The Girl on the Train

Thursday, March 21, 2013. Megan is angry—her lover has not called or texted her, and she is feeling both abandoned and indignant. She vows not to “go quietly.” At breakfast, Scott asks her to cancel her therapy session that afternoon so that they can go to dinner at a friend’s house, but Megan insists that she can’t. Before Scott walks out the door for work, he decisively tells her to cancel the appointment. Alone, Megan throws her coffee cup at the wall and watches it shatter.

Megan arrives at her therapy appointment agitated and out of breath, having ignored Scott’s calls all afternoon. When she walks into Kamal Abdic’s office, she puts her hands on his chest. The doctor tells her what she’s doing is not appropriate—he warns her that she’s experiencing a phenomenon known as transference, in which people in therapy develop feelings for their counselor. Megan asks Kamal if he feels anything for her or if she’s imagining what’s between them. Megan begins screaming at Kamal, and he shakes her to quiet her. Megan kisses him on the mouth, bites his lip hard enough to draws blood, and hurries home, trying to ignore the bruises blooming on her arms.