Problems

Logan's past (part 3)

Tw: mentions of torture from the previous chapter, fearing getting hurt again.

Continued flashback

Logan clung to Cassie, hugging his snake in between them. He hadn't let go since she had picked him up. They walked into the police station, receiving quite a few pitying glances. Mrs Braun followed close behind occasionally glaring at the pair. An officer quickly approached them. "Which one of you is Logan's parents?" Mrs Braun stepped forward. "Ah, we'll need you to fill out this paperwork." He handed her a stack of papers.

"Officer...?" Cassie trailed off.

"Wright, detective Wright."

"Detective Wright, do you know what happened there?"

"You two may want to do down for this." Cassie pulled up a seat, placing Logan on her lap. Mrs Braun sat at one of the nearby desks, paying more attention to the pile of paperwork than the detective. "As far as we have seen 'doctor' Namaken's procedure was to torture the patients thru isolation, shock treatments, and old fashioned torture until they were conditioned to not respond or continue whatever they were doing when their particular mental illness acted up. Basically to internalize and repress anything that would tell others that they are not ok."

"That's terrible!" Cassie hugged the five year old Logan closer as he let out a huge yawn and snuggled into her chest.

"And extremely ineffective. The main reason why we found out about them is previous patients either committing suicide or getting booked for further consoling, which revealed what they had been thru." There was a moment of silence before Wright continued. "The best thing to do is to get him to a trusted therapist."

"No don't wanna do counseling." Logan mumbled tiredly into Cassie's shirt. "Counseling hurts. I don't want to be broken anymore." Cassie had to hold back tears. How could this happen to the little boy that just a year ago had been vibrating with excitement at the thought of an extra scoop of ice cream?

"I know a place where he could go. It's government funded so everyone has had background checks, and visitors are allowed and even encouraged to visit or stay the night." The detective gave Cassie a small smile.

Cassie opened her mouth to respond when Mrs Braun cut in. "Well try it. There's no way that it could leave him off worse than he is now." She handed the finished paperwork over and reached for Logan. As soon as she started to pull him away from Cassie he was wide awake.

"NO!" Logan yelled clinging tightly to Cassie's shirt. Mrs Braun just rolled her eyes, leaving him be.

"Contact us with the rest of the information, I assume you have my number." With that she walked out, not even looking back to see if Cassie was following.

-skip to a few weeks later.-

"What if they hurt me again?" Logan held Cassie's hand as they walked up to the compound. It was much bigger than Dr Namaken's, and didn't have that depressing aura about it. Beautiful murals randomly spotted the outside walls, and other children played in a fenced of area around the side.

"Don't worry sport! This is nothing like the last place. Just look at all those happy kids playing over there!" Mr Braun motioned to the kids playing in the field.

"They could be faking it! The only way to know is to look them in the eyes. You can always lie with your body but you can never lie with your eyes." Logan crossed his arms around his stuffed snake and planted himself several feet outside the door.

Mr Braun looked hopefully at Cassie, imploring her to fix this. "Hey logie, we're not gonna let you get hurt anymore, ok? If they do try and hurt you I'll be here, and I'll get you out of there faster than you can say 'why won't my parents recognise YouTube as a real job'." Mr Braun laughed at the last part while Logan followed them they the open door, imminently latching onto Cassie with his free hand.

"You're still hung up on that?"

"I'll get over it once they admit that it is a real source of income that can be more than just a hobby! Sure it's not always a reliable source of income but it's a source of income never the less." Cassie stomped her foot in defiance as they stopped at the counter.

"We're here to check in Logan Lee Braun." Mr Braun told the middle aged woman at the desk.

"We'll have you sign right here then we can get the little pipsqueak to his room." She handed a clipboard over the counter and smiled warmly at Logan. Logan shrunk behind Cassie fearfully.

Mr Braun handed back the filled in paperwork. "There's an explanation on the back of what happened if you end up needing that."

"I'll make sure this gets to Dr Pancini, now if you'd like to follow me I will show you were this gumdrop will be staying." The secretary started down the hall, picking up a set of keys on her way out. When they arrived at Logan's room she unlocked the door before opening it to reveal a well furnished kids room. There was an open toy box in one corner, and two beds. One was perfectly made, the plain covers hugging the small bed, while the other had its cartoonish superhero covers bunched up near the sides. There was a little boy, about Logan's age, playing with action figures by the bed. What caught Logan's attention the most was the kid's clothes. He was wearing an entirely red onesie, with a hood, and a blue mask. "Jackie this is your new roommate, Logan."

The boy screamed it at the top of his lungs, his Irish accent making it even harder to understand him. "How many times do I have to tell you woman! I am JACKIEBOYMAN!" He struck a dramatic pose.

"Well I'll leave you guys alone." With that the secretary exited the room.

"We gotta go now logie, but I'll come visit you tomorrow, I promise, and you can tell me everything that happened after I left." After Logan nodded, Cassie and Mr Braun left, leaving the two boys alone.

Logan was the first to break the awkward silence. "Why did you yell at the woman? Won't she hurt you if you're being naughty."

"Hurt me?! HURT ME!? YOU BELIEVE A MERE MORTAL SUCH AS HERSELF COULD EVEN LAY A FINGER ON THE GREAT JACKIEBOYMAN!?" Jackie jumped onto the bed with a flourish. Logan flinched at the sudden movement, holding his snake closer. Jackie saw his discomfort and instantly dropped into the bed. "What's that?" He pointed at Logan's snake.

"It's my snake. My brother won it for me before he went to sleep. I haven't seen him since.... You can't have it!" Logan turned away from Jackie, protecting the stuffie.

"Why would I want that when I have someone who's so much better!" Logan cocked his head, coming closer to the delusional boy. "Ta-da!" Jackie pulled a round, green, stuffed eyeball, with a tail on it, off of his bed. "This is Sam! My trusty sidekick!" Logan smiled at the other boys antics. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad.

Yes I'm including Jack's egos. I'm not going to force them in its just if I find a role that would fit them then I'll put them in the story. I might also do Mark's but I don't know where they would fit. Maybe the king of squirrels could be another patient. I don't know.