonnie. She’s a 25-year-old lesbian woman fresh out of graduate school, dreaming of making lots of money to support her new family. Bonnie’s a cheerful individual. She purchases therapist sessions with Gretchen to try to cure her addictions to forex trading, a risky investment method involving currency trade that can bankrupt a person in a matter of seconds.

She’s in the wrong place for that. Gretchen is shaking Bonnie’s hand with a smile, but in her head she is already wanting to send the small woman in front of her into a world of drowning debt, agonizing pain, torment, and lunacy. Her family and friends will leave her. Her wife will suffer with her. Her life will turn into ruins.

“Have a seat. I remember you talked about how you managed to bounce back from your last trade. Help me remember it.” Gretchen sits back down on her armchair.

“Oh yes. That was such a close call I would never be able to forget it my whole life! I felt so **** to see the exchange rate for Yen rising and rising to the point I closed the computer and cried until the next morning. I already secretly took out a second mortgage without my wife knowing then. I maxed out all my credit cards just to stay in the game. I wanted to kill myself the next morning, but when I turned on the computer next day, BOOM! The Yen fucking bounced back. I made back the money and then some!” Bonnie’s eyes sparkle as she speaks. She sometimes would take her phone out of her pocket and look.

“Curious, I believe you wanted my advice to quit forex trading. That’s why you came to me, no?” Gretchen crosses her legs.

“Well, yes. But you’ll never understand what I felt that very moment I saw my earnings. The feeling of being on the verge of **** and painful despair for days, and suddenly having a hand pulling you out of a sea of misery and sends you straight to heaven! It’s…its’... I never wanted to feel the despair again, or having to lie to my partner and risk everything we own… But that rush of adrenaline and emotion…was amazing.” Bonnie says. Bonnie’s phone rang again as she looked down.

“I see. Your motivation to quit trading stems from your unwillingness to experience the desperation of a prospect of losing your money and drowning in debt, and the guilt you hold for your partner.” Gretchen speaks calmly.

“But, despite your guilt and your intention to quit,” Gretchen gets back and slowly walks to the back of Bonnie’s chair, and swipes her phone out of her pocket. The screen shows a live forex chart. A line of green and red squares manifest on the phone screen. “Why are you trading even during our session? You haven’t made up your mind?”

Bonnie frantically takes the phone back: “I’m sorry. It’s just, I’m doing it for the money. I want more money so that we can get a bigger house instead of being stuck in that-”

“No.” Gretchen sits down again: “You do it for the kick. You told me that mere moments ago. You could have disabled your trading account, or withdrawn all your money. But you chose not to. You like the feeling of being revived from the depth of hells. You like having your future shattered and having them put back together in a matter of seconds. I understand that feeling better than everyone else.”

“But what if I lose money? What if I really lose it all at some point?”

Gretchen moves her chair closer to Bonnie, and puts her hand on her shoulder: “Forex trading is not risky at all. Think of how you managed to turn around. You kept pouring money in despite Yen falling and falling just to stay in the game. A professional trader would call you a fool. But if you cut losses then and exited the game, you would’ve netted a loss, no?”

“What do you mean?”

“Persistency and steady flow of cash, that’s how you beat the game. As long as you face the rain head on, stay in the game, it’s only a matter of time you make money in forex. You toss a coin and it lands on head nine consecutive times, and the chances of it landing on head is still 50 percent on the next toss.” Gretchen inches closer to Bonnie’s curious face: “You betted on tail nine consecutive times, and the tenth toss put you on top.” That’s completely bullshit but Gretchen knows Bonnie will bite. Bonnie wants to continue trading and she’ll only need someone giving her the excuse to do so. Her therapist living in a luxurious penthouse telling her to continue is surely a potent excuse.

“So I should continue trading?” Bonnie asks.

“Definitely. It is something you inherently want and I shan’t stop you. The sessions you purchased will not go to waste. Come to me to relieve your stress. I’ll even lend you some funds if need be.” Gretchen smirks.

“Thank you Gretchen! That’s so kind of you! I’ll definitely keep coming over! Did you trade forex to buy this amazing penthouse?” Bonnie lights up with joy, not realizing her impending doom.

“I can’t say I didn’t.” Gretchen lies. She only did research on forex trading after her first session with Bonnie. She wants nothing less than turning Bonnie’s whole existence into garbage. “Also, increase your leverage ratio. If you have the money to back it up, you’ll realize your dream sooner than you realize.” It can also bankrupt her faster than she realizes. Gretchen can’t wait to throw Bonnie into a world of pain, pretending to give her a helping hand only to crack her skull with her high heels.

“Thanks for the tip! Oh, I gotta go. My wife’s waiting for me downstairs.” Bonnie leaves the room while looking at her phone.