Inside Eliza

Once upon a time there was small house sitting in a beautiful but empty field. The small house was very well built. So well built, in fact, that nothing was able to get in or out, not even sound. And oh, was it noisy inside!

Inside the house, it was very crowded. The Big Controlling Parent set the rules. One of the rules was NEVER GO OUTSIDE. The Bully-Monster was too busy pestering the Big Controlling Parent to open the mysterious box, so he didn’t mind. The Sad Little Girl was convinced there was a Bully-Monster outside EVERY door, so she didn’t mind. As long as the Big Controlling Parent was around, everyone felt safe. But sometimes visitors came to the house and it became noisy again, because the Big Controlling Parent had to go outside.

Eventually, the Big Controlling Parent started taking the Sad Little Girl outside. The Sad Little Girl learned there was no Bully-Monster waiting for her so she grew bigger and bigger. The Big Controlling Parent shrunk so much she could no longer hold the key to the mysterious box. The Bully-Monster took it and found a tiny Happy Little Girl. Everyone panicked, because the Bully-Monster HATES Happy Little Girls, even tiny ones, and the Controlling Parent was no longer Big enough to control the Bully-Monster.

So, the Controlling Parent grew very big, taking all of the Bully-Monster’s bigness. But she wasn’t sure what to do with the Happy Little Girl, so she continued to guard the box.

As the Controlling Parent spent more time with the Happy Little Girl, she started to shrink...

…until finally one day, the mysterious box disappeared. The Controlling Parent could see the Sad Little Girl playing outside far away and wondered if it was time for the Happy Little Girl to have her turn on the grass.

So the Controlling Parent made the Sad Little Girl come back in and pushed the Happy Little Girl, who was growing bigger each day, out into the sunshine. The Sad Little Girl felt a lot better now that the Controlling Parent kept the Bully-Monster small, but she was Lonely being inside all of the time.

Eventually, the Sad Little Girl met the Happy Little Girl. They had a lot of stories to tell each other. “Together,” said the Little Girls, “we will explore outside.” And they left the house each day on their Big Adventure, sometimes alone, but more and more together, until they had shared so much they were inseparable. Sometimes they asked the Controlling Parent for advice – she had lots of experience going outside, after all! Sometimes they followed her directions and sometimes they found a new way. They always came back.

Every time they returned, the Bully-Monster grew agitated because the two Little Girls had grown Very Big and also had a balloon, which was his favourite toy. But the Controlling Parent kept the Bully-Monster away from the Little Girls and NEVER let him grow any bigger.

One day there was a Special Visitor to the house. “This is my house,” she said to the Little Girls, the Controlling Parent, and the Bully-Monster, “and I’m going to take care of you.” The Little Girls liked the Special Visitor because the Special Visitor took care of the house and let the Little Girls come outside whenever they wanted. The Controlling Parent liked the Special Visitor, because the Special Visitor listened to her advice on how to take care of Little Girls and quiet Bully-Monsters.

When the Special Visitor became the Special Caretaker of the small, well-built house, she became to notice other houses being built around her, with their own Special Caretakers. The Little Girls were excited to see all of the bright colours.

The sky couldn’t contain the noise the houses made together, which was okay because this kind of noise wasn’t meant to be contained.

The End


This story relies heavily on the concepts of Transactional Analysis, but is my own creative (loose) interpretation of my parts. I am not nearly this far in therapy, but I do hope I'll get there. Any ideas for getting rid of Bully-Monsters are welcome...

*Thanks to Microsoft Office Clip Art for the images. Montages made in Powerpoint.