The following two days, Jessi didn’t come near me. She only gave me hostile glares and whispered with her friends when they were close to her. My aunt noticed the tension between us but didn’t say anything. She knew her daughter, and talking to her wouldn’t solve anything; it would only make it worse.
I didn’t need my aunt to intervene. I could handle my cousin now that I wasn’t keeping quiet to avoid being kicked out of the house. Jessi couldn’t run to her father for help with me anymore, which made me fear less when responding to her attacks. It’s been days since he came to the house, and even my aunt doesn’t know where he is. She assumes he took a vacation without telling anyone, not the first time he’s done it.
Today, I arrived just in time thanks to the bus, which took ages to arrive. I practically ran to the classroom. Since I woke up this morning, one thought hadn’t escaped my mind: I would see Donovan after his suspension.
I didn’t know how to feel about it. At first, I thought I felt something like happiness, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of strangeness. I didn’t allow myself to dwell on it and prepared to go to school.
When I arrived at the classroom, the first thing my eyes focused on was the seat behind mine, but it was empty. Donovan didn’t show up all day.
I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, and they didn’t understand why. April invited me to finish a project at her house, and we ended up taking too long to complete it. She fell asleep around eleven at night. I knew she intended for me to spend the night, but I needed to go home. I have to read a book for an exam, and I didn’t bring any clothes.
April slept on the couch, so I took the liberty of entering her room and grabbed a pink blanket from her bedspread. I noticed she and her mother are addicted to pink. Almost the entire house is that color.
I placed the blanket to cover April, gathered my things, and left the house. I know the bus stop is only about six blocks from here, right in the part of the city similar to where I grew up. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t scared to go out at such a late hour; I was terrified. I practically ran, afraid that someone would do something to me. I haven’t had a streak of good luck lately.
The sigh of relief that escaped my lungs when I reached the bus stop was calming. As soon as I felt a bit calmer, I saw an older woman, around her forties, looking around, frightened and trembling. Her long, loose white dress was all dirty, resembling what hospital patients wear. Her gaze met mine, and she froze. It was clear this woman wasn’t well.
“Do you need help?” I approached her slowly, and as she turned around, she stumbled and fell to the ground.
I rushed to help her up, but as soon as I touched her, she started screaming. “No! Don’t touch me! I don’t know you! Deni! Help me!”
This woman is definitely not well. She doesn’t have schizophrenia like my mother, but she must have something similar. The desire to help her clearly overcame any fear I had about what might happen to me along the way.
The woman could barely breathe; she was having a nervous breakdown.
“Stay calm, breathe,” I stroked her head gently with my hand and slowly helped her back up, just like I used to do with my mom when she had similar episodes. I would tell her to look at me and have nothing to be afraid of, that I was with her. But now I can’t do that anymore. “Come on, inhale and exhale. Can you do it? Show me how.”
She nodded while breathing. When she calmed down a bit more, I took her hand and squeezed it to make her look at me. “I’ll just help you find your home. You know, your family must miss you, and they need to know you’re okay. Don’t you want your family to stop worrying?”
She shook her head vigorously, about to pout. It’s strange to see someone other than my mother behave like this, but I know how to handle it.
“Hold onto my hand, and you tell me which way you came from, alright, sweetheart?” I whispered gently. She smiled from ear to ear and walked in the direction I assumed she had come from.
“You called me sweetheart,” she whispered with a smile.
“Well, you are,” I said again and leaned closer, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She leaned on me without any issue.
After ten minutes of walking, I started to doubt whether the woman was leading me in the right direction.
“What’s your name?” I asked, breaking the silence. She continued leaning on my shoulder.
“Well, Mama calls me Deni. And you?” she replied, a hint of sadness in her face.
“My name is Celina… Who is Deni?” I asked again.
“Deni is my friend. He makes me food, buys me clothes, watches TV with me, and… guess what he did the other day?”
“Hm, I don’t know. Tell me what he did,” I said, genuinely interested. Could he really be her son?
“He took me to the amusement park!”
“Really? How exciting! What did you do there?”
“We played lots of games, and he won me a teddy bear. We got on this thing that went really high, and at first, I was scared, but Deni reassured me,” she started making gestures that made me laugh a lot. She illustrated everything with her hands, and it touched me. I felt comfortable with her.
“Wow, Deni is very good,” I said after she finished explaining each game they played.
“Yes! He’s very good! And he’s very cute!”
“Really? One day I’ll have to meet him.”
“Yes! He’ll be happy that I made a new friend!” She hugged me instantly, and I hugged her back. This woman must have the mindset of an eight-year-old child.
She continued hugging me when we heard a scream, and we immediately let go of each other.
“Stay away from her!”
“What? Shit, it can’t be him,” I thought.
When I looked in the direction of the scream, he was already just one step away from me, and as our eyes met, we both froze.