Hi, it's Pastel here, and this is the story about how I went into a group home when I was 17, but it was only temporary, so just relax and enjoy this short story.
“Pastel, it’s time to get up for your weekend in the group home,” my mom called from the kitchen where she was making Blueberry pancakes.
I got up very slowly because I can't stand or walk on my own.
“Rainbow I need help with getting ready!” I called my sister with a strain in my voice
“I’m not going to say it again, Pastel, you can get ready on your own!” Rainbow called from the other room, I could tell that she was annoyed.
So I decided to get ready on my own, I transferred into my wheelchair next to the bed and my mother prepared my clothes the night before so that I wouldn’t have to choose them in the morning.
When I was done with getting dressed, I went downstairs in the elevator, so it would be easier for me to get downstairs, instead of crawling all the time.
“Morning,” my dad said not looking at me, instead he kept looking at his newspaper.
Even at 17 I still had a speech problem, when I was in elementary school, it was worse than it is now.
“Good morning, dad,” I said trying to hide the fact that I had a speech problem, but my parents knew all too well that I needed speech therapy.
My mother sat my plate of pancakes in front of me and proceeded to feed me. Even though I have told my parents multiple times that I can eat by myself, they insist that I can't.
I shook my head no, as my mother got a fork full of pancake pieces.
“You ok?” My father asked me as he noticed that I wasn't eating the pancakes.
My eyes started to fill with tears and then I started to hit myself.
“Please sweetie, talk to us, what’s wrong?” My father asked concern evident in his voice,
“Rainbow won’t help me, she said I have to do it myself,” I managed to get out between hiccups.
“Rainbow Dash, get down here right now,” my dad screamed, I hated it when he had to get loud.
Even though I never got to see Rainbow Dash very often anymore it was nice to have her around for a weekend, well I really hated my relationship with my sister, The relationship that me and my sister have is not good.
But the relationship that Rainbow Dash has with her dad is also not good.
“What!” A female voice shouted from upstairs, that was the voice of my sister Rainbow Dash. Who had returned from college for the weekend
“Just get down here, we have to talk,” my mom said in her calm voice.
Then I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, making a lot of noise on the way down.
Once Rainbow was downstairs and seated at the table, my mother took me into the other room, so that I didn’t have to hear the argument that was about to unfold.
“Rainbow, do you have any idea what you just did, you should know better than to leave Pastel on her own at night, you live under my roof now for a weekend, and this is the thanks I get?” My father screamed.
“She is a spastic, she shouldn’t fucking live here anymore, you treat her like a fucking baby!” Rainbow screamed as she stormed out and slammed the door.
In the other room, me and my mother were crying and I was having a spasm, my mom tried to call me down, but it did not work, the spasms were induced because of all of this stress that I had to go through every day.
My mother carried me out of the room and sat down at the table and then she helped me into my seat.
“So, are we just supposed to give her away?” My mom asked my dad in a very hushed whisper so I didn’t hear what they said, unbeknownst to them I did hear what they said.
“No, of course not, let’s just do it for the weekend and see how well she copes in the group home, if she doesn’t do well then we won’t put her in a home, we will only put her in a home when she says that she’s ready to move out,” my dad said to my mother.
“Good, so Pastel are you ready for that weekend in the group home?” My mom asked me.
“Yes, I am,” I lied.
My mom went with me out to the car and put me in the back of the little red minivan. As we left the driveway, I saw my father in an upstairs window pacing back-and-forth looking very worried.
Once we got to the group home, I looked at the big gloomy old house that was standing before us, and I’ll never forget the clocktower.
My mother got me out of the van. we went inside of the gloomy old house, once we were inside the house, down several corridors I could hear screaming.
Then a very old looking nurse approached us, the nurse had a white suit on, and he had a clipboard in his hand.
“I presumed you are here for the weekend?” The nurse said to me.
I nodded my head without speaking.
“I’ll pick you up at the end of the weekend,” my mom said to me as she left me in that gloomy old house on the edge of the hill.
After the children had dinner, we were stripped naked and locked in our rooms.
I laid on my cot, staring up at the ceiling. I was in a mixed-gender room, which means that the boys were allowed to sleep with the girls in one room but not in one bed. Most of these homes are so overcrowded that some of the residents have to sleep on top of one another. But luckily for me, this home wasn’t overcrowded, but I still don’t know why we were stripped naked.
I was in a room with six other people, most of them were children. We all just laid in bed all day, and I was no exception, the doctors that I had were pretty stupid. I wasn’t allowed to have my phone, I could only make one phone call per day. I didn’t feel as though I was in a group home, I felt like I was in prison.
