SIXTEEN
It has been months now and I‘m still writing the story of my life though with my glasses now and still successful keeping it a secret from my family. The attack is now even more frequent, happening at least three times a month. I know I shouldn‘t be doing this because this is too much neural stress. I‘ve watched Uncle Brad ask my parents many times if I was stressing myself and they answering no. Yes, it‘s no to them because they don‘t know of this. But even I know what this is doing to me, I know it‘s causing my health to deteriorate more but what to do? I just have to put it down in writing for everyone to learn from. I
don‘t know how longer my eyes would give me but if anything happened to me and I‘m not able to finish my story, I hope someone would find this notepad, finish it for me and publish it for the whole world to see. Let this be considered as my last wish and I…..
Sheila twitched. Her hand quivered and she couldn‘t write anymore. She had stressed herself too much and another phase had stepped in. The Twitching phase.
She furrowed and tried to write again, ―…t, w…‖ but it was the same, her hand and body quivered again and she couldn‘t write. She calmed, inhaled and exhaled deeply. She knew that was a hint she had to stop. The writing had to stop. Too much neural stress for months and her system wasn‘t taking it any longer.
Minutes later, she quietly stood up and went to keep her notepad in her closet. Then she went to lie in her bed hoping this was just stress and not another phase but little did she know.
She stopped writing and everything went on fine or so she had thought but unknowingly to her, her parents already noticed she had started to shake. Many times they asked her.
'Are you okay?‘
And she would reply, 'I‘m great.‘
She could be still when she was focused. The jittery happened to her once in a while, especially her head. And this really got Ted and Thelma scared. By this time, she had graduated and was looking forward to joining Sean in the University.
Ted and Thelma were sceptical about her going to the University especially now that she had begun to twitch, but they saw her happiness in looking forward to University days and joining Sean and decided not to spoil it for her, so they had to let go and dropped their one year space talk.
Slowly, the day rolled in and finally she was leaving.
Ted was in the living room, waiting for the ladies while he adjusted his shirt. Thelma walked in, ready to set out.
'Sheila, it‘s getting late,‘ Ted called out.
'Just a minute dad,‘ she replied from the room. 'You‘ve been saying that for 15minutes,‘ he returned.
And before he could say anything else, Sheila was already standing in front of him, beaming.
'Yea, I‘m I‘m ready,‘ she stammered while her head twitched.
Anxiety made her twitch more.
Thelma stared at her in silence with concerns. 'Where are the boxes?‘ Ted asked.
'I asked Memon to put them in the car,‘ Thelma replied and looked at Sheila with smiles, 'you got everything?‘
'Yea, um,‘ she frowned, 'sorry, j-just a minute,‘ she started to rush back inside.
'Oh no common Sheila,‘ Ted squeezed his face like a baby.
'S-sorry dad, a m-minute,‘ she said louder as she went in.
Thelma turned to Ted and gazed at him, Ted was confused.
'What is that?‘
'Are you sure this is a good idea? Are you sure we are doing the right thing?‘ Thelma asked with worry filled eyes.
'What is?‘
'Sending Sheila to school to live alone.‘
'She‘s not living alone. She‘s gonna have room mates.‘
'Yeah right. We are not going to be there, none of her family is. Her roommates don‘t even know her. They don‘t know anything about her. How are they going to take care of her if her attack strikes?‘ 'Don‘t worry honey, she will be fine,‘ he said that in an unconvincing way.
'Why am I not convinced about that?‘ she stared at him hard.
'Thelma, if we were going to lose her, we would have a long time ago but we didn‘t; and that should be a hint, an assurance for you that nothing is going to happen. Sheila is fine, do not worry yourself.‘
'But—‘
'I thought we‘ve talked about this. We decided to support her all the way, make her happy. And you very well know how long she‘s been waiting for this, how happy she is. Do you want to change that?‘ Thelma abased her eyes sadly.
He continued, 'she has waited so long for this moment honey, to live this house and explore the world. This is her chance love and it could be the only
chance she would get.‘
Thelma looked up at him.
