24 Visit (7)

Mia who was sitting on the couch while waiting for her dog to be groomed looked lifeless.

The conversation she had with the doctor was repeating in her head like a scratched CD jumping to one scene of a video. She did not know how she reacted when they were conversing but she knew she acted foolishly.

The grooming and trimming of Happy finished but she was still zoning out and walking like a zombie. She did not know how she interacted with Dr. Canes and Bert afterward, she did not even have the time to buy her dog some treats as her mind was preoccupied.

She arrived at her house still out of it and headed straight to her room.

Once she knew she was in the safety of her room, she dived into her pillows, took one and buried her face into it.

Repeating the word "No" a couple times, like a broken record. Mia found it embarrassing for Dr. Canes to find out things about her through her mother.

She wanted to know more about Dr. Canes but she never expected her mother to be ahead of her.

She wanted to know how much information her mother told Dr. Canes, but she could not get the courage to stand up and ask. She was lifeless, like a withered up starfish forever frozen on the sand.

While Mia was in her room, the two people in the house looked at each other with questioning looks.

"What happened to her?" person A said.

"I don't know, she was normal when she left." Person B said.

Going back a couple of hours after Mia left someone knocked on their door.

…

Sfx*knock knock knock*

"I'm coming... hold on a minute," said the person behind the door.

You can hear rustling sounds, then footsteps walking towards the door.

"How may I help you?" said Mrs. Hill looking at the person on the other side of the door. She was beautiful like an actress seen on tv.

"Hi Aunty, it's me! I brought you some gifts." Stephanie said while handing a basket with assorted goods inside. She said that with her brightest smile.

"I don't know someone as beautiful as you... You must have the wrong address." Mrs. Hill said feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"It's me, Stephanie, didn't Mia tell you I'm visiting our old house?, so I told her I'll be visiting here," Stephanie said cheerfully.

"Stephanie? Are you that young boy who used to visit with William? Did you get a sex change?" Mrs. Hill asked seriously.

With an expression which looked like she was holding a fart in, Stephanie said trying to smile.

"Aunty, I've always been a girl... And I thought you knew afterward because you never mentioned it again." Stephanie tilted her head cutely to the side while making a gentle smile.

"Oh, is that what it was! Come in, you know, William also visited a couple of days ago. You shouldn't have brought a gift basket since we still have some left from the one he gave before." Mrs. Hill said while heading towards the couch.

"What do you want to drink?" Mrs. Hill asked heading straight for the fridge.

"The orange juice you used to make please." Said Stephanie with a pleasant smile on her face while looking around.

While bringing a pitcher of orange juice to the table, Mrs. Hill said. "I see you're smiling more now. It's a good change."

Stephanie smiled back in return thinking, 'It's because of the people around me who annoys me all the time, of course, I'll always be scowling and temperamental.' She was thinking this, but she did not want to say it out loud as it may seem disrespectful.

"Where's Mia?" Stephanie asked this instead.

"She went out with her dog, they usually go to the pet shop during the weekends to get her trimmed and groomed." Said Mrs. Hill.

She went to the kitchen again to wash some apples, brought them to the table and sat beside Stephanie, peeling the apples while they chatted.

"I'm glad to see that you are still close with Mia after all those years. You know she was lonely when you both left." Mrs. Hill looked sad when narrating the story.

Stephanie only listened while eating the peeled apples.

"She spent most of her time at home. You know before she met the two of you, she was having a hard time associating with the other kids at her school. So I was happy when she told me that she made a friend at school and invited him on her birthday. You know, we usually celebrate it with just the family..." Mrs. Hill paused for a bit, picked another apple to peel then continued.

"I remember the time she spent with the two of you were the happiest for her. She was always smiling and laughing, telling me stories of how she spent her days with the both of you."

She stopped talking, looked at Stephanie and said, "She has never been the talkative type at home. It may have been because she was an only child but she was awkward towards other people." Mrs. Hill laughed as if she remembered something.

"Wait a minute, I'll show you her photos. I can't believe I'm taking them out again after just putting them back inside." Mrs. Hill said with a cheerful tone and went to her room to fetch the albums.

Stephanie stopped eating for a moment then sighed, she looked around the house one more time as she saw the pictures.

On the side was the picture taken from Mia's birthday party, the 3 of them stood together with beaming smiles on their faces.

There was also the sports meet, the zoo, the amusement park and holidays with the 3 of them together. But after they left, the pictures of Mia were all family photos, with no other friend included in the photos.

Mrs. Hill came back with the albums on her hands while Stephanie returned to her smiling face. The two spent their time together looking at pictures and chatting when the door opened and closed like an apparition came in, and a hastily moving Mia went pass them and went straight to her room.

Original novel by Chuchuwachuwa

Editor - DnC