The Concealed Culture Deep Within.

The psychiatric wards for miles around the count y had been severely paralyzed almost to the point of 'no return,' by a steady influx of what could only be classified by many local newspapers, as people diagnosed with having 'delusional ideation tendencies.'

It had almost been on a par with the many activist groups of the 21st century, who had vigorously campaigned against the governments around the world, fighting against them during the worldwide introduction of pandemic restrictions in immediate response to the devastating Covid-19 virus.

In the small forest-dense community of 'Stumpton village' nothing ever along these lines had ever been seen or heard of in its history of existence. It was pretty hard-fetched for the loc al doctor's practice, within the tiny community of a mere population of 692 inhabitants, to even have to manage with anything more virulent than a common case of the flu, let alone a full-blown outbreak of a perplexing mental ill-health illness which seemed to be spreading through its inhabitants like wildfire...

Initially, this all began with a ridiculous notion with a passer-by leisurely strolling through the common. As the middle-aged woman was out enjoying all that the common forest grounds had to offer through all its nature, she had seen & overhead a young child from the village who was sat cross-legged on the grass next to the stream that trickled through the area, almost hidden directly from view by the undergrowth, talking quietly to herself

Okay, so to any casual observer at any other time, this would have just evoked a reaction within them of simply smiling toward this young girl in fond recollection of their own memories of childhood. Those of the past times when children were really children, who were free to allow their own unfettered, innocent minds to roam into the make-believe world of imagination & roleplay. Those times when children were not impeded by the problems that their own parents had to endure & cope with every single day.

No.

These were the times that children never had to face or worry themselves about these 'big people worries,' all they really needed to understand was that they were loved, cared for, had regular prepared hot meals ready for them & that they would always be kept safe from harm...

But this was no ordinary caring middle-aged woman, as the small village community already despised in her.

She had been brought up all through her life, hating anyone that ever underwent any unwelcomed mental health illness. Her own father when she had been just at the tender age of six years, had been sentenced by the local county court system for physical and verbal abuse and had been discovered to have been long-suffering from a severe form of paranoid illness; one which had seen the court system remand him into the custody of a high-secure mental health hospital for protection and treatment. As she had grown up, she had been subjected to stigma and hatred by others that had come to know her. Throughout her school education years, she had been bullied physically and emotionally scarred by endless name-calling. Her school uniform often was ripped and torn by these unkind bullies at school, and as if that was not enough for her, when she would arrive home each evening, she would continue to be subjected by her older family members to a tirade of verbal abuse & threats, much like,

'oh grow up, just hit them back!'

and,

'if you do not hit them back then I will teach you by punching you, so if you do not want that from me back at home, then you have to fight back!'

and,

'stop bloody coming home with your new clothes damaged, I cannot keep buying new ones, for f***s sake, money does not grow on trees!

So as the woman had grown, she had developed her own negative approach to caring and managing any type of behavior, purely with stigmatizing and dysthymic responses.

At the moment in time when she stumbled across the young girl, innocently engaging in make-believe play, she automatically showed her disgraceful stigmatizing views and, without activating her brain first, she let out a massive disagreeing 'stupid girl,' grunt and stormed off back to her small flat in the outlying village, slamming her front door behind her.

Luckily her comment was out of earshot of this little girl, but the rot had set in. The stigmatizing woman had grabbed her phone and made a call to the local police. And here the unsettling story began to unravel itself piece-by-piece, around the usually quiet and peaceful sleepy village.

The village tale was beginning to take form as many parts of a broken and bewildering jigsaw.

********

Later into that evening, the little girl 'Josie' had been home with her mum for a few hours now. She was full to the brim with exciting ideas and talking ten-to-the-dozen about her new friends. Her mum had been fully aware of her little girl's young imagination for the past few years of her very young and innocent life. There was absolutely nothing at all wrong or even anything to worry over any of Josie's imaginary playfriends. She had grown very familiar with her daughter's vivid lone playtimes. Of course, whilst her daughter had been gone through the first couple of years of her childhood in the local junior school, her teachers had noted Josie's 'lone' play but had not seen anything untoward at all by this. After all, Josie was still interacting with the other youngsters in her class and was ahead of many in her year group, when it came to asking questions in class and when handing in her homework so, no one had any worries or concerns at all... the vivid imaginary play was just a normal part of the development in any healthy young child.

Nothing was identified as maybe 'out of the ordinary' or sinister here.

There was a loud succession of knocks on the front door...

Stay tuned to read my next installment on 'The Concealed Culture Deep Within.'

********

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

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✨I can't wait to hear from you soon... Jonathan💕.