The Reunion

Introduction to The Reunion 2

PREFACE

There was only about three months separating their birthdays, they were both eight, so it was no surprise that the two young "patients" had become friends. They had become incarcerated within weeks of each other which had left one of them quite tearful. The younger girl was not. She came across as being just strange and never saying a word. She had heard that someone around her age was "staying" in the house; and this is what the young girl thought it was, just a normal house for her to live in. As long as she did what she was told - and she usually did, except for one thing and that was speaking - then, basically, the people wearing the funny uniforms tended to leave her alone. But she wanted someone to play with her. Most of the other people there were older than she was and did not want to play the games that she wanted to play. They even became cruel and called her "dumb" for not being able to speak. Little did they know that she could speak but she didn't want to. If she did talk then that would get her into trouble with HIM. And she did not want to upset HIM.

She found the girl a couple of days later, on the other side of the house. She had walked by this room and had looked in. She saw the girl, standing with her back towards her, staring out the window. One of the "staff" had passed by.

'She's been standing there, like that, for nearly three hours,' she had said. The girl had read the name badge on the uniform of the young woman who couldn't have been much older than school leaving age; "Amy Dunne" it said. She was one of the better ones and had always been nice to her. 'Perhaps you two could be friends?'

The young girl thought this too. She knocked on the door but got no reply. Plucking up courage she walked into the room and stood next to the girl and stared out of the window.

There was not much to see on this side of the house. Just a high breeze-block wall. She wondered what the other girl was looking at.

2

'My mum will be here to pick me up soon,' the shaky voice startled the young girl. She looked at the other girl. She could tell that she was a little bit taller than her but, other than that, they had the same build, skin tone and hair colour. Hell, they could have been twins. 'I asked if your mum will be here to pick you up soon?'

She hadn't heard the girl speak but she shook her head.

'What's the matter with you? Has the cat got your tongue?'

Again she shook her head. Stupid question; there weren't any cats here. The girl turned to look at her. It was like looking in a mirror. 'Something must have happened to make you not speak?' It was a rhetorical question but she nodded anyway. 'Would you like to be my friend?' This time she nodded eagerly.

The two young girls became inseparable. The one who was crying was called Diana and it took a little while for her to work out the other one was called Susan. They spent most of their waking day together; mainly in education but a vast quantity in play. They started to get the nickname "Twins" which they quite liked.

It was about a year and a half after the two first met that Susan spoke her first words to Diana. Diana was stood behind Susan, who was sat in a chair, brushing her hair when she said, 'Something serious must have happened to have made you stop talking.'

'I've got a secret,' Susan said barely audibly.

It was so quiet that Diana nearly missed it. Instead she walked around and crouched down so that she could look the girl in the eyes. 'You've got a secret? Do you want to share it?'

Susan shook her head. 'Not yet,' she said, this time at normal speech volume.

They kept it a secret that Susan could speak. This was to be their secret. Eventually they found something more exciting to entertain themselves - Dance. Although they were both pretty good at it, it soon became obvious that Susan was the more skilled. She would choreograph routines for them both to perform in front of the other "patients" and staff. They became the celebrities at The Moorland.