(The short story)
In 2006, when I was living in that mental health homeless shelter in Manhattan, NY, I started to write a novel, based on this title. Due to Gang Stalking (which I didn't realize was happening to me, at that time), the novel was incomplete. I was working on it, writing by hand. I kept the rough draft for many years, but lost it sometime down the line because of bouncing around from state to state. Since I don't remember everything I wrote, I'm going to keep the title, but change the scenery, character names, etc.Here it goes.
Timberwood: Short Stories Edition, Vol. 14
Kurl (real name is Earl Price, Jr.) has always been DIFFERENT FROM THE REST. Timberwood decided that he's "mentally ill" because he refuses to conform to the cult norms, such as changing his turquoise-dyed hair back to the color that he was born with. He also eats odd food combinations, in which people think that he does, just for attention. He even admitted that he acts eccentric, as a cry out for help, because of the trauma he grew up with. He's biracial, 1/2 Black, 1/2 White, & looks like & takes after his Black father. They even talk just alike. They call him "Kurlicious" because of his strange eating habits & the fact that he's the only child, out of so many siblings, that came out to look STRAIGHT UP like his father. He looks like as if his dad got himself pregnant! 😂🤣 NOTHING like his mother! He has tight curls, rather than loose. He has some siblings, like his sister Teresa, who looks like an exact carbon copy of the mother.
Kurl's Caucasian mother was a drug addict & died of an oxycontin overdose. His African-American father was in the Air Force. Kurl was (& still is) the black sheep of the family. His mother was negligent, due to the drugs, & his father was an abusive narcissist.
Kurl's brother Michael suggested that he join Timberwood & get into their mental health group home program. Kurl tried to battle against Michael's suggestion, saying that he wasn't "mental". Michael picked an argument with Kurl & set him up to have him "Baker Acted" or "5150'ed", & then he was locked up in the mental ward for a couple of weeks. The mental hospital staff referred Kurl to Timberwood for outpatient care. More control, psychological games, manipulation & abuse.
Kurl wasn't aware that he was court-ordered to be forced against his will, to be in a mind-controlling cult for the rest of his life. They falsely claim that it's for his own good, to keep him out of trouble & to prevent him from being homeless on the streets. They wouldn't let him have a cellphone or get a job. They infantilized him & treated him like he was incapable of being a normal adult.
This "group home" was like a prison. They stripped him of all of his God-given rights & treated him like he was subhuman. Everyone, from birth to old age, resided there. They were only allowed 1 meal a day (only brunch), if they were 16 & older. 15 & younger was twice a day (breakfast & dinner). In certain circumstances, some of the children & families got to eat all 3 meals a day. The cafeteria staff didn't care. The food was always poor quality, & it was either half-cooked or burned, or sometimes a combination of both. Chicken would be burned on the outside, but almost completely raw on the inside, with bloody juice coming out. When the patients would get sick, they were treated like they were delusional, & then deaths were treated like "natural causes".
On Kurl's first day in Timberwood, he was 17 years old. He was doped up on those psych meds, like a prescribed overdose. He was looking spaced out. He had 7 other roommates. 4 bunk beds per room. He was assigned to a bottom bunk in room 21, bed 3. His bunkmate, Rico Latino, was on the top bunk - bed 4. They were always arguing & fighting because Rico would always have his STINKY feet, with old, dirty, smelly socks on, dingling out of the bed from the top bunk every morning before proceeding with daily activities. Kurl would always say (in slow motion), "Don't nobody wanna smell that!", in his Mississippi country accent with a strong lisp & deep, hard voice.
So, they would argue back & forth, & Kurl was falsely accused of bullying Rico, when it was the other way around. Rico would always make fun of Kurl's strange eating habits, his wacky, wild turquoise afro & his country lisp. Kurl was just setting boundaries & defending himself.
One day during brunch, on a Monday morning, Kurl was standing behind an old man in a wheelchair. The old man's family members put him in Timberwood, instead of a nursing home, since they have a military vet program. Poor old man was abused & taken advantage of. Timberwood was robbing the old man, Mr. Brogan, out of his military vet benefit checks from the Marines & starving him. Once his family found out that they couldn't sue Timberwood or take him out of the cult, Timberwood felt frightened by his family members' threats to get the national media involved, & then the staff started to let him eat again.
Mr. Brogan was generous enough to let Kurl go ahead of him in line. Kurl noticed all of the bloody bed sores, bruises & skin tears on Mr. Brogan's arms. He questioned Mr. Brogan about his arms & his Vietnam Vet hat, & then they struck up a conversation. There was a Hispanic woman with 4 loud young children standing in line behind them, screaming & crying very loudly, like surround sound or a subwoofer. The 2-year old had ear-splitting, piercing screams. The mother was an alcoholic & was diagnosed with schizoaffective & bipolar with occasional psychosis. She was a victim of domestic violence.
The brunch was all you can eat buffet-style, & Kurl went to have AT IT! Kurl, Mr. Brogan & a few others sat at the table together, & Kurl had 2 plates of food & 1 plate of dessert & free refills on drinks. Kurl had a plate of 2 Belgian waffles with coleslaw & applesauce on top, & a big bowl of self-sliced hot dog weiners, Bleu cheese & kiwi slices mixed in oatmeal, with a lot of salt, & then thousand island salad dressing drizzled on top of a bowl of beets & Neapolitan ice cream. He also had blue Fanta mixed with hot cocoa mix as a beverage. He had 3 total cups of those.
People started ganging up on him, asking why he ate weird food. His response was, "So, what! Y'all ain't gotta eat it. Mind y'all business & leave me alone. What's the big deal? All of the food's gonna go down the same system, anyway."
Little children were even laughing at & picking on him. Some of the residents at the group home ate 10 plates of food because they knew that that's the only meal that they could get for the day, & they weren't allowed to sneak food back into their rooms. Security guards always there to check every nook & cranny of your clothes, your body & your property.
In the Timberwood cult mental health group home program, everyone, of all ages & both genders, were forced to shower together in 1 bathroom, all at the same time, for 30 minutes, twice a week. Timberwood is rich, but acts cheap towards their mental health patients & prisoners. They treat their compliant, obedient, fake sellout members like royalty.
Kurl grew to be closer friends with Mr. Brogan, & he asked the staff if Mr. Brogan could be his bunkmate, instead of Rico. Rico raised hell, & then he tried to strangle Kurl. Kurl fought Rico off, & then Kurl was the 1 who got arrested & went to federal prison, being falsely accused of attempted murder, when he just fought back in self-defense. Again, the other way around. Rico got let off. Mr. Brogan went into a depression. Rico started assaulting & bullying Mr. Brogan. Timberwood would blow Mr. Brogan off every time he complained of being assaulted. Rico strangled Mr. Brogan in the exact same way that he unsuccessfully tried to do to Kurl. Unfortunately, Mr. Brogan's murder was covered up.
There was an uproar & protest right outside of Timberwood headquarters in Beverly Hills, CA. Members were trying to leave the cult, & Timberwood was losing. They were fighting for justice for Kurl & Mr. Brogan. Timberwood couldn't cover up or run from national media attention this time!
THE END
DISCLAIMER: I, the author, Candy Grandpre, do NOT condone or agree with any of the acts described in this fiction short story. Only the fight for justice. This is another fictional short story series of the BIG fiction book that I've been trying to work on. This short story is another fictional illustration to expose the weirdness, torture & abuse that sometimes could go on in cults. I'm using fictionalized short stories to bring more awareness to society on how cults can operate, because I grew up in one.