The Child
I walk home from school only to be told to do a bunch of chores. My mother always makes me do all of the big chores while my older siblings get to do the smaller things and sit around a lot. I hate it because there’s so much pressure on me and I also have school to go to.
“Katy, please take out the trash.” My mother asks me. I huff and walk over to the trash bin. I go to pull out the bag and it rips spilling the trash all over the floor. My sister who is sitting at the table just stares at me instead of getting up to help me. I roll my eyes and look over at my mother who is doing the same thing.
“You’re not going to help me?” I ask. They both give each other a look and shrug their shoulders.
“It’s your chore.” My sister tells me. I roll my eyes again and move to get another bag to put the trash in. I carefully start picking up the individual pieces of trash from the floor. After picking up about five pieces, I look up to see my mother staring at me with a scowl on her face.
“Do you think that if you move slowly you will get out of doing your other chores?” She questions me. I finally slam the bag down on the ground and stand up.
“It’s not fair!” I yell at her. Her eyes widen a bit at my sudden outburst.
“What’s not fair?” She asks me calmly. I look over at my sister who is still just sitting at the table watching everything happen. I point and look back at my mother.
“She just gets to sit here and watch me do all of this work! That’s not fair!” I yell at her. My mother smiles and shakes her head.
“Your sister has been doing a lot of work. She does her work while you are at school and the same goes for your brother. You all have your own jobs in this house.” She answers me calmly again. It spikes my anger that she won’t just get mad at me for having a fit. It’s like she’s making fun of me when she stands there with a straight face and just stares at me as I break down.
“Well, I could at least use help when something goes wrong with my chore! That isn’t fair either!” I yell at her again. I can feel tears stinging at my eyes. They just don’t care about me.
“It is your chore and if you did want help you needed to ask for it before you went complete bitch mode when we just sat there and looked on. It doesn’t make either of us want to help you very much. Would you like to try asking nicely for one of us to help you pick up the trash?” She says condescendingly. I stamp my foot on the floor and groan in frustration as tears start falling down my face.
“NO! You guys just don’t care! If I ask you, you’ll just say no and move on with whatever it is that you’re doing and leave me to pick it up by myself anyway! That’s just what you do, every time! You guys don’t love me, you just want a slave!” I scream as I collapse to the floor. My sister slams her hands on the table and stands up and my mom stomps up in front of me. She grips my arm tight and drags me off the floor.
“You do not speak to me in that way! You are not a slave! You have this roof over your head, you have a room, I feed you and clothe you! The least you can do is some chores around the house to help keep it cleaned and maintained!” My mother yells in my face. I scream because her grip is really tight. She raises her hand and smacks it across my face.
“Let go! Let go of me!” I scream at her. I try to jerk my arm away but her grip get tighter and my circulation is getting cut off.
“Mom!” My sister yells. My mom looks at her to see that she is about to start crying. “Let her go! You’re cutting off her circulation!” She yells again. My mom drops my arm and walks over to my sister. My sister runs away and I also run while my mom is distracted. I scramble up to my room and slam the door shut and let the tears fall. A banging sounds on my door and I can’t tell who it is.
“Katy, open this door now!” It’s my mother. I just curl up on my bed and start rocking back and forth. I can’t open that door, she’s going to smack me again. I hear the banging stop but then I hear heavier footsteps coming down the hall toward my room. A softer knock sounds on my door.
“Katy? Can you talk to me? I want to know what happened.” My father. I slowly get up and unlock the door and open it. My father stands there with a soft smile on his face. “Now, can you tell me what happened?” He asks me. I rub my arm where mom had pinched me and start crying again.
“Mom was making me do all of the chores again. She always makes me do all of the chores. The others just get to sit around and watch me do all of the work.” I cry to him. He just sighs and rubs my back in a soothing fashion. I sniffle a bit before looking up at him.
“You need to go and apologize to your mother for hurting her feelings.” He tells me. I feel my jaw drop open.
