Red Room

6

The tests he'd undergone proved that he was indeed pretty severely disturbed. It had been rather complicated to reach any results, as he refused to cooperate. Most of the time, he'd run away from people or wouldn't answer to anything. Getting him to talk was a big achievement.

The kid was submitted to the asylum until he'd behave like a regular boy. That meant he had to eat a healthy amount of food, start to control himself around fire and stop avoiding everybody. Little by little, he was making progress, but it still took a lot to recover mentally.

His psychiartist was a man in his early fifties. Everybody called him Mr. Ek, as it was professional; aside of the new little boy who he became fond of. He was allowed to call him by his first name, Joakim.

Joakim Ek had not been chosen for this duty becaise he loved children, but also because he managed to charm them with no big effort. He seemed to know best how to communicate with them. It seemed he understood them better than everybody else.

The first few interactions between him and Freaky were cold. For the most part, the talking was one-sided, coming from Joakim. Freaky had built some kind of invisible walls to protect himself from the outer world, which looked impossible to demolish.

"What do you want from me?", was the first ever thing the boy got out of his mouth.

Then, a few challenging therapy sessions followed. Seeing he wasn't making any progress, Joakim decided to make some changes. He wanted to make the session look like a casual dialogue, not like an interrogation.

Maybe the surroundings were the problem. The boy probably felt like they were forcing information out of him and was afraid to let it go. He could think somebody wanted to use it against him because once you get your tongue burned by soup, you start to blow even in the yoghurt. That near-death experience made him keep his guard up all the time. He understood that people were not to be trusted and he begann to fear them.

So, the psychiatrist tried to make a few changes. He made some tea for the therapy sessions, sometimes brought sweets. The goal was to make the boy comfortable enough to talk.

They started a conversation about the patient: likes and dislikes, thoughts about different things and so on.

Firstly, Joakim did his best to avoid the near-death experience so as to earn his patient's trust. He wanted Freaky to get the idea that he cared about him, not that he was only doing his job.

After a few more meetings, Mr. Ek concluded that this little guy had never really received much affection. Oh well, one couldn't expect much from an orphanage. They just didn't have the time to show those poor souls all the love they deserved.

Anyway, Freaky turned out not to understand the concept of love. So far, he had been taught by life that he had nobody to rely on except of himself, which was sad. A child shouldn't see such a rough side of life so early. Consequently, Joakim decided to give the boy a more positive view on life.

Soon, the psychiatrist became the family the kid had never had. Of course, he never called him "father", but that man was the closest he'd ever been to.

Joakim stayed at the asylum longer than his shift lasted. He spent time with his patient, exposed him to all kinds of things. The kid would never survive in society only with the things he'd been taught by the tutors. So, mr. Ek decided to give him a more detailed view on people and life in general and showed him some things that most teachers kept hidden. He was aware of the possibility of not influencing Freaky in the most positive way, but the world is a dangerous place to live in, and that is a fact to be accepted.

Things went like this: in the mornings, Freaky had to attempt a special kind of schooling. Afterwards, the man would still have therapy sessions with Freaky to make sure he was still stable. Then, they'd just stay together until the closing of the building.

The truth was, Mr. Ek was lonely too. His wife had comitted suicide a pretty long while ago and his daughter, Kirsten, left him for the military academy and stopped talking to him that much eversince then. In the asylum, the pain of the others was everything that surrounded him and that didn't do him any good. At some point, he even considered retiring earlier.

But then, Freaky appeared. First, Joakim's only ambition was to help him. The kid deserved a better life than that.

He'd never imagined that a patient would ever be so dear to him. However, he didn't mind. The boy would at least fill in some of the blank space in his heart.

The man never fancied calling him 'Freaky' though. It felt like he was mocking him.

"Hey... Do you have a name?", he inquired randomly one day.

"Of course. It's Freaky.", the boy answered puzzled.

"No, I mean an actual name. That's a nickname."

The smaller male widened his eyes in surprise, "Really?"

"Absolutely. Can't you remember your real name?"

"People called me Freaky my whole life. This has gotta be my name then."

Ok, that was sad. But if he'd been called by his nickname for as far as he remembered, then it wasn't pissible for him to remember his real name.

"We'll have to find one for you then.", the doctor concluded.

Freaky's response came as a nod.

"So, I think it's the best that you choose it. After all, you are the only one who is able to describe yourself in the most realistic way."

Freaky nodded again.

"So, what would it be? Any ideeas?"

The boy took a few seconds to decide, then stated, 100% sure of his choice: "Moloch."

Joakim was somewhat taken by surprise by his patient's choice, because he expected him to take a regular name.

"How did you decide on that one?"

"Remembered you told me something about this guy who people used to associate with the killing of children. And that the name means 'the sacrificed one'."

Joakim understood the context in which the boy had chosen the name. Smart. He had almost been  sacrificed and was a child by the time that happened.

"Ok then, Moloch it is!"