Late Novemeber, 1996

     The Institution wasn't so bad. If you could ignore the shrieks in the middle of the night, or that the central heating never worked. Those things could tend to annoy people. But Mason was beyond annoyance. Infact, the 14 year old boy was beyond anything now.
     The white haired, brown eyed boy hadn't responded to anything in the two years since they had taken him from his grandmother's house. He had spent both years in the Hartland Hospital/Mental Health Institution [1]. They had tried putting him into foster care, and getting him a real home, but he wouldn't talk, wouldn't move, wouldn't eat. So they brought him to here, the Instituion. Mason didn't even know who 'they' were. He only knew Nurse Polly, who brought him to and from the cafeteria every day, and Doctor Ryall, who talked to him every morning.
     Life had become a mundane schedule.He would awaken in what he assumed was morning, and sit on his bed to wait for Nurse Polly. She would come in, greet him cheerfully, then help him get dressed. He knew how to dress himself, but in his recalcitrant state, she was forced to assist him. Then she would walk him by his arm down to breakfast, where he would eat, then sit there, waiting once more. Then she would take him back to his room, where Dr. Ryall would be.
     A morning session with Ryall included her asking questions and making comments, and him just sitting there silently, not telling her anything. After that was over, he would be assisted to lunch, after which he would sit in the solarium, listening to whatever when on around him until dinner. After dinner, Polly would walk him back to his room, and help him into his pajamas. He would sit on his bed until he fell asleep.
     Mason knew no different, and despaired that he never would. He knew that if he spoke, they would say he was 'cured' and he would be sent to another home. Another person would touch him, or hit him or make fun of him. At least here, he was left in peace for the most part. He did also know, however, that the longer he was in here, the more chances to actually go insane. Thus many nights were spent wiping silent tears off his face.
     One day, in Early December, when the Institution was preparing for Yule/Christmas/Hanukkah festivities, Mason somehow managed to beat Ryall to his room. That had never happened in 2 years, and Mason wondered what was wrong. He sat on his bed, not sure what to make of his open morning, when the door opened, and the absent doctor walked in.
     "Good morning, Mason," Her less-then-cheerful, I'd-rather-be-with-some-other-patient-cuz-this-one-is-boring-after-2-years voice cut into his musings. He turned his head towards her. As she entered the room, he heard the footsteps of a second person. They were timid, as if the person was afraid to come in the room. Rightly so, considering this was the Institution.
     "How are you this morning?" Silence greeted her question. She shrugged and sat down in her chair. The woman who accompanied her, 24 year old Mae McFarren, stood just inside the door, jumping slightly as the orderly shut it with a small slam.
     "Very well," Ryall continued. "I brought someone to meet you. Would you like to meet her?"
     Ahh. It was a her. Mason made no motion, toward either of them. But he was curious nonetheless. No one else had ever come to visit him. He was under the impression that he had no more family, and thus, no one knew he was there.
     "Well, Mason, this is Mae McFarren, previously Marianne McGuire. She's your aunt, your mother's sister."
     Despite the outward silence, Mason was rocked to the core. An aunt. What hole had she been hiding in when he endured years of hell at the hands of a grandmother who didn't want him??
     "I'll leave you two to get aquainted, hmm?" Ryall got up and left the room. Mae took her seat in the chair.
     "Hello, Mason," she said softly. To Mason, she sounded like a caged songbird, timid, tired and lonely. "My real name is Marianne, but I go by Mae. You can call me Mari if you want." Silence. It unnerved her, that the boy was physically capable of, but simply chose not to speak.
     Mae made a valiant attempt, asking Mason everything from his age, to what he like to eat. Nothing affected him. Eventually she gave up and left. Ryall returned, for their usual session, but eventually it was lunch time, and Mason's schedule returned to normal.

     Mae came back the next day, a Thursday, to visit Mason. And the next day, and the next. Her visits became Mason's new morning rituals, but they were beginning to bug him. Of all the things she talked about, his mother was never one of them. She seemed to be avoiding the subject. On the Wednesday two weeks after she first started showing up, Mason had had enough.
