Plain white walls decorated with various cracks and peeling paint slowly chipping off the covered brick and cement stood as the foundation of the building. It looks simple, yet old and uncared for. If I didnt know any better, I would have assumed it had been abandoned for a few years. The crumbling structure was accompanied by a variety of different vines and branches, tangling and climbing the slope of the walls, slowly thinning out upwards towards the roof, almost as if they were reaching for the sun that would soon be setting. I hope this will be over soon. Other than the scattered mess and general neglence that the outer builing seemed to endure, looking through the thin glass slider doors at the front of the building I could slightly see the clean white tiles and plain walls of the facility. I assumed that the inside would be alot nicer, and i was right.
I started making my way towards the front doors, bracing myself for whatever interaction laid ahead of me and closing my umbrella after closing sliding the door behind me, stopping when i heard a click.
The white tiles were slightly spaced, and the sound of my shoes clinked softly underneath my heels as I stepped thurther into the building, the leftover sun rays reaching behind me, making me shudder at the feeling of my back being exposed to the space and emptiness of the front yard.
The very first thing that met my eyes was the reception desk. It was a simple white marble desk in a 'U' shape, curving slightly and almost meeting the wall, leaving just enough space for a person to walk behind it. On the desk sat a keyboard connected to a monitor and computer, as well as a phone accompanied by a mug of pens, tacs and erasers.
A young looking woman sat at an office chair parked just behind the desk, she looked to be in her mid 20's, she was humming quietly to herself and appeared to be writing something down in a notebook.
"hmmm... Huh? Oh."
The woman sat up in her chair, seemingly unsuprised and interested in my presence.
"Uh. What can I do for you today? You have an appointment or something? We dont do in person bookings, sorry."
Her gazer drifted from mine and back to the notebook, as she began softly scribbling at the pages again.
"Oh, uh no Im here- Im here for the... uh.. group.. session thingy?"
I could feel nervousness creeping up behind my back. Shit, I'd forgotten what it was called. My memory really wasnt getting any better, even after those mind exercises.
She looked at me with a slightly confused expression on her face, then blinked, snapping back into her normal expresssion almost as if understanding what i meant.
"Ohhh.. Oh. Yeah thats the conjoined exposure therapy."*
*i have no idea what to call it its just basically a group of randos getting together and having like a therapy meet up sesh so idk i just came up with that.*
"Its just down that hallway, then left. The door should be open so you'll know what room to go into."
She put her pen back into the mug, and set the notebook down gently on the desk.
"Alright.. thanks."
I shuffle my feet sideways and turn towards the hallway she had pointed towards. I tried to be quick, i would much rather be inside the room already compared to the spaciousness of the outer building, no matter how awkward or weird this 'meet-up' was going to be.
Turning the left corner, I Find the open door just to the side of the hallway, and quickly duck to the side, now standing in the entryway of the room.
It had just come to my attention what i was really getting myself into. Or more like what my mum was getting me into.
The room was quite large, enough for a gathering of quite a selection of people, a few comfy bean bags as well as a small table and counter that I could spot different kitchen appliances on. It almost reminded me of the staff room at my old umiversity.. but I didnt want to think about that right now. I pushed the though to the back of my mind and observed the people in the room.
Sitting in a small circle of beanbags in the corner was a group of girls, they seemed to be discussing something between eachother and laughing.
Sitting on the floor by a small table were three more people, a man wearing a yellow jacket and blue jeans, his dark brown hair framing his face and reaching for his cheekbones, that were covered in a glorious sideburn. Seriously though, it was crazy. I wondered how long it took for him to grow them out..? Thats unrelated. Placed next to him was another man, they both looked in their mid to late 30's however this man was wearing a yellow hoodie and black jeans, the hood hanging by his shoulders. They were crouched at the small table opposite A boy with incredibly messy hair that stuck out in all directions, almost covering his eye on one side and parting at the end of his eyebrow. It was one hell of an emo cut. The boy looked much younger than his companions, I guessed he was about 18-20 years old. He was wearing plain blue skinny jeans and an oddly patterned hoodie that hung loosely on his scrawny build. Jeez that kid looked like he was starving.
I looked towards the small kitchen-y area and noticed two small children trying to stuff as many sugar packets into their pockets as possible, although a hand slipped and the whole jar of packets fell to the ground, clanging on the carpet as all the sugar fell out. A few peoples heads turned to investigate the comotion, but most people ignored it or seemingly didnt notice.
One of the kids was a small boy, with shaggy blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, flicking up to his chin and jawline like someone had curled the ends. his middle part was cut slightly shorter like curtain bangs, and they framed his round face almost perfectly. I might have to call up his hairdresser.. Okay, Im getting distracted now. He wore a plain green shirt and some shorts that seemed much too big for him, concidering he looked to be only around 12-13. His little helper was a small girl in a pink dress, her hair was a pretty shade of brosn that complimented her bright green eyes. She was trying to pick up the sugar packets and stuff them back into the jar with one hand, her other was clutching a teddy bear almost the size of her torso tightly.
A very tall man suddenly knelt doen next to her, grabbing the mess on the floor and neatly cleaning it up before giving her a pat on the head. He had short and scruffy black hair, slightly translucent gray like skin and bandages that covered his eyes completely. How the hell could he see the packets if his eyes were covered like that? I left my curiosity and questions for later.
I went to observe the other end of the room but jumped at the sudden voice, someone was talking to me.
"Are you like, just gonna stand there or are you gonna come in?"
I whipped my head around to see one of the girls on the beanbags, she had long brown hair and green eyes, wait... eye? one eye of hers was a pretty green, but the other.. seemed white, with small black markings. I squinted slightly. Was that a..clock?
I shook my head and ignored it for now. That was none of my business.
"Oh! uhm.. sorry."
I stepped into the room and quickly scanned for a place to sit, almost everywhere was alreadly occupied.
"Hey, no problem. Sit."
She patted an empty bean bag beside her and the other girls, gestering for me to join them.
I slowly sat beside her and looked nervously at the rest. It was weird for me to be sitting in a group of girls, the only times I ever had been was when they would corner me and make fun of me back in school. I shuddered at the memory.