“Are you kidding me? She’s the one who hurt me! I’m not apologizing!” I yell at him. He throws his hands up in surrender instantly.
“She is your mother and she’s trying to teach you responsibility. This is about the hundredth time you’ve done this. I think it’s time to get you some help.” He says before walking away and down the stairs. I hear he and my mother have a whispered conversation before I hear the sound of a phone being dialed. I storm right out of my room and down the stairs to find my mother and father sitting together with my father waiting for the phone to be answered.
“You’re going to send me away? Is that really your answer? Maybe you should get your wife some help!” I yell at him. He looks at me wide eyed but then regains his composure as the phone is answered on the other side.
“Yes. I have a child who is prone to psychotic episodes and they have just been getting worse and we can’t live with it anymore.” He tells the person on the other line. I feel myself getting angry again and I turn on my mother.
“You cannot do this to me.” I tell her. She looks at me with a grave face.
“We need to get you some help. This is the only way.” She tells me with tears forming in her eyes.
“Don’t act sad that you have to get rid of me. You’ve always wanted this. You like the other two better than me.” I say. Her eyes widen and she gasps.
“She’s twelve.” I hear my father say. I fall to the floor with tears forming in my eyes again as the situation becomes even more real. They are sending me away, getting rid of me. After a few more minutes of giving my information my father hangs up the phone. “They will be here within the hour.” He informs us.
“You can’t even take me there yourselves? Is that how scared of me you are? Is that really how much you don’t like me? I thought you were supposed to love me unconditionally as my parents.” I say. They both give me sad looks. I roll my eyes and scoff. “Please, don’t act like you care now. You’ve already signed my life over to wherever it is that you’re sending me.” I tell them. They look at each other and then back at me before standing up and walking away. I sit for about twenty minutes before a new anger rises in me about the fact that they are seriously about to give me away to strangers. I stand up from the couch and stomp into the kitchen where my parents are sitting and crying silently while talking to each other and holding hands.
“That’s cute. But I can bet that I’ll be forgotten as soon as these guys get here to pick me up. That’s just how it works, right? You’re only sad about a person leaving until they’re actually gone and then suddenly it’s like they never existed?” I say. I clench and unclench my fists while staring at my mother. I’m so angry that I don’t notice my father stand up to answer the doorbell. “Is this how you deal with your anger issues? You send away the thing that pisses you off? Well, I’ll be back and I promise that I won’t get any better so that you can just have the same thing as when you sent me away.” I tell her while slamming my fist against the table and getting up in her face. Suddenly an arm wraps around my neck and my airways are restricted. I look in my peripheral vision to see two strong men, one is holding me in a choke hold and the other is waiting for me to run out of air. My vision starts to go black and my body falls limp.
“This one is even younger.” I hear a voice say. I hear some shuffling around and I can feel that I’m laying on something. A hand brushes across my forehead and I flinch away from it before slowly opening my eyes. There’s a bright light shining through the room and I look around. I’m laying on a rusting metal cot, there’s a chair with a man sitting on it, the paint is peeling in all of the corners revealing a bluish color under the brown. I look back at the man sitting on my chair.
“Who are you?” I question him. He smiles and holds out his hand to me.
“I’m Xavier.” He tells me. I shake his hand.
“Katy.” I tell him. He nods with a smile on his face.
“So, how did you end up here?” He asks me. I just roll my eyes and cross my arms as I start to feel grumpy again. I look up at the other side of the room and see an older girl standing there staring at me. I scowl and stand up.
“What are you staring at?” I question her. She looks down at me with a frown on her face.
“A brat. You should learn some manners. Like how to talk to people who are older than you.” She tells me. I clench my fists and grit my teeth. I look over at Xavier and he still has the small smile on his face but the look in his eyes is telling the girl not to do anything.
“I already came from a house where they talked to me like that. And they treated me like a slave. This place is so much better than that.” I tell them while plopping myself back down on the cot with a huff.
