Retreat (ddlb)

2

The line was quiet as we were lead through a comfortable, white lobby/hangout area and into a white hallway with multiple corners that eventually lead into another hallway lined with chairs that lead up to a door. "Okay, can everybody please take a seat and I'll call you up when it's your turn." I sat down along with all of the other kids, this time I took my time to look around and see what everyone else looked like. Everyone here all shared the same look of either anxiety, exhausted defeat, or just plain indifference, like me. 

After a few minutes of waiting, I soon realized that this was probably going to take a while and as I was taking out my phone to entertain myself, I saw the first patient come out with little to no facial expressions, holding a white paper packet and a marker who instead of coming to sit with the rest of us, continued on back down the way we came. Then, the leader popped her head out and called the next name. After they went in, I went back to looking at my phone for about fifteen minutes before my name was finally called.

"Jasper Andrews?" I stood up, placing my phone in my pocket and slinging my backpack over my shoulders and walked into what seemed to be a small office. "Hey there! My name is Ms. Lindsey and I will be your main leader for the time being until we get you guys all sorted. Go ahead and close the door behind you and have a seat." I gave a half-smile, wondering what she meant by 'sorted', and shut the door behind me and sat down at the white desk opposite the the lady. 

"Okay, so, this won't take too long, I just need to ask you some questions and then I'll have you fill out a form. But first, just to get a feel of where you are in this process, I was just wondering what all you know about how our treatment works here?" She spoke very sweetly while talking to me, making me feel less hesitant to talk to her. "Uh, to be honest I don't really know anything. I just kind of thought that this was an inpatient retreat or something." I shrugged with my answer, which made Ms. Lindsey give me a knowing smile of sorts and nodded. "Oh, well that's okay. We will make sure everyone is caught up to pace by the end of the day. Anyway, I'm just going to ask you a few questions and I ask that you do your best to answer them as honestly as possible, and keep in mind that this is a safe and confidential space." She finished her sentence with a warm smile and a click of her ballpoint pen, waiting for me to nod before she continued. 

"Okay, now you don't have to answer all of the questions if you don't want to, and if you don't just let me know. Now, just please make sure to be truthful in your answers." She glanced up, making sure I was paying attention and I nodded, letting her know that I agreed to what she was saying. " Alright, question one: would you feel more comfortable with a male or female therapist for private sessions?" She glanced up, patiently awaiting my answer, pen in hand hovering over her notebook. "Uh, female, I guess." I shrugged, since these questions didn't seem all that bad. 

"Hm... okay, question two: what's your favorite color?" This time she asks the question with a little bit of enthusiasm, catching me a little off-guard with such a stupid question. " Green, I guess. Why does this matter?" I shrugged, not really seeing why she was writing this down. "Just something we like to know about our patients. Question 3: favorite food?" Again, she seems more cheerful with this question, as if I'm a little kid who cares about these things. "Uh... why do you need to know??" I asked with a raised brow. I was starting to get a little annoyed with these childish questions. "Well we do have a cafeteria, with some chefs who like to make sure everyone here feels at home. So we like to take into account the kind of food you guys like to eat." She answered my question patiently, still waiting to write down my answer. "Uhh... I guess if I had to choose I would say strawberry ice cream..." I replied, turning my head away with my ears burning a little bit. The atmosphere suddenly felt a little awkward and it felt embarrassing to be playing into these questions.  "Hmm... a bit of a sweet-tooth, huh? Alright I will see what I can do with the dessert menu!" This time she places her pen and notebook down and reaches to her left and grabs a white paper packet like the ones I saw the other patients carrying.