"Hi! Looks like we're roomies! Im Charlotte! Who are you?" A petite girl with blond curly hair and blue eyes runs up to me, and before she is actually in front of me she is done talking. I kneel down to her, confused. I didn't realize that people actually put little kids in mental hospitals.
"I'm Imogene, how old are you?" She hugs me,
"I'm six! I want to show you everyone!" She grabs my hand and drags me down into a room, with a sign that says "Dayroom" On the wall.
She points to a lanky boy with long brown hair and glasses.
"Thats William, he's 15. He's here for hal-haloo-"
"Hallucinations," He offers, and waves at me. I wave back. He calls to a fat kid with short hair,
"Hey Bryson, new kid!" Bryson turns to face me, then turns to William.
"Did she take Stacey's room?" William nods. Bryson comes over to me, and shakes my hand.
"Bryson, 16, self harm." The lady who took me back here, who introduced herself as Ms. Katherine, gets onto him
"Boundaries, Bryson, boundaries." He lets go of my hand.
"That rule is dumb." Charlotte points to a skinny girl dressed in black with black hair in the corner.
"Thats Evelyn." I wave, but she turns away.
"She's really quiet." A guy who I hadn't noticed before supplies. He introduces himself as Richard, and then resumes a drawing he was working on.
"DICK!" Bryson calls out. Richard glares at him, and Ms. Katherine moves over to a whiteboard behind the desk, and puts a tally next to Bryson's name. I notice my name is up there too.
"Whats the whiteboard for?" I inquire, and Ms. Katherine informs me that it is a reward system, you get points 10 points a day that you can exchange for candy, cards, time outside, and other goodies depending on your behavior. And that Bryson just lost one.I look at the clock. It is 8 PM.
"Time for showers!" A man with a beard behind the desk announces. Ms. Katherine goes behind the desk and pulls out these little grey tubs, with toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. in them. "Boys first!" The man says, and all the boys get the tubs with their names on them. The girls all go to a little window in the wall and line up, Charlotte pulls me in too.The man appears in the window. One by one the girls take their pills, and stick out their tongue for some reason. When I get up, the man asks my name. I tell him I'm Imogene Grayson, he asks how old I am. I tell him i'm 14. I ask his name.
"Im Mr. Baryn. Well Imogene, it looks like the doctor took you off all your meds until he can see you,"
"He can't do that! I need them! I go crazy without them!"
"Okay, Imogene, you need to relax. You will see him first thing in the morning. Go sit down until its your turn to shower." I slump over to a green chair, and flop into it. I try to scoot it closer to the table, and realize either I've gotten very weak or this chair is very heavy.
"They have sand in them so we don't throw them," A girl who just emerged from a room labeled "Visitation" with a smiley face above the I.
"Hi, I'm Courtney. I'm 14, and I'm here for homicidal ideation." I introduce myself, but leave out why I'm here. She seems to be the only one to catch on to the fact that I haven't said why I was admitted.
"Hi Imogene, it's cool that you don't want us to know why you're here. But you should know, in process group, you are forced to tell," She sits in a blue chair, and grabs a coloring sheet and a blue crayon and starts doodling. One by one, the boys finish their showers.
"Can I shower first?" I nod my head and she goes. When she gets back, she hands me a dinky little comb that the hospital provided her. "Can you brush my hair?" I agree, and she sits in my lap. "Thank you, Mommy," I think its slightly odd that she called me Mommy, but eh, what the hell. I hum a little song my mom used to sing to me before she died, she made it up. Charlotte quickly catches on to the tune, and joins me.
Ms. Katherine tells me to go take my shower, and I protest that I haven't got any soap or anything else. She hands me a grey tub with my name on it that has toiletries in it. I take a quick shower in freezing water, put on the extra pair of clothes my dad gave me, and go join everyone else in the dayroom. As soon as I get out, Ms. Katherine announces that its time for wrap-up group, and its time to put away whatever we were working on. Bryson gripes that he was winning the card game he was playing with William.
"Okay for our new friends, in wrap up group you share your best part of the day, worst part, your favorite coping skill, and whether or not you accomplished your daily goal." I raise my hand
"Whats a coping skill?" I ask, and Bryson chuckles.
"A coping skill is what you do to make yourself feel better, like in a crisis," Ms. Katherine starts the group with me.
"Best part? I saw my dad again. Worst part? Im here. Coping skill? Cutting. Did I accomplish my goal? I didn't set one," Ms. Katherine nods and says that I am here to work on that. She then dismisses me to go to bed. On my way to my room, I hear Charlotte say her best part was getting a roommate, and worst part was the nightmare she had the night before. I lay awake for what feels like forever, before Charlotte comes in.
"Mommy? I just wanted to say goodnight,"
"Goodnight Honey, go to sleep," I listen to my own advice, and nod off.
VOCÊ ESTÁ LENDO
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Ficção Adolescente"Okay, Imogene. Lets go back, I'll show you your room here at Greenwood, and introduce you to your roommate," I see a plaque outside the room she takes me to. Name: Imogene Grayson Reason for Admission: Self harm, suicidal ideation, auditory and vi...