“How would you know that? You don’t even know where you are.” The girl tells me. I nod and look up at her.
“Well, are you going to tell me where I am? Or are you just going to stand there knowing everything?” I ask her. I see her jaw tick but other than that she shows no signs of being angry with me. Just like my mother would do.
“You’re at Greenborough.” She answers me shortly. I nod and look around my room again.
“That makes sense but I’m not crazy.” I tell them. They both just nod at me.
“You probably aren’t but good luck convincing the doctors of that. You won’t ever get out of here, even if you feel like you’re cured.” The girl tells me. I clench my fists again.
“Dammit! I’m not sick!” I scream and slam my fist on the bed. Xavier jumps out of the chair and the girl steps back. They both look at each other before looking back at me with a hint of fear in both of their eyes. “Don’t look at me like that! Just leave me alone!” I scream and they both run out of the room. I lay back down on the cot and start crying. I hear a soft knock on the metal door and peek out of the corner of my eye to see Xavier back wearing the same smile on his face. “What do you want?” I snap at him. His face drops to a frown and he holds up a small brown teddy bear.
“I thought you might want something to keep you company, even if you don’t want other people in here with you. You can talk to him and get all of your feelings out. Just don’t beat him up or anything like that because he’s mine.” He tells me before handing over the bear. I sit up and gently take it from his hands. I hug it to my chest and then look at its face with a smile.
“It’s cute. I like him. Thank you.” I tell him. He just smiles and nods before making his way out of the room again. I lay back down on the bed and hold the bear up in the air and just stare at it for a while before a louder knock sounds on my door. I look up to see and older woman standing there with a scowl on her face.
“It’s time to go meet with the doctor.” She tells me. I hold tightly onto the bear’s hand as I stand up and walk up to her. She places her hand on my back and proceeds to push me out into the hall. It’s very bright and it hurts my eyes but the lady forces me to keep walking down the hall. I can hear a lot of noise coming from a room down the hall. She pushes me down the hall until we reach the room and I look in quickly to see about five other people all talking and laughing together while watching the tv or just standing around. I don’t get to see much before the nurse pushes me up to a giant metal door, she scans a plastic card and a metallic buzz sounds through the hall as the door slowly opens. Once the door is open she pushes me out into another hallway.
“Wow. You really must be scared of someone running away.” I comment while looking around this dimly lit hallway. There are shadows in every doorway that we pass and the paint is peeling in every corner. I don’t like this place, it’s creepy and it probably isn’t a whole lot better than my house. The nurse leads me down at least five hallways that all look exactly identical until she brings me up to a door that has a faded nameplate on it. She steps forward and knocks and then stands back and waits patiently for whoever is there to answer. The door opens slowly and an old man peeks out from behind it. He looks at the nurse and then down at me before fully opening the door to look at the both of us. He smiles down at me before ushering me into his office.
“Thank you, Darla. I will call you when she is ready to go back.” He tells her as I walk into his office. I settle myself on the ratty old chair in front of his desk. The first thing that catches my eye on his desk is the nameplate that is a shiny gold color and brand new. The doctor closes the door and walks around his desk before pulling up my folder and settling in his cushioned desk chair.
“It seems that you got the best accommodations here.” I comment. He chuckles before opening the folder and taking down a few notes.
“What is your name?” He asks. I stare at him for a second.
“Don’t you already know that? You probably know everything about me in that little folder of yours.” I say. He nods his head and takes down a few more notes.
“Well, it says here that you are prone to psychotic episodes. What do you think causes these things to happen?” He questions me. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes for a second before sitting back up and staring him in the eyes.
“Parents who make you do all of the work and just let your siblings sit around and watch you.” I answer him honestly. He nods and takes a few notes.
“Why do you think you were so mad at your family?” He asks me. I think about it for a second and then shrug my shoulders.
“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t actually mad at them but I was stressed with school and personal stuff so I just took it out on them.” I tell him while squeezing the hand of my bear tighter.
