Seventy-five days of confinement didn’t seem that long in retrospect, but for her it had felt like an eternity of not knowing when, or if, release would come.
It hadn’t taken her long to learn how to play the game, spout the psychobabble required for freedom; the risks of rebellion were incredibly high. She’d seen what happened to those who dared to argue the course of their treatment plan, shock-therapy was still popular in those days.
Paste on a smile, say all is well, agree to every parental desire; nod in pretended understanding of the imported therapist whose command of English was barely enough for basic communication; and whatever you do, don’t be real, don’t tell them how you really think or feel. Bide your time.
Better at their game than they were, her strategy worked, and on the 75th day she won her freedom; at last the healing that would take a lifetime could begin.
~*~*~*~*~
This has been a Six Sentence Story, written for Denise’s blog hop at GirlieOnTheEdge. The prompt word we needed to use this week was “release.” Click on the link to read some other great stories, and maybe add one of your own!
This is good. Last paragraph, yes. Very well done.
Oh, so real for far too many. Played the game myself a time or two, but only in forced “therapy” not as an inpatient.
ok I suspect this will be one of those weeks when the prompt word resonates among us towards a certain direction.
Some more …uplifting than others… (lol, prison is prison no matter how genteel the guards, no?
totally agree with Miz Avery
this is very good….my first musings were in that direction also. Even if we have never been detained against our will we all have imagined it and thought of how we would plan our escape.
Reblogged this on Reena Saxena and commented:
Sweet Release …. by Josie Two Shoes
Fantastic six!
P.S. … I can relate.
In one way or another, I think everyone goes through experiences where they thought they were biding their time.
So often healing from certain things does seem to take a life time, but when it does, ah, sweet release.
I am glad I never felt this way during my inpatient stays. But I am sure your story is true for many.
Very moving. I too like the last paragraph. I’m so glad you’re back at it!
Powerful 6 Josie. Like Paul, I’m glad you’re “back at it” 🙂
I can only imagine what that feeling must be like. How long before she realized what it was going to take to gain her “freedom”. The last line says it all. True freedom was not so imminent.
Well done. I wonder how many poor people did have shock therapy just for not agreeing with authority.
Survival and the price paid for freedom, nothing in the therapies to help. How sad for those truths. Hoping today’s efforts offer greater relief.
I think this story has only just begun. Wonderfully written six.
Josie I don’t know how else to reach you. My husband recieved a message on his email that said it was from you. I couldn’t figure out how you could have that email or if it actually came from you. It was about your comment going online. Was this from you? He recieved it this morning.
Yes, it was the only email contact address I could find for you. I am having problems with my comments posting then disappearing on several blogs. I was asking if any comments from me showed up in your spam file.
Nothing in my spam file…I seem to get your comments just fine.hope you figure out the problem.
Thank you! Maybe it is getting straightened out!
Well-written. Mental health services are so needed, yet there is also so much potential for harm. Glad she got out.