Broken Child

brave kid

..... Andy......

The therapist took a look at the room, she noticed the boy's eyes staring at her, she smiled softly and went to sit next to him, but she knew that he will flinch away...

Andy looked at her, he never saw her before, he is not familiar with the presence of a woman that's why he keeps staring
Her hair is long beautiful blond
She is tall and thin
She has a beautiful smile on her face that Andy liked so much, but as soon as she came close to him he couldn't help but flinch away from her but not breaking the eye contact.

He hugged his legs to his chest and she sat next to him still wearing the beautiful smile,  she had a small notebook and a pen in her hands ready to write whatever she had to write

'' so my name is Lisa and I want to be your friend, is that okay with you ?''
She asked him nicely and when he didn't answer she asked again
'' what's your name ?''
Andy looked at her and searched in his head that he knew this word,  he remembers when new master Alex said it 'name'
Andy lifted his thin hand and pointed to his chest..
'' n..name... Uh uuuh New... Master.... A..Alex... S...S..ay... This.. Name.. Andy...''
he said carefully not wanting to stutter or to say something wrong so he took the time to spell each word correctly, old master always punished him when he stutters, he would gag him all day and sometimes he put a cigarette in his tongue, that's why Andy rarely speaks and always afraid to stutter.

The therapist took some notes then looked back at him
''nice to meet you Andy such a beautiful name ''

She still smiling, and it's beautiful, 'she is beautiful' Andy thoughts

'' so Andy tell me do you want to be my friend ? ''

Andy didn't understand what the word 'friend' means at first, but then he remembered when old master come to him with others and tell him to be good for his 'friends'...
His eyes widened and he backed away from her and his eyes started to get teary
''be.... Goo...good... Be.. Good... Pl..please... ''

Lisa looked at his reaction and took some notes '' Andy..  Do you know what 'friend' means ?''

'' master... Say... Be. Good... For friends... So... Much.. Good... No.. Punish.. Give food... Water.. Be good ''

''okay Andy listen,  I want to be your friend, I will come see you,  and talk to you and I will bring you chocolate, okay Andy ? I will not hurt you,  I will just talk with you,  I will ask you questions and you can ask me too ? Do you want to ask me something ? Or want to tell me something ? You can tell me anything you want ''

Andy was curious, is this a test, but he was never allowed to say whatever he wanted... Maybe hé should try,  she sais he can say anything
Andy held hid breath then with a tiny whispering voice he wanted to say his thoughts

''this... Andy... Master Alex s..say.. Is name.. Mine.. Name... Be..cuz... This... Andy.....not have... Name..... Back with....master... Before ''
He swallowed and Lisa didn't want to interrupt so she took notes instead

''andy... No have name... Before ''

'' what was your name before Andy ?''

He gasped and put his hand to cover his mouth and shook his head
''what's wrong Andy ?''

'' master... Alex... Say... No say.. Cuz... Bad words... Very bad... Master say no say them... ''

''can you tell me just one Andy,  I promise I will not tell Alex ''

Andy looked away then looked back at her  remembering all the names old master used to call him
'' whore'' he said with a whisper that it's barely there, he had tears in his eyes he was terrified now because he just disobeyed master and said a bad word

''don't worry Andy, Alex will not know about this okay, don't cry,....I'll go now, I'll come see you again okay '' she said with a big smile then she left''
.....

...... Alex......

'' she is there for an hour dad.. '' I complain, she took too long inside and I'm starting to worry

''she is doing her job Alex ''

Then I hear the door open I went running to her ''so.... What happened''

''its the first therapy session, we are going to need plenty of time, anyways,  Andy is clearly traumatised from the past,  to my surprise he talked to me, but of course with keeping a good distance between us,  so I take that as a good start.... But I have a question,  why is he on the floor ?

'' he is scared of sleeping on the bed, whenever I tell him to sleep in the bed or sit in the chair he start panicking so we just let him ''

'' okay I'll think about that,  you need to start getting him out of the room,  take him out,  show him new things, new people don't let him stay there all day,  he needs to step out of his fears,  but small steps okay,  I'll come see him next Friday, do you Need anything ?''

''no thank you alot ''
And with that she left

.....

I walk in and see Andy hugging him self moving back and forth with tears in his eyes
'' hey. .  Budy what's wrong ''

He sniffs and wipe his nose and eyes with the sleeve of his sweater
''andy.. No say bad word... No say please.....master andy no say... Andy good.. Very good... '' the sight of him sobbing and scared like that kills me everytime

'' it's okay Andy you are good,  you are believe me,  please stop crying, don't be scared sweetheart ''

I hug him and sing to him a lullaby that my dad used to sing it to me whenever I had a nightmare
Until he fell asleep peacefully in my arms
I kiss his forehead and put him in his pillows and cover him with the blankets that he loves so much
It was a long day and he was such a brave kid.....