Clarity: Treatment

Logline: A boy comes to terms with his emotions by escaping through nature..

A boy sits on a log, the same log in the same clearing that he has been returning to for years. Here, he can be himself. Here he is alone, away from the pressures of society and family. Here, he can clear his mind and never go home. This small clearing is his home, this is his escape.

As he sits outside the cafe, he tries to picture what it would be like if it never happened. The thing that made him so isolated, so separated from everyone. If only someone shared the feelings that he felt. He couldn’t imagine that he could ever talk to anyone about it. He sees the flyer that has always been posted in the same position - group therapy, for those who need it. Frustrated that he sees it everyday, he closes his eyes.

He scratches another tick on the log in the clearing. He puts the knife under the same rock he has always put it under and gets up. But that isn’t enough, he feels that something is missing. He returns to the rock and pulls the knife out and marks a nearby tree, “what can I do?” he inscribes, and drops to the floor, tears rolling down.

What can he do? He has to go back, as much as he doesn’t want to. So he does. In another public spot, he sits, gazing across as far as he can see. This place so much different than the clearing, he cannot see the horizon, he cannot hear himself think, he cannot function. He cannot stand it - the stares, the murmurs - he is imprisoned.

He returns. He breathes. He glides down to the clearing when he notices that there is something written on his scratched tree. A reply? He looks around thinking somebody has been watching him. Does someone else know about his sanctuary? He decides its okay, knowing that there’s nothing to lose. He writes back.

Day after day he returns, discovering new messages, and he feels a satisfaction from this connection to the unknown. He is able to express once again, even if it is not in a regular way, it is better than how he was a few days ago.

He decides to give the group therapy a try even if he doesn’t speak and only “passes” on speaking, he has allowed himself to attach himself to other things, and work his way back into a regular life. Whom had once been lonely and emotionally isolated now has a new charisma. His energy flows through his limbs and it radiates through his appearance. He continues to write on the trees.

He finally expresses himself to others comfortably. He doesn’t “pass”. He decides its okay, and expresses himself in voice. He doesn’t looks away in disgust when people look at him. He sees light in the world. He seems to be well off and stable once again.

Back in the clearing, he reaches for the knife, ready to write a new message. He had not been here in days. His life is finally coming together and he is not the lonely boy he once was; he is now an individual, one that can clearly articulate his emotions. He brushes the carved trees with his hands. He feels through the carvings that he had once wrote, the carvings that he has distanced himself from. He feels the precise lettering, and feels the emptiness underneath his own writings - the replies to his messages are gone.