Post by Melly on Dec 11, 2007 12:39:38 GMT -5
The Tectum House
They never called it an asylum because they had to keep up appearances after all.
The Tectum House was created decades ago to provide a sanctuary of sorts for kids troubled specifically in their minds. It was the home to perhaps two dozen children ages 10 to 18. When they aged out or left (or died) more children were always there to take their place. It was costly thing, something reserved for those who had someone to pay to put them away.
There were those few children who were sent specially to the Tectum House, through the court usually. The Tectum house was always known for its ability to fix the broken, and children were sent form all over the US specifically for the staff and the care of the Tectum House.
Yes, fix the broken. That was what the Tectum House was there for. And they only took those children they had some sort of hope of fixing.
The depressed teenagers, fresh from their most recent suicide attempt, drowned in drugs and kept away from the sharp objects.
The children as young as 10 years old who suffered some deep sort of mental or physical abuse, usually by someone who was supposed to 'love' them that left them bruised and broken on a much deeper level than the skin. These were usually the children forced to the Tectum House by a Judge and a Gavel so no one could reach them
The children who lusted for blood or pain and had no real name for their 'disorder' but it was sure to be fixable anyway. These were the kids walking around the house like zombies, shocked form the medication and the latest 'treatment'.
The truly mentally ill, be it very violent bipolar disorder or sever manic depression or something that no child that young was supposed to be affected with, some form of delusion or schizophrenia, so it must be something else and it must be fixable. These were the children kpet in their rooms except on their 'good days' and these were the children who spent either no time at all in the Tectum House (shipped off to a better facilty, soemwhere where they could not cause enarly so much pain) or never left.
The selectively mute children who never spoke a word for one reason or another and just sat in their rooms, staring at the wall, thinking things they never told anyone. These children often spent yars upon years in the Tectum House because... nothing was really wrong with them... not liek the others... it was all in their minds.
This was where all the broken children came to be healed and perhaps deep down, everyone knew it didn't really work. You could try to put a broken thing back together again, glue the pieces back or sew them together, but it was never really the same and it was never really fixed.
The children moved in and out of the Tectum House, some staying for only a few months, others for years. Some simply aged out when they were 18. Some were moved to different facilities, some taken from other places and moved to the Tectum House. But there were never the same group of kids for very long though a few remained the same.
There were always plenty of staff members, alternating as frequently as the children. They knew what it was like, these nurses and doctors, for these children. They turned their heads when the children made friends, fell in love, because they figured they deserved that kind of peace. Which resulted in several things the staff missed, little things that lead to bigger things like fights and deaths and pain. But they could not be blamed for they had seen so much already and they were simply trying to survive. Just like the children.
For all their fixing of the broken in the Tectum House, there were still a few incidents every year. The kind in which several adults in white came in and carried out a child in a black body bag and every one pretended everything was alright, even when every single child knew what was in that black bag.
Some of these incidents were the result of a bully, lack of medication, or an abundance something that the staff skipped over or forgotten or just didn't care about. Others were the children's themselves, cheating the system, thinking and considering and eventually deciding to leave the world by their own accord.
The Tectum House was never perfect, will never be perfect, but it tries.
The Tectum House was a sad place, clean and sterile and white. Like a highly regulated hospital so the sharpen object never ended up in the depressed children's hands and the violent ones were kept away from the other's on their bad days. Medication was handed out and the patients were sent to their therapy sessions and things functioned. And things sometimes slipped through the cracks, children left their unlocked rooms, medication was stored or discarded, things were forgotten... but that was no body's fault.
They were all school age and there were rooms set up for just that. To continue the schooling, continue the education. They had to keep up with the illusion after all that one day these children were going to get out. One day these children would be fixed and they'd move one, part of the world again. But it really was just an illusion after all.
Art was encouraged and children given paint to use, clay to sculpt. All highly regulated of course... as was everything else in the Tectum House. Safety of the children after all. They were permitted outside, if they were not being punished, and despite the fences around the entire premises, it was a nice place to be. It was better than the sterile inside and the cold floors.
And the children there? well they may be broken, but they cling to each other. They may never be fixed but still alliances are formed, silent treaties sighed. And yes, wars fought between rivals. It is in the nature of things when several people, especially children, are placed in a confined space together with no way out.
Friends were made by those who swore never to trust another human being, or had never how to in the first place. Real friends complete with the secrets and the sharing. Love was found by those who locked away their hearts for years and forgot what such a thing was anyway. Children are incredibly resilient creatures and even the one who had given up... really hadn?t.
Yes it is a sad place to be. It never really changed form what it once was. Though it grew in size quite a bit. No there was not a lot of happiness attached to the sterile white walls. But there was hope and there still is hope. It clings to everything in the Tectum House, like stubborn dust that won?t be wiped away.
Hope is strange like that. Even in the most despairing situations, even when all hope should be gone? it?s still there. Maybe a little softer and lighter in most people at the Tectum House, but everyone had it. No matter how much they deny it, everyone still has a little hope.
So who are you amoung these children? Why are you here? What do you intend to do to create a little more hope?