'So let‘s give it to her. Let‘s just be happy for her honey please, let‘s—‘ Sheila walked in, 'I‘m set.‘
Ted stopped abruptly and looked at her; he smiled and walked to her.
'Baby, before you leave, I need to tell you something; remember you have to be gentle—‘ '—make y-yourself happy and don‘t over s-stress your brain,‘ Sheila finished it for him. 'Dad, I remember; you have said that a thousand and one times today.
Ted chuckled and looked at Thelma and she forced a smile out meeting his gaze and moved closer to them.
'And anytime you notice anything—‘
Sheila put her fingers to her ear demonstrating a phone call, '—g-give us a call,‘ she smiled, 'I know mom, I will be alright.‘
'Alright let‘s go.‘
They walked out of the house.
And that was the beginning of something new for Sheila. She was so happy she was finally having her wish, leaving the house to explore the world without any supervision. Sean was going to be there in school but of course not the same hostel. She was happy she was going to be free but she knew what the word limit was because of her illness. She could see how unhappy her parents were all the way to school. They were going to miss her so much and she was going to miss them too.
Finally Sheila was in her hostel, she was assigned to Melan Hall with two other ladies; Pat and Mercy. Melan hall was said to have sophisticated ladies and they were said to be a lot younger than other girls‘ hostels in the school. Some people even felt the school must have criteria for assigning students to a hostel because it looked so much like it but then how could they know their character? Lanky Hall was said to have older girls but sophisticated also, Manu Hall was said to have wild girls while her partner hall, Cheal Hall was said to have wild boys.
Sean had waited for them at the hostel.
Thelma, Ted and Sean helped her settle in and soon they were on their way home leaving Sean with her for few more hours to catch their fun. Sean took her to many places that day and it was a fun filled day for her.
It‘d been months and everything seemed to be going on well. Sheila took it easy and never worked her brain too much. She knew her boundaries. Since her third phase started, she got a harsh response from people. People only made friends with her when they‘ve got something to take from her. They made fun of her behind her back, sometime sneakily but to her knowledge and this made her keep too much to herself and some habits she developed as a result of the phase weren‘t helping too. One wouldn‘t believe how lively and happy child she was before.
She was lying in bed facing up and her roommates were chatting on Pat‘s bed but Sheila was being a pain in the ass.
'You won‘t believe it,‘ Mercy said, she was a bit pissed.
'That man is a monkey, I believe you,‘ Pat answered her.
'Metaphor,‘ Sheila shot into the air.
The ladies looked back at her and furrowed. 'What‘s wrong with her?‘ Pat asked with her lips squeezed up in scorn.
'Please leave her be, talk to me, you know her.‘ 'I‘m listening.‘
'You won‘t believe he rubbished the girl publicly. I was so stunned watching the bitter sweet show.‘ 'Oxymoron,‘ Sheila shot again, still lying in her bed.
The girls were furious.
'Is this girl okay? I think she‘s running mad!‘ Pat spat in anger.
'Are you just knowing that,‘ Mercy scoffed disgustingly and imitated Sheila‘s twitchy head.
They burst into laughter.
Mercy rose from Pat‘s bed and made her way to her own bed just some steps away from Sheila‘s.
'My dear, I‘m tired from the day‘s work, I need some zzzs,‘ she jumped in her bed.
'I need to get some things from the store. I‘ll be right back,‘ Pat left the room.
Sheila stared silently into space in her bed.
It was a cool day and the lecturer was in class. He checked his wristwatch.
'Oh it‘s time. Um, I have to leave you guys now but make sure you do your assignment and submit to my table first thing tomorrow.‘ 'Yes sir,‘ the students chorused.
'Alright, see you in my next class,‘ he looked at Sheila, 'Sheila, please see me,‘ he started to leave the class.
Sheila rose and twitched towards the door with her eye glasses on. The lecturer was waiting outside the door for her.
'Sir?‘
'Sheila, I want to thank you for your help on my assignment. I had the highest mark out of all the PhD students,‘ he smiled happily.
Sheila nodded, 'okay,‘ and she just stared at the man.
