Family Counselling (Part 2)

Posted on Thu Jun 16th, 2022 @ 9:16am by Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D. & Captain George Charles [Reece] & Staff Sergeant Leilani Charles {Kelea-Salik} & Hendor Charles [Reece]

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Elysium, Tate's office
1792 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

~PREVIOUSLY~
Tate nodded in return. "Being brave is important sometimes, but it's not something anyone can be all the time. Sometimes, we just need time to be sad, or angry, or even afraid, and to tell people how we're feeling. Many times, we need people to help us when we're feeling sad, angry, or afraid. Do you think you might need a little help?"

Hendor thought about it for a few seconds, as his young mind worked through what Tate had just said. Finally, he looked her in the eye and nodded slowly. "I just want to protect Sky. She's my best friend! I wanna be a good, strong boy for Mama and Papa too!"

~AND NOW, FOR THE CONTINUATION...~

"I think it's wonderful you want to be a good friend," Tate replied. "I wonder, when you say you want to be a strong boy, what do you mean?"

Hendor took a few beats to try and get his thoughts together. Then, looking at Tate's kind face, he relaxed a little and responded. "Well, Papa's very strong, he protects me and Mama. I want to be able to protect both Mama and Papa. I can't talk in thoughts, like they can, but, I can try to be brave and strong for them in other ways...when I grow up."

Leilani offered Tate a proud smile, her son was a very brave boy and she was proud to be Hendor’s mother. “You’re already a very brave and very special boy Hendor, we’re both very proud of you.”

George nodded and squeezed their son a little stronger. "Your mother's right, Bubba. We are so proud of you and all you have done in such a short time. No matter what happens, we will always love you."

Hendor could feel the warm, loving feelings from his parents as they spoke. In his mind, he saw the happy images they sent him. It made him smile brightly.

Leilani smiled back at Hendor. “No matter what we’ll always be with you, you don’t need to worry about that.”

Hendor looked up at Leilani and grinned happily. He felt more safe with his Mama and Papa now, than he ever did with his brother and sister Outkasts.

Tate could appreciate why George and Leilani quickly reassured their son, but as a therapist, it was Tate's job to make sure the young boy could express himself freely even if the words were painful for those he loved. Reassurance was important, but reassurance offered too quickly could unintentionally stop further discussion of worries and fears. "Hendor, would it be OK if just you and I talked for a few minutes? Mom and dad can be right outside, I promise. You've done nothing wrong, I just thought it would be nice to talk just you and me if that's OK with you?"

Hendor looked at both of his parents, his smile faltering slightly. Then, when he felt no negative feelings from either of them, he looked over at Tate and nodded slowly. "Okay," he agreed.

Leilani offered a smile. “We’ll wait outside for you.” She nodded to George taking his hand as she headed towards the door.

Tate smiled her thanks to the boy and his parents. She knew they weren't entirely comfortable being apart, but she was honored they were willing to trust her.

Hendor stayed kneeling by the table, as his parents stepped out of the room. Though he didn't feel any danger, he was a bit apprehensive.

"Thank you for spending some time with just me, Hendor. I promise, we don't have to talk long. Would you mind if I knelt beside you and colored my own picture with you while we talked? I haven't drawn any pictures in a long time, but watching you, it looks like so much fun."

Nodding, Hendor moved a little, to give Tate more room. He then shared his paper and crayons with her. "I used to draw on the walls, back in the caves," he said softly.

Tate knelt beside Hendor and picked up a blue crayon, starting to draw ocean waves. She kept her focus on her own paper, but offered, "Oh wow, I bet you had lots of room to draw whatever you wanted."

Hendor shrugged slightly. His thoughts going back to that place. As he did so, his coloring took on darker images, using a black crayon to draw a lot of angry men.

It was not the first time Tate had noticed Hendor's verbal and nonverbal behavior were in conflict. She knew he was a precocious little boy and quite intelligent, so Sullivan knew he was capable of expressing his deeper emotions if he wanted to, but if his expressed desire to be a strong boy for his new family was any indication, it seemed Hendor was working particularly hard to make sure nothing too negative was revealed.