But we were only locked in our rooms at night, in the daytime we were allowed outside. Some of the children were even just dropped off here and the parents left with no intention of returning… fortunately, I still had my parents.
Some of these children didn’t even have parents, to begin with... They only had grandparents, but even for the grandparents, it was too difficult to take care of a special needs child.
It is mandatory for a judge to say that if a person is a danger to themselves or others that they are locked up for the night so they don’t hurt the other residents.
Obviously, in the group home, it was not mandatory for a judge to have to say, it is allowed to lock up the children if they are a danger. I bet that some of those kids were a danger to themselves, but I was not a danger so I do not understand why I was locked in a room at night.
But there was this one boy in my room, he had his bed next to mine, but not too close next to mine, he was also very severely handicapped, I think he might’ve had a mental condition, and his speech was so hard to understand, sometimes at night I used to cry, and tonight was no exception.
“Hey, what your problem?” The boy asked me, whose name I think was Jonathan.
“My sister told me that I am a spastic,” I said between sobs.
“What is your disability?” Jonathan asked me.
“Cerebral palsy,” I answered as quickly as I could.
Then we heard a bang on the door and a nurse unlocked the door, as she came in the room all I could smell was the smell of hospital on her.
Then she came close to my bed and leaned over to Jonathan.
“Jonathan if you and the spastic are not quiet, I will make sure that you are punished!” She whispered to Jonathan who started to whimper.
And the nurse left slamming the door shut as she slammed the door shut all of the children in the room started to cry, it stayed like that the entire night.
We were very lucky if we got food or water which only at meal times, throughout we didn’t get any water.
The dining room was in the same area as the bathroom, which as one can imagine wasn’t very hygienic. All we got for dinner was bread soaked in milk, and after dinner some of the kids will stay behind and eat the scraps off the floor. Because they knew they wouldn’t get anything to eat until the next day, but even then the porcelain sizes were way too small.
But at least I was glad that I was just there for a weekend, my parents would pick me up at the end of the week. My parents... I had to think a lot about them, most nights I stayed up crying.
Right now I was sitting in my wheelchair. I had it be reclined so that nurses could feed me, I didn’t tell them that I can eat by myself. Most of the children could eat by themselves, but while they ate they were all naked and so was I.
Jonathan was sitting next to me. He was also being fed because of his mental condition. He doesn’t know how to eat by himself…
My guessing he has lived there his entire life, I was not sure if I can ask him because I overheard one of the nurses tell Jonathan that he has an imbecile and that he doesn’t understand the world around him.
Jonathan was a black boy, with brown eyes, and black hair, when he didn’t behave he got slapped, but Jonathan didn’t behave because he wanted attention. But the nurses didn’t give a fuck about the children or their attention span.
After dinner I heard the nurses yell at Jonathan.
I heard a scream that sounded like a scream of pain, then the nurse with the clipboard drag the boy rom by his feet and threw him onto the bed she slapped him quite hard so Jonathan was screaming. But the nurse who was hurting Jonathan ignored his please for them to stop, then when it was done the nurse screamed at him.
“You fucking impulse sale if you do not behave you will get slapped, do I make myself clear?” The nurse screamed at Jonathan who was laying on the bed crying.
“Speak to me you loser!” The nurse who looked like Twilight Sparkle said.
“Yes, I do,” Jonathan sobbed.
My other roommate whose name was Rarity she happened to be here because it turns out all of the bullying that she put me through back in elementary school was because of her abusive home, so child protective services had to take her away from the family.
Rarity made this place a living hell for me and for Jonathan, she encouraged the nurses to sexually abuse Jonathan if behaved badly.
“Hey, retard happy to see me?” Rarity bellowed at me one night.
I shook my head vigorously because I didn’t want to have Rarity make fun of me again.
“Well a couple of more days with me and you will be glad to see me, spastic,” Rarity bellowed.
Rarity never called me by my real name she always called me retarded or spastic, it’s sad, but I’m used to it by now.
“Rarity please j-just-s-stop,” I said with strain in my voice.
“No, I will never stop, your family doesn't love you, they only put on a show for you,” Rarity yelled at me.
“You have bad manners,'' Jonathan said.
“What did you say to me, you imbecile?” Rarity yelled.
I looked at Rarity in shock.
“Hey, R-Rarity, stop, hurting Jonathan,” I said with a noticeable strain in my voice, as I laid on my bed.
Once my bully had left, I got on the phone to my mother, I waited until it rang and then I put it on speakerphone because I wanted Jonathan to hear what my mother had to say.
“Hi, m-mom, I didn’t do good today, R-R-R-Rarity is h-here,” I struggled to say.
“Ok, Pastel, sweetheart, now you listen to me very carefully don’t let Rarity or anybody else bother you, ok?” My mom said on the other side of the phone.
