𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 | "So after the crowd's gone, I'll be the last one."
In which Tanner Wiseman's younger cousin embarks on a journey full of haunts.
𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝟏-𝐒𝟒
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞
𝐃𝐚𝐤𝐨�...
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I shake my head at Melissa's text before pocketing my phone in my jeans. The four of us are sitting around the kitchen table and couch in the RV for one of the last times and I'm alternating between nerves about tonight and the crushing sadness of the adrenaline rushes I've had for the last three weeks being over. Tanner is seated across from me at the table and Dakota's at my left side, Alex over on the couch as always.
"Spiritually, emotionally, and physically, this is going to be our biggest test yet, I think," Tanner says thoughtfully.
"We just cannot walk through those doors tonight without having that ultimate respect for the history that has happened there," I remind them.
"Exactly," Dakota agrees. "So, right now, we're going to go to a park and meet with a lady named Jean. Jean was institutionalized thirty-five years ago and she wasn't institutionalized at Pennhurst, but she was at a very similar location where she experienced the same type of treatment, the abuse, trauma." I nod, frowning at the thought of all of this happening so recently. "Jean is a part of the Pennhurst Memorial Alliance. She's one of the co-founders, and the mission is to promote an understanding of the struggle for dignity and full civil rights for persons with disabilities."
"That's amazing," Tanner says and I nod my agreement.
"So, she's basically being a voice to those who didn't have one," I say.
"Yes," Dakota agrees, "a hundred percent."
"That is absolutely amazing," I state, completely and truthfully meaning it.
"It is."
The RV pulls up to a park somewhere in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and we get out, walking over to a picnic table where Jean sits, waiting for us. We shake hands and greet her and then sit down, hoping to learn more about her experiences and to truly understand the atrocities that should have never happened in the first place.
"We have a lot to talk about here," Dakota says. "What was it like being a patient at an institution that was similar to Pennhurst?"
"Well, as they say in our world, we're out sight, out of mind," Jean replies. "You had to do what they told you to or there was going to be harsh punishment. They would put you in a chair in the corner and they put, you know those heavy duty ropes—"
