Retreat (ddlb)

13

After leaving the main building, Ms. Sammy led us back onto the dirt path and brought us to an area with a lot of smaller buildings next to the larger ones like the arts building and the therapists' offices. The building we went to had light blue window and door frames painted on the outside, and as I looked around I was able to see the other buildings painted with what must have been their own respective classification colors.

I was a little bit nervous for our first "Little's Class" but I just keep reminding myself to keep an open mind. After entering the building, our group was led into a colorful looking playroom, with both a play area and a teaching area with tables and brightly colored chairs, with the girl's group already in their seats.

"Hello, Welcome! Please, everyone go ahead and take a seat and we will start up our introductions for our new students!" A tall woman with curly blonde hair tied up in a messy bun wearing a large sweater and a flowy patterned skirt stood up from her desk in the corner of the room, opening her arms and gesturing to the empty chairs. I sighed, sharing a glance with Darien as we both realized this was probably going to be another mental strain. "Hi, to all of my familiar faces, I hope you had a good time on your camping trip! And to all of our new ones, I'm very excited to get to know you in our time together. We are going to go ahead and start by going around and saying our name, our partner status, and our favorite color. I'll go first! My name is Ms. Mandy, I am married with my husband, and my favorite color is yellow. Next, we will go to Alex..."

 I got comfortable in my plastic chair and leaned my head on my hand as I listened to the other kids introduce themselves. After about five minutes, it got to me and Darien. "Uh, my name is Jasper, I'm partnered, and I like green." I noticed some different facial expressions when I said I was partnered, probably because everyone realized I was new. "I'm Darien, not partnered, and my favorite color is red." I watched the attention of the class shift to the next kid as I lightly zoned out.

After everyone in the class had introduced themselves, Ms. Mandy told us she was going to give us an introductory to the class. "I'm not sure how many of you came here to this facility for the purpose of being classified, or if you already knew your classification or even if you had never heard of this type of treatment or lifestyle. But even if you are new or hesitant about all of this, we must remember that it is not okay to judge others for what they enjoy or for what helps them. This entire center is a safe space and judgement-free. This of course includes my classroom, and me as a staff member. This transition may also be especially hard for some of you, but it is my job to be here as well as the rest of the faculty to help you heal and thrive." We all paid attention and nodded, everyone quiet. "My job here is to teach all of you how to develop what we call a headspace, which is a state of mind where you feel more carefree and regress to a younger age. Your ages will vary from person to person, and you might even have multiple ages that you can regress to." She continued on, taking a break as she walked across the room to retrieve a bin that she set on her desk and opened. "A good way to make things easier or more focused for you to regress is to use little items," She paused as she reached into the bin and pulled out a pacifier and a stuffed animal. "Such as baby items, toys, or even clothes. I will not force you to use these things, but they are part of the curriculum and everyone will try them at some point." I took a moment to glance around the room at the patients that had been here for longer, seeing a lot of them in more childish clothing or already having a pacifier clipped onto their shirts, as well as holding stuffed animals. I tried to picture myself like that, using these items, and I felt my ears heat up, both from embarrassment and realizing I was honestly quite curious. I snapped my gaze back to the teacher, hopeful to stop thinking about that.