“Me upset,” Jonathan said.
“Who’s that?” My mom asked.
“My...my...my friend in the group home, Jonathan,” I said.
“I’ll see you in two days,” my mom said and then she hung up the phone.
“You ok?” Jonathan asked because he saw I was visibly upset.
“I'm OK,” I lied.
“You sure, Pastel?” Jonathan asked.
“Rarity is hurting me,” I sobbed.
“We need to stop her,” Jonathan said to me.
“My mom is going to pick me up in two days, do you wanna come with me?” I asked.
“Yes, sure, I've been dying to get out of this place ever since my parents left, “ Jonathan said as he hugged me, and we fell asleep
The next morning when it was time for me to leave, one of the more kinder nurses helped me pack my things, and helped Jonathan pack his things, which were not a lot of things since he didn’t have many clothes. I was kind of sad leaving the other kids behind in that gloomy old place.
When I saw my mother pulled up into the driveway, I had a nurse who was standing with me and Jonathan holding our luggage take me out to the car, and because Jonathan couldn’t walk properly he had to borrow a creaky old wheelchair from the old folks home next-door.
“So Pastel how was the weekend in the group home?” My mom asked me once we were driving down the road.
Instead of answering her I started to cry.
“Aww was that bad, sweetie?” My mom asked when she noticed I was sad.
“Yes,” I sobbed,
“Sorry that I left you there, I just thought you needed a bit of time away” my mom apologized as we drove up to our house she got me out of the car and then helped Jonathan out of the car as well.
“It’s ok, mom,” I said.
“So, Jonathan we hope that you have a lot of fun here, if you ever need anything just ask,” my mom said to Jonathan as she showed him his room.
Jonathan‘s room was very elegantly decorated, there was a chandelier on the ceiling, and a couple of candies on his pillow as sort of a welcome gift, because even though my parents didn’t have much money they somehow could afford a chandelier and some candies.
The walls of Jonathan’s room were painted a nice shade of yellow, on the walls there were many pictures.
Which my mom had put in to that room because she thought that whoever would live there would like them.
“Thank you, ma’ma,” Jonathan said as he unpacked his things and put them away, he could do that himself even though in the group home somebody did it for him.
“You’re welcome, but you can call me Ice Night, ok?” Ice said.
“Ok, I understand,” Jonathan said.
“Good night, now, I’ll check on you in the morning, if I can help you get settled I am glad to help,” Ice said as she helped Jonathan unpacking the rest of his things.
“Thanks for helping me unpack,” Jonathan said with a very visible strain in his voice.
‘You’re welcome, darling,” Ice said with a grin that told Jonathan that he was welcome here
My dad walked into the room, when he heard my mother talking to Jonathan.
“Hey, Ice you’re back,” Rocks said as he walked into the room and hugged his wife with a smile on his face.
“Hey, hun,” Ice said as she hugged her husband.
“Who’s that?” Rocks said as he looked at Jonathan.
“That is one of Pastel’s friends from the group home,” My mom told her husband.
“Ah, I see,” my dad said with solemn expression on his face.
“Jonathan this is my husband, we also have another daughter but she is a college,” my mom said to Jonathan.
“Hi, mr.” Jonathan said.
“Jonathan, you can call me Rocks,” my dad said with a smile at the boy.
“Ok, thanks,” Jonathan said as he sat up in bed.
Rocks Glass and Ice Night left Jonathan’s room so he could get some sleep.
The next morning, Jonathan was laying in bed crying, because the night before he had a bad dream, that the nurses would get him and they would hurt him again.
“Jonathan?” Ice called as she was standing outside of Jonathan’s room.
Jonathan got up slowly, got dressed and then came downstairs for breakfast, I could see that he had a rough night.
“I want some breakfast, please,” Jonathan asked politely, which was very hard for him to do because he was never taught to be polite.
“Of course sweetie, Here are some scrambled eggs,” Ice said as she put some scrambled eggs on Jonathan‘s plate.
Jonathan looked at the scrambled eggs, but didn’t eat them straight away, he just stared at them.
“Where is my soft bread dipped in milk?” He asked.
My mom looked at him in shock, “what do you mean soft bread dipped in milk, didn’t they give you anything decent?” She asked.
“They used to give me soft bread with milk and that’s all I ate, that’s why i'm so thin,” Jonathan admitted still staring at the scrambled eggs, and he started eating scrambled eggs.
The truth is Jonathan was thinner than me, I mean sure I was also very thin but that is because I didn’t move as much as I was supposed to, Jonathan was thin because he was malnourished.
Author's Note
Please do not be rude in the comments, this actually happened to me when I was 17. Now I’m 20 but it still hurts