“I see that you have Xavier’s teddy. Did he give that to you?” He questions. I nod and pull the bear up so that I can look at it. He smiles and nods. “Well, that was nice of him. Why did he give that to you?” He asks. The questions are starting to annoy me now.
“Why do you ask so many questions? He thought I might want some company that wasn’t a person because I snapped at both of them.” I tell him. He nods and writes more before looking up.
“Them? Who else was with you in the room?” He asks. I think about what she looked like.
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me her name, just called me a brat right off the bat and made me angry.” I explain to him. He nods with a smile.
“Ah. So you’ve gotten a taste of Katherine’s affection. She will get better but you need to learn to get along with all of those people because you will be living with them for the rest of your life. Now, if you do have another episode we will have to give some ECT therapy to calm you down for a while. But you seem fine for right now.” He tells me. I nod and sit back. I have nothing more to say to this man. “Right, well, that’s it for right now. When you go back to the hall you can either make friends or you can go to your room and sleep. We don’t make the patients get acquainted with others right away because they are in a strange environment. I will call the nurse and she will guide you back to the ward.” He tells me. I nod and he leaves to get the nurse. They come back about five minutes later and the nurse guides me back through the whole maze of halls. She drops me at the common room and I stand there staring at the other people in the room. None of them seem to notice me which is nice but as soon as I step over the threshold of the room all eyes turn to me with a mixture of emotions. Two are really excited, one actually didn’t look up at me, one is annoyed and the other is just smiling at me. One of the excited girls bounces up to me.
“Hello! I’m Lucee!” She screeches while holding her hand out to me. I flinch from the noise but smile at her.
“Katy.” I say quietly while shaking her hand. The other excited girl walks up behind Lucee and puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey now. Don’t scare the poor girl off on her first day here.” She says. Lucee looks confused but stands back. The other girl holds her hand out to me. “I’m Sarah, I’m the artist in the group. Can I draw you?” She asks. I just continue to smile and I shake her hand.
“I’m Katy. I don’t know how I feel about you drawing me. That seems a little creepy.” I tell her. She just laughs awkwardly and scratches the back of her head. The man who had looked at me annoyed when I first walked in walks up behind both of the girls. The girls quietly bow out of his way and he holds his hand out to me with a small smile.
“I’m Alex. It’s nice to meet you. If anyone gives you trouble you let me know.” He tells me. I feel a big smile come across my face. He reminds me of my big brother. I shake his hand.
“I’m Katy. It’s nice to meet you too.” I tell him. He nods before walking back to the tv. Xavier walks up to me with a smile on his face and he looks down at the teddy in my hand.
“It seems that you’ve already taken a strong liking to him. Just keep a really close eye on him and make sure that you don’t leave him anywhere because I will need him back eventually.” He tells me. I smile and nod.
“I know. The doctor told me how much you like him. I would never lose something that is super important to someone else.” I tell him. He smiles and ruffles my hair which surprises me because I’ve never had anyone do that to me before.
“What’s wrong?” He asks as he pulls his hand away. I shake my head with a smile.
“Nothing. I’ve just never had my hair ruffled before. It’s a nice feeling.” I tell him. His body starts shaking and then he bursts out laughing. I frown at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. I’ve just never seen anyone so surprised by getting their hair ruffled before. Lucee likes that too.” He tells me. I look over at Lucee and she’s sitting in the corner talking to herself. I nod and look back at him.
“Thank you for being so welcoming. I’ve heard horror stories about living in an asylum but this seems pretty nice compared to what I have heard.” I tell him. He nods and smiles.
“Of course. We don’t want you to feel uncomfortable during your stay. Why don’t we go watch some tv for the rest of the day?” He points toward a ratty couch and I nod. We both walk over and he sits down on the left side and I plop myself down on the right side and then lay my head on his lap to watch some tv. He starts absentmindedly playing with my hair and I can feel myself drifting off to sleep.