     "Well, you see, I think I'm probably gonna take him home with me." They sat in Mason's room, as usual, and were discussing, well, Mae was discussing anyway, a cat that Mae had started feeding outside her motel room. She was thinking about taking him with her when she returned to Tacoma, Washington, USA, where she lived. "I think when I go home, he'll miss me. And I wouldn't want him to be sad."
     "What do you know of sadness?" Mason hissed suddenly. "What do you know of missing someone?"
     Mae turned to her nephew, shocked.
     Mason gradually got louder. "What do you know? Do you miss her? What do you know of saddnes?? DO YOU WAKE UP WANTING EVERY DAY TO BE YOUR LAST? HMM? DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER HER? WANNA KNOW WHAT? SHE DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME YOU EXISTED!"
     Orderlies rushed into Mason's room, the groundbreaking event shocking everyone. Mason lunged suddenly in the direction of his aunt, who stumbled back, but the orderly caught him before he could do any real damage. Nurse Polly and Dr. Ryall soon arrived. By then Mason was screaming at the cringing woman. He was so furious, he was shaking.
     "WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN I LIVED WITH OLD BITCH HOLLAND??" He struggled to get out of the orderlies' grip. "WHY NOW? WHY NOT 2 YEARS AGO, OR PERHAPS WHEN SHE DIED, WHY NOW? YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME! NOTHING!!"
     Dr. Ryall ushered Mae from the room. "Ms. McFarren," She said quietly. "I strongly suggest you leave."
     "But-" Mae looked back in the room. Mason lay curled in a ball on the floor, sobbing. "What about Mason?"
     "We'll take care of him," the doctor replied. She went back into the room and shut the door, leaving Mae to be walked back to the front door by a nearby nurse.

     The rest of the week passed as it used to, Ryall trying to get Mason to respond in the morning, the solarium after lunch. Mae didn't return, but Mason wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not.
     The Monday after the 'episode' as Nurse Polly and Dr. Ryall were calling it, Mason sat in the solarium, listening to music. One of the other patients, who was had DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, sometimes called Multiple Personality Disorder, was listening to a CD the Management let him keep, on the agreement that he didn't play it loud enough for any of the other patients to hear.
     Because of his nearness, and Mason's better then usual hearing, he could hear every word of the songs, and decided he liked the group. They were an American group called 'Limp Bizkit' and the song he was listening to was about breaking stuff. The CD's owner, who's names were Sierra and Jacob, was a friend of Mason's. They never cared he was an orphan, or never talked. They prefered their music anyway. Sierra was a classical fan, and Jacob liked Limp Bizkit.
     /I feel like shit. My suggestion is to keep your distance cuz right now I'm dangerous.
     We've all felt like shit and been treated like shit./
     It was how Mason felt right now. How every day felt now. Management was intelligent in keeping any dangerous objects out of reach, because he was serious contemplating hurting himself or someone nearby. Unwanted, a tear rolled down his face. But he jumped when a hand reached out and wiped it gently away.
     "It's okay, Mason," Jacob's voice cut into his thoughts. "It's not as bad as you think, we're sure. If you would just talk to them like you talk to us, then they would let you go."
     Mason shook his head. As much as he hated it here, he was afraid of outside. Jacob sighed. "Well, We're not sure what's going on with you and that woman who's standing by the counter, but she's here again."
     "Who?" Mason whispered.
     "The woman by the counter over there. The one who visited you last week. Who you yelled at. She's here again."
     Mason was dumbfounded. If they were right, then Mae was back. He listened to the footsteps of a peron in flats followed by a person in high heels come over. Mason smelled Mae's soft perfume.
     "Mason," Dr. Ryall said. "Your aunt is here to talk to you again. Do you want to talk to her?"