Rather than confront the emotion directly, she decided to take a different approach for now. Pointing to the men in black, she asked, "I'm curious. Will you tell me about this part of your drawing?"

Hendor frowned slightly, reaching up and touching the partially corrected side of his face. "They...they're the bad surface dwellers...that used to hunt me and the the rest of the Outkasts."

Schooling her features as she would with anyone she was working with so that her own emotions wouldn't influence what Hendor felt or did, Tate simply remained inquisitive. "Will you tell me about them in your drawing?" She kept her questions simple and somewhat vague, not just because she wanted to be understood but because she didn't want assumptions on her part to steer Hendor to reveal aspects of his drawing that weren't really true, but would be more pleasing to her.

"We had to stay hidden, especially during the day. That was when the surface dwellers were out more. At night, there were less." As he spoke, Hendor continued to draw angry-looking characters. Though drawn from the memories of a little boy, the beings depicted could easily be mistaken as actual monsters, and less like humans.

"When they captured one of us, they would hurt and kill them, putting them on tall poles for everyone to see." His next drawings were crude depictions of crucifixions for some and simple mounting on sharp pikes for others.

As horrific as the words were, especially coming from such a small and kind boy, Tate couldn't help but this sort of processing was exactly what Hendor needed therapeutically. As his therapist, Tate could serve as a witness for whatever Hendor needed to share in a way that would be hard for any parent to do. It was challenging enough for Sullivan to resist the urge to fold him into her arms, but as much as her own nurturing instincts called to her to chase away the young boy's demons for his sake and for hers, she knew if she did she would perhaps be denying him the opportunity to process things fully.

Working to keep her tone steady, she said, "I wonder how it felt to see all of that?"

He shrugged non-committally, like children do when they don't know what to say. "I only saw it once, and I wasn't supposed to. Gregor didn't know that I had followed him up to the surface one night." He got quiet for a moment. "We were almost caught after I screamed when I saw Jan Jan get put on the sharp pole." He stopped coloring and his face went blank, as if he was staring far, far away. "I can still hear her screaming sometimes. And the surface dwellers laughing."

Tate resisted the urge to comment on how awful that must be, fearing it would trigger a round of Hendor pushing the memory away or simply have him reassuring her. Instead, she asked, "When that happens, when you remember Jan Jan and hear those things, what do you do?"

He tuned to look at her, the look in this young boy's face asking him seem far too old for his years, and said in a quiet voice, "I want to kill them all." There was no emotion in his words. It was as if he already knew what had to be done, and would have no problem doing it himself. If Tate looked into his mind, she would see the bright, happy Hendor balancing dangerously close to something dark, something all-encompassing.

Hendor's demeanor was unexpected, but the anger he expressed was not. Complex and long-standing trauma forced people to face much more than their psyches could reasonably process, and Tate had found, for the male of a number of races especially, anger was still the only socially acceptable expression of hurt, fear, and frustration. "I know you do, Hendor, and I don't blame you. I also know being that angry all the time is hard and takes away energy for fun and love. That's why you and I are going to make the monsters go away without having to hurt anyone. Does that sound okay?"

The young boy was quiet for a few beats. Then, seeming to shrink away back from his cold exterior, he nodded slowly and replied. "I want to be a good boy for Mama and Papa. I want to be a good big brother to the baby in Mama's belly."

"That's good, Hendor," Tate replied. "I know your parents are already so proud of you for all you have done so far. I want you to know it's okay to feel sad, angry, or even a whole bunch of things at once just because. If something happens that reminds you of your life before, it's okay to talk about it with your Mom and Dad. Talking about your life before does not make you a bad boy or a bad big brother. Does that make sense?"

Hendor thought about that for a moment. He was starting to like Tate. She seemed real nice.

Finally, he nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

"I am going to talk to your Mom and Dad about things they can do to help you feel safe but I want you to know that anything you say to me will stay just between us. I won't tell them anything you say, but if there's something you want to say to them and you're not sure how, let me know and we can work on telling them together, OK?"

Hendor looked at Tate and nodded. "Okay," he replied with a nod.

Sullivan smiled. She wasn't completely sure the young boy understood everything just yet, but she also knew he was quite precocious and she was going to enjoy getting to know him over time.