Its been two months since I came to this facility and I already have a good routine going. At first that other docter would try to make trouble everyday, but Dr. Kindlin never let him have his way. The orderly and receptionist have been taking turns looking out for me.Their names are James and Rebecca. When it became clear that just the two of them wasn't going to cut it, especially with the other docter messing around, they got one more person on their side. It was a young nurse names Fredrick, everyone calls him Rick, who had a similar experience as a kid just not nearly as extreme. His dad had been a pro thief and so everyone had always used that to make him a excapegoat. It taught him to be careful and this experience helped us out of more then one tricky situation.
Thankfully the other docter has gotten too busy with his own work to keep bothering us but Rick always makes sure we keep our guard up. When he first hear about what happened to me he cried and hugged me close saying over and over again that none of this was my fault. I told him what happened to him wasn't his fault either as I hugged him back.
Since then he pretty much stays stuck to myside when he is on shift. I can tell how worried he is everytime a particularly dangerous patient moves close to me. Then one day an old lady came in. She was obviously in her right mind but she was also wealthy and didn't plan to leave her money to her spoiled rotten kids so they locked her up here so they could change her will as they please.
Dr. Kindle picked up on it as soon as she came in and asked her to look out for me. She was horrified by want my father had done and was so angry that she started cussing using every word she could think of. Most of which I didn't know but based on the snickering coming from everyone, I'm pretty sure they knew and agreed.
Since then she has been glued to my side even more then Rick. She would even wait outside he stall in the bathroom for me just to make sure I stayed safe. Then came a day where all three of them were made to take the day off. We were so thankful for Grandma on that day. It was a trick pulled by Davidson, made even more obvious when all of the regularly violent patients were allowed ot at the same time while I had to stay inside the recreation room with them.
Normally, the would never be allowed but I was still in there for a good 30min to an hour before Dr. Kindle got me out and started to fix it. He confronted Davidson but he just said it must have been an error and that it was his department. In the end, nothing could be done about it. However, we were all the more vigilant afterwards because Rebecca, James, and Rick's schedules somehow now matched perfectly.
For not being his department, he seem the treat it like it was. But with Grandma also being Dr. Kindlin's patient it was easy to get our schedules to match especially when he made up a excuse that being around each other was good for us. Davidson's face when he walked in and could never get me alone was priceless. Until eventually he stopped bothering me at all.
That was when Grandma started talking to me about why her kids had locked her.
"Raven, do you know why my rotten kids managed to lock me up?" She looked into my eyes with teary eyes, but I could see a fant hope in them.
"I don't know. How?" I tilted my head as I wondered. Grandma is so smart and careful so I couldn't figure out how they managed it.
"Because of my... religion. You see my religion doesn't have a lot of believer anymore so I was hoping to at least pass on the knowledge of it to them even if they didn't believe in it themselves,but instead they... sigh" I could see the deep pain and disappointment in her eyes as she talked about wanting to pass on the knowledge about her religion even if it was to a non believer. She just wanted her religion to have a chance, but her kids refused to give that to her.
I though for a long time after that. It was days before I steeled my resolve and made up my mind, "Grandma, teach me."
I saw her eyes widen as hopeful yearning filled her gaze. "Raven, you don't have to do that for me. My religion is not just a set of beliefs but also a language and culture all on its own. It's not something to take on half heartedly. Especially if you don't actually believe in it." Gradma tried to warn me but the anxiety in her eyes mixing with hope told me she desperately acted to pass down her beliefs to someone, anyone so that her beliefs didn't die.
"I know. I can't promise to believe in your religion but I can promised to learn properly and pass it to anyone willing to listen and learn." Tears streamed down her face as she hugged me closely. Her gratitude and relief washing over me as all her anxiety over having no heir for her knowledge disappeared.
From then on, every week when the others weren't working she was teaching me everything she knew. She wasn't kidding when she said it was its own language and culture. The knowledge was extensive to say the least but I never complained. Just seeing to happy, bright eyes hidden behind her serious demeanor as she taught me made every sleepless night and cramping hand worth it as I learned a about talismans, runes, mind excersizes, and countless different types of supernatural myths. It even had its own fighting style that was how in depth her religion was.
When Dr. Kindlin found out he and the others sat us down, but we both made it clear she wasn't forcing her religion and that I was learning to pass it along not because I actually believed in it. They were skeptical but at the end of the day there was nothing wrong with learning about a different belief system so they let us continue.
We were even able to increase the lessons I took since it allowed me to fill my time outside of school with something productive. They were especially encouraging me to learn the fighting style very well since they figured I could use it for self defence if nothing else and just like that 2 years flew by. I was able to finish my lessons with Grandma and now she said the rest would be self study as I make it my own or just pass it along to next person.
Grandma's lawyer was able to get her out but she chose the stay until I got out too, but fate wasn't so kind. A month before I turned 16 she passed away naturely in her sleep. I know because Dr. Kindlin, for my peace of mind, checked for himself.
Her kids rushed in ecstatic as they took her things and was about to throw them in the trash when her lawyer stopped them by taking it out their hands and placing it in my lap as I cried and bawled my eyes out.
He said loud enough fo them the hear, "She left everything to you, Raven. If those rotten pieces of garbage who call themselves her kids try to fight it...." He paused as he looked that those red faced stranger, " Then I have more then enough evidence to prove they emprisoned her under false pretenses and forged official documents."
Seeing their faces turn white as they screamed like banchees at him to mind his own busniess, was weirdly satisfying. He sneared as he nodded to a police officer outside. As they came in, they read their charges clear for everyone to hear and then started dragging them out in handcuffs.
After seeing them out he turned back to me, "Thank you for being the family she couldn't have. You have no idea how proud and grateful she was to have meet you. To her, you were the only grandchild she would ever acknowledge. Dont worry about the furneral. I will take care of anything. She has a family graveyard on the property she left you so she'll be waiting for you to pay your respects to her there." I was so shocked that I couldnt say anything before he left.
When I finally came back to myself I cried even harder as I clenched the box of her things closer to me, not willing to let it go for even a moment.