The Dreamhouse - 01 - Gary Cooper

 

He leapt from the building with spread arm - a swan dive from the five story building. His pinstriped pyjamas flapped in the air as the wind blew past. The bared windows from the asylum swiched by in a blurr, he smiled, shifted his arms flew away. Away from his twenty year old so called temperory stay, away from the place he’d never consider home, away from the Dreamhouse.

 

St Clarence Asylum was well known by the folks in Odéen and if the small town ever got mentioned in the news it was because of that. It had a beautiful green lawn with trees and bushes, birdbaths and well trimmed hedges, but that didn’t do much to help disguise its ghastly facade. It was a large five story red brick building with barred white flaked windows which rarely reflected any of the patients, except for in one of them. By a window on the fourth floor stood a man and gazed over the trees, following the movement of the birds. He stood there every day from sun up to sun down and watched the birds fly.

 

Gary Cooper – named just like the actor – was a quiet man who rarely talked. He answered short if spoken to and he rarely opened a discussion. Gary had been there during the early days of the facility, when it was thought of as the future of modern psychiatric treatment facilities. He had been in his early twenties then, taken from his home in Candleridge to what was to become his home for the next twenty years. The equipment and methods for treating patients were now obsolete but no one outside of the facility cared. To them the asylum was a place for lunacy and madness, for the tenants it was a place of dreams. The asylum had seventy-four cells who housed a total of forty-three patiens; or dreamers as the personel on St Clarence used to call them.

 

“Time to go back to bed, Gary.”

Daniel stood a few steps behind Gary – knowing better than to touch patients from behind. Gary nodded and turned from the window, facing Daniel. He had a smile on his face and seemed excited over something.

“What’s the matter Gary? You’ve seen a new bird?” Daniel asked.

Gary nodded but remained quiet.

“Well... what did it do?”

Gary’s face split into a wide grin. “She taught me to fly.”

“Mhm... well you can tell me all about it in the morning. Now march on to bed.”

Gary nodded again and started walking towards his room – number 18 – the fourth door after the floor entrance. He was moving his hands in a strange way as they walked, almost as if he was practising something. When Gary had disappeard into his cell Daniel went back to the window and looked out into the dark. He couldn’t see any birds but he heard them chirping. It felt strange standing on the spot that Gary had been standing for at least the last couple of years when Daniel had started working here; it felt almost as he was trespassing. Gary facinated him, he didn’t look or act like most of the other dreamers did, with the blurry gaze and the occasional spastic movements. Gary was calm but alert, he combed his hair every day, his voices was soothing, almost like a narrator’s voice and he walked with a straight back and secure strides. If it wasn’t for his sickly obsession for birds he would probobly have been released several years ago.

“All’s inside?” Heyman called from the door.

“Yeah”, Daniel answered without turning. He heard Heyman walk past and open the door to the office. The light from the office being switched on had new shadows dance at his feet and creaking sounds confirmed that Heyman had seated himself in the old leather chair – doubtlessly with a new crossword puzzle which he probably never would manage to finish. The day had passed by quickly without any circumstances, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different. The chair creaked again as Heyman shifted his weight. “You okay there, Daniel?” Heyman called from inside the office.

Daniel took an extra glance out of the window before he turned towards Heyman. “Yeah, all’s fine, just tired”, he said and went into the office fetch his jacket.

 

His car snaked up the dirt road towards his house on the small hill. A thought had been with him during the whole ride home and the more he thought about it, the more worry he felt. Had he locked Gary’s cell? First thing he would do when he got home was to call Heyman and have him check. As he parked his car on the driveway and were about to walk over to his house he saw something flash by in the night’s sky, and he could have sworn that he heard laughter.

Reviews

[Sara Muschweck]

Oh, wow, wonderful story. Gary learning to fly in the end, and finally able to "Leave the Nest". I like how you have given the residents the name of "dreamers". I worked in homes for the challenged, and you wonder sometimes what magical world they live in. The mind is wondrous thing, and giving flight to one who was deemed mentally ill gave the story even more power. As always a strong write, the description of the facility, as well as the "Dreamers" inside of it. Great write.

[Sara Muschweck]

Oh, wow, wonderful story. Gary learning to fly in the end, and finally able to "Leave the Nest". I like how you have given the residents the name of "dreamers". I worked in homes for the challenged, and you wonder sometimes what magical world they live in. The mind is wondrous thing, and giving flight to one who was deemed mentally ill gave the story even more power. As always a strong write, the description of the facility, as well as the "Dreamers" inside of it. Great write.