     Mason just sat there, not sure if he did want to talk to her or not. Jacob reached out and touched the top of Mason's head gently. "Talk to her." he whispered.
     Ryall glared at the tall, dark haired young man. "Mr. Nova, I suggest you go back to your music."
     Jacob growled. "And we suggest you piss off, bitch. Mason's our friend. We can talk to him if we want, unless you want a riot on your hands."
     Dr. Ketzin, Jacob's doctor, came over. "Jake, c'mon. Let them talk. Let's listen to your music. Mason'll be okay."
     Mason listened to what was going on around him, before finally nodding in Jacob's direction. Jacob conceded, and his music got slightly louder as he turned it back up and worked on his crossword puzzle. Mason turned to his aunt, took a deep breath and nodded. Then he stood up, and followed the women back to his room.
     Once there, Ryall sat in the chair, Mason on the bed, Mae in another chair. Silence reigned until Ryall spoke. "Well," she said. "I'm sure you two have much to talk about. Mason, why don't you tell your aunt what's on your mind?"
     "Go away." Mason replied.
     "What?"
     "_Go_away_." he repeated. "I want to talk to her alone, not with you here, recording what we're saying and commenting on it."
     Ryall huffed slightly. "Fine," she said. "I can see you'll only talk in the presence of your aunt, so I'll leave. I'll be back in an hour." The door slammed slightly as she left.
     "Well." Mae said, as the silence that came back became uncomfortable for her.
     "Why didn't she tell me about you?" Mason whispered.
     Mae wasn't sure how to answer that. "I'm pretty sure it was our parents. When did your grandmother die, Mason, on our side of the family?"
     "Right after I was born," Mason whispered.
     "Well, Daddy and Mother didn't really get along. So right after I turned 5, they separated, Daddy taking me and moving to America, and Mother staying here, with Lily, my sister."
     "Mamu," Mason whispered.
     "Yes." Mae said. "I never heard from Lily and Mother again. But about a month ago, Daddy died."
     "I'm sorry." Mason whispered.
     "It's okay. I'm still getting over it. But before he died, he told me to seek out my sister. And I did. And found out that she had died. Someone told me that she had a son, and I realized that I had find you. For her, for you and for me."
     Mason whimpered slightly, and Mae reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. He trembled under her touch.
     "Mason, I never wanted to hurt you by coming here. On the contrary. I wanted to help you. You shouldn't be here. You should be with family who loves you." She wrapped her arms around him, pulling the small boy into her lap like he was 5 again, and with his mother.
     "Why would you love me," he replied. "You don't even know me."
     "But I want to know you. And when I get to know you, I know I'll love you more. As for loving you now, I love you because Lily loved you and I loved Lily."
     "Can you really take me from here? Can I go live with you?"
     "Mason, I- . . ." Her hesitense made him feel like he had just been punched in the gut. He pulled away from her and curled back up on his bed, a bed that after so long was now familiar. "I'm sorry." he sighed. "I was being presumptuous."
     "No, Mason, you weren't. I was struggling to find a way to breach the subject of taking you with me when I left, but you startled me by asking first. I would love to take you with me and have you live with me from now on. There aren't any guarentees that it would work out, but I promise we'll work on it until we find something that does that you're happy with. You can't honestly say you're happy here."
     He snorted. "Here? At the Institution with a capitol 'I'? Riiiight." He smiled.
     Mae smiled back although he couldn't see it. Now Mason was acting like the 14 year old that he was. "Well, I'd better go talk to Dr. Ryall about what to do about getting you out of here, and evalutations and they'll prolly want to see my home and what job I have, and I'll work on your passport. Maybe you can go and talk to your friend in the common room while you wait. He seemed nice."
     "They are nice," he corrected with a slightly bigger smile this time. "I'll tell you all about them later."
     "This is going to work out, Mason. I promise." Mae said as she left the room.

End notes: [1] Okay, I know this place doesn't exist, so sue me. I don't know the name of a mental hospital in the north London area, if there even is one.