Sheltered (WIP)

The time before I arrived

When I was there I would hear stories from some of the kids and teachers who had been at the school from the first day it was opened. When these stories were told it was very rare they would be said in a negative light and most often you would hear them in a rather casual light. All the teachers would look really nice to the parents, a lot even to this day think they were nice however that is not the case with the majority of them. I recall in about 6th grade. There was a conversation going on between the students and one teacher named miss Coleen Kramer (it's hard to exactly remember her first name and she married later on so her current surname is some sort of Indian name. The conversation related to the early days of the school and the kids and her were talking about the time she duct taped a kids mouth. This kid named Max I met later on and I did not like him but this was really horrible to hear. If it wasn't bad enough these kids were in kindergarten. They were not even your general kindergartner. These were kids who had no experience whatsoever to the outside world. They are probably some of the most sheltered kids to ever have lived within this nation let alone state unless you count the many other SSPX (Society Of Saint Pius The Tenth) schools operating I have never actually visited myself. There was a girl I used to have a crush on back in 4th-7th grade named Bridget. She was the principals daughter and she had one of the kindest families in that school, she herself was very nice but shy with new people just like her younger sisters. I heard a story which also was brought up a few times in conversations in between different teachers including Miss Kramer whom I mentioned earlier. The story was how when she was in I believe Kindergarten otherwise her first year at that school there was an instance where she fell. Rocks had gotten lodged in her knees. One of the teachers whom I myself never met but my brother did had used a kitchen fork to remove the rocks. It's hard to remember her name however. They had gone on trips and I know towards the beginning they went to some museum in the city. There was also a time they sang on the radio while visiting some place where at the time I believe they were streaming to a radio station. The youngest of everyone was probably the principals two youngest daughters Margaret (We'd call her Maggie) and Clare. The oldest was probably Thomas, the principals son. They were all really nice, the principals family was pretty cool, especially if you were to take into consideration some of the other people there. I heard the one teacher who pulled the rocks out of Bridget's knee had also made the Kindergartners pick up small pieces of food from the carpet and throw it out rather than use a vacuum. In exchange the kids were giving some crappy reward similar how the workers at Chernobyl were paid a crappy slightly better amount to plant the flag on the Chernobyl reactor which probably took many years off of their lives.   None of the kids ever talked of depression but I'm sure that many of them felt it. The thing that would prevent them from killing themselves is the fear of hell and the horrors that the teachers would describe of what lies after death. This is all a secondary source and just stories I heard of what the school once was about although before I even learned about this my earliest experiences date back in late 2011 to early 2012.   I recall around November of 2011. My cousin had just introduced me to Minecraft though I was not allowed to buy it and did not have a computer at the time. I was 8 at that time. It was then I discovered the current school I attended. Prince Of Peace in Sayville was closing. It was heart breaking for me and I couldn't stop crying the day I found out. In the coming days my friend who was pretty much a friend of the entire class, his name was Joseph or well Joey too was interviewed by News 12, which is a local news station that covers a lot of places on the east coast although not much of the news is actually local and it did have a flamboyantly political agenda. Some of my other friends were interviewed by other news channels as well. On the top you can see a newspaper photo from the Long Island Press from a rally trying to prevent the bishop from closing it. This was probably one of the most memorable days of my early childhood and you can even see my mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandmother and my cousin who was in 5th grade at the time. She is now on her last year of high school and we don't really talk like we used to. We now pretty much live completely separate lives although her brother I hang out with once a week and work with him. He is the one who even suggested I write this book though I don't think he necessarily expected me to. It feels great though knowing this doesn't have to die with me and the world can know what happened in there. The reason that day was so memorable was because I was with my family and slept over my grandparents house which I usually only did every couple of years if I was lucky. There is something about that house at night that makes it feel extra comfortable to sleep in. It just has such a nostalgic feel to it probably because I spent the first two years of my life in the apartment upstairs.   I believe it was a few weeks after the rally/protest that I was to shadow a day at Our Lady Of Good Success. The school looked so wholesome and loving in my young eyes. It was a nice environment and everyone was so nice. At least on that day towards me. I remember though Ms Kramer's sister who is slightly older and I believe still named Miss Kramer had me write some paper to see how good I was with my grammar. I ended up failing the paper but they didn't guilt me like they were going to in the years to come. I remember telling my mom "The actual school day was funner than recess". We had two recesses and it felt like heaven to me. I instantly fell in love.   There I was, a third grader with no past experience with schools other than Prince Of Peace. Brainwashing and deception wasn't even a thought in my mind. So long as my mom didn't see through them my family was their perfect prey. It was a few months after, I was officially enrolled...