The man was finding it difficult to converse with her as Sheila‘s single word response was too sharp and wasn‘t making it easy for the man to converse with her.
He stammered, 'I-um, I just wanted to thank you; thanks again. I‘ll leave now,‘ he walked away.
Sheila watched him leave in silence and then made her way back into the classroom.
Sheila was a lonely girl in class. She never had friends or acquaintances. She went to school, received her lectures and left for her hostel. She never had any social life. Everything about her was just boring and lonely. And everyone in school knew her as the twitchy lone ranger girl. They didn‘t even want to make friends with her because of her disabilities. They treat her like she wasn‘t there and she wasn‘t bothered about that.
She got back to her table and started packing her books together and as she carried them and started to leave, some of the books dropped from her hands to the floor. A figure was helping her pack them on the floor. She furrowed and as the figure rose with the books in his hand, it revealed a handsome young black guy.
Sheila stared at him with a plain expression while he grinned at her. The grin was taking too long and she looked at her books in his hand. The guy understood.
'Here,‘ he gave her the books, 'sorry about that.‘ Sheila collected the books.
'I‘m Ted,‘ the guy said.
Sheila looked up at him instantly; she gazed at him.
The guy wondered at her expression and smiled with a nod up at her, 'what, you‘re Ted too?‘
'My dad,‘ she said with a low voice staring at her books in her hand.‘
The boy squeezed his face, 'your dad? Oh, your dad‘s name is Ted!‘
Sheila nodded slowly.
'Wow, wow, that‘s awesome then. Can I be your friend?‘
Sheila looked up at him with no response.
The boy smiled at her and without a word, she started to twitch away.
Sheila entered her room.
Pat was making up, all dressed up and set to go out. Pat furrowed at the books in her hands but continued with her makeup.
'Welcome.‘ Sheila didn‘t respond. She went straight to her bed with her books.
'Why didn‘t you just carry a bag for that?‘
Sheila put her books beside her bed and lay on her bed silently with her face up. She was smiling.
Pat noticed Sheila wasn‘t saying a word and looked back at her. She saw her smiling and she was confused. She frowned then raised her brows.
'Sheila? Are you alright?‘ Sheila didn‘t respond. 'Sheila? Pat called again but still no response. Then she shrugged and continued her makeup. Days later, it was Sheila‘s library time. She was in the library reading a large Chemistry textbook. She was working towards being a scientist. She read each page in 10seconds.
Ted entered the library and noticed her immediately. He smiled seeing her but then noticed she was flipping each page almost as she opened it. He wondered if she was reading or just flipping through. He walked to her and took his seat beside her.
'Hi,‘ he said.
Sheila looked up at him and without a response she continued her reading.
Ted brought his books out and started reading but could not resist watching Sheila and the book she was reading.
'Hey, are you actually reading that or…‘ he searched for words to use.
Sheila looked at him and then started to pack her books together.
'Hey—what, what are you doing?‘
She rose and started to walk away. Sheila smiled to herself as she walked away.
Ted watched her in confusion as she left the room.
Soon Sheila was back in her hostel making a cup of coffee for herself in the kitchen while Pat, Mercy and their other friend, Vera, were in the room unpacking Vera‘s luggage and admiring her stuff.
Pat held a top, 'I love this top. Did your brother get you this too?‘
'No, mom got me that. I met it at home.‘
'Oh that‘s nice. It‘s lovely.‘
Mercy picked a heel and put it on, 'girl, this shoe is baaad; your brother really knows how to get ladies stuffs.‘
Vera laughed.
'Tell me Vera, when is he going back to the United States?‘ Pat asked.
'I don‘t know yet but soon. He said he will let me know when he‘s decided.
'Won‘t you introduce me to him? Mercy asked.
'What!‘ Pat snapped at Mercy and then hissed. She turned to Vera, 'You know I talked first.‘
'But you just asked when he‘s leaving,‘ Vera pointed out.
'Thank you my friend!‘ Mercy said to Vera.
'Yes but I was still coming to that.‘ They all laughed.
If you enjoyed this book or not, please leave a comment (feedback) on freee-books and on the social sites below. Thanks for your continuous support.