I woke up a few hours later in my room wrapped in sheets and my favorite duvet, all alone. My head was ringing, body aching and my mind was a delightful mess. I guess my mind break was over.
I was able to get out of bed by myself though with a lot of pain, I headed downstairs to grab something to drink because my throat felt dry. Walking the stairs was hell but I made it, chuck that up to thirstiness. I only made it to the end of the stairs when I heard Nat's voice screaming, "Thank heavens, she's up. Aunt Maia she's up".
She was running towards me smiling like she just won the lottery and I couldn't help but smile back.
"I was so scared, I nearly didn't go to school", she said with a sad smile as she hugged me. "I'm sorry, I don't even know what happened exactly", I whispered into her neck.
"Well you're fine, that is all that matters okay", she pulled back from the hug with a smile on her face, "and as it stands you missed a lot today, school was brimming with drama non-stop".
"Really!! Care to let me in on the dramatic happenings of West-view High today, oh sweetheart of mine", I said sweetly.
"If you can joke like that I bet you're better already", Aunt Maia said as she joined us. "Yeah I guess I am, I just feel a little woozy that's all and my head's still playing its tunes, but all in all I guess I'm good".
"Come here, let me see for myself", she said with her right hand stretched towards me. With less difficulty than before, I walked to her and she placed her hands on both sides of my face. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as if in thought before she whispered ever so quietly, "influit pacificae vae eliminate" I would've missed it if not because I was right in front of her.
I wanted to ask what that meant but I lost that train of thought when suddenly, the ringing in my head slowed down until it was a small buzz. I was so relieved I hugged her and said "thank you" instead.
"You're welcome sweetheart", she replied with a smile "and before you both get to dissecting todays happenings, how about a meal first, okay".
"Yes Aunt Maia", we said at the same time only to turn and look at each other, then break out into laughter.
"I wouldn't be surprised if a doctor came in here and said you both were twins, your minds are too alike. Now come with me, I've got mac and cheese and your favorite, Lady A", at this I turned to her with my widest smile as we both said "homemade pepperoni pizza".
She only called me Lady A when she wanted to really spoil me, "aww I feel so spoilt already". "Yes that was the point of it all. Now come on, no one likes a cold meal", with this she turned and headed for the kitchen with two hungry teens right on her heels.
Nat and I didn't even bother taking the food outta the kitchen, we just ate it right there on the counter as she served us both to our fill. Halfway through our meal and Nat started gushing about today's happenings according to my aunt.
"So cheer practice today was hella fun, Melissa couldn't keep everyone in line, obviously because you weren't around", my eyes widened at that. "Oh don't look surprised, since your duel with her, the squad has been giving her a hard time, well that is until she bares her teeth. I gotta say she…. Stuill hash it in fher", she finished incoherently around a spoonful of mac and cheese.
"Natty finish chewing, your speech gets really twisted with food Hun", I told her with a smirk. She hates that. "Stop smirking at me, you beast". "You're welcome my love, but back to practice".
"Oh yeah but forget Melissa, she's not the big issue. It's the...". I interrupted her, why you may ask, because it is so much fun to see her flip her lids. "Oh really so you were starting from the topics of lesser import, wow you're losing your touch bat-wings".
She totally figured out my plan, because she just turned up the brightest of her evil smirks and said "Asha I love you, but I'll kill you if you drop another comment", fear rules man, you gotta be scared when she gets like that, "yes mam". "Good", she smiled and continued getting all serious with me or at least trying to.
"So I was on my way to my locker this morning when I ran into this strange girl. She was so rude with her crazy hairdo and her psychotic dressing, don't forget the blood red lip paint, cos that's all I can call it. Justin happened to be nearby if not I would've totally killed that bitch today".
"Okay slow down and before you curse me out, you just looked at me like you were contemplating doing the exact same thing to me and I don't even know the girl". At this point I adjusted my stool a little away from her. Do not judge me, I'm just being cautious. "So like step away from the crazy okay, remember I'm the sick one uhnnn". No lies, I felt the chills with how savage she was looking when she said that and I wasn't even there, Justin totally saved a life today.
"So she said something to you or what, because you wouldn't get this nuts over running into someone". "You see that's just the thing, she's not normal at all. I mean I wouldn't call her a "someone", this she said putting someone in air quotes. "She looked so haggard and yet she's supposed to be a student? That school is going to hell if that's allowed".
"You really don't like this girl at all", I said while simultaneously shaking my head. "Asha you won't understand me until you see her for yourself, something's really off about her". "Okay".
"Give me a sec I think I actually have a picture". She jumped off the stool going to her bag, while I just sat there with a look of disbelief about to ask how she got a picture, when she replied my unspoken question. "Before you say anything, I asked Justin to send me the picture so I could show you". "Okay".
When Natalie came back with her phone, I thought I had prepared myself mentally to see the weird gal that had Nat's nerves un-wired but I was so wrong, so freaking wrong.
"Here, look at this and tell me you think this wench is normal", she said as she handed me her phone. I took a look, "no no no no, no freaking way in hades" and everything came rushing back.
I dropped Nat's phone so fast, I don't know how she was able to catch it. My body started buzzing with light tremors, I was breathing too fast, trying desperately to catch my breath. My head was seriously pounding, and black dots were covering my eyes, going back and forth, yet all I could think was no, no, no, no, no. I was so sure I would pass out at this point.
A few seconds later and I felt a chill run through me from my shoulders to every inch of my body. I didn't understand it, but I felt better with it and so I just stayed still and let it work its magic, only the magic ceased after a few more seconds, as if it was never there. Then I opened my eyes.
"Sweetheart what is it?" Aunt Maia asked gently with her hands on my shoulders. "I know that girl", was the only thing I could say. I was still reeling from the memories that just came rushing back from this morning.
"How do you know this girl", Nat raised her phone up, still in shock. "I mean she just transferred to the school today". She clearly didn't know what to say at this point, she just kept opening and closing her mouth with no words coming out.
"I don't know her per say, I just…." I wanted to tell Natalie so bad, but this was too much information that I was about to divulge to her, without my mom's permission even. Nat only knew about my headaches and blackouts, and I told her it was a side effect of the mental issues I had but telling her this meant telling her the truth about my real problem. It's not that I didn't trust Nat, I did. I just didn't want to include her in my crazy and end up losing a friend.
"It's okay Asha, you can tell her", Aunt Maia whispered in my ear before standing up with me and pulling me to the living room so we could talk comfortably. When she had me seated comfortably, she went to the kitchen to get us both lemonade.
"Asha please talk to me, you're scaring me… a little", she said gently, too gently. I turned to face her as we were both sitting on the same sofa. I held her hands in mine as I spilled my truth.
"Remember how I told you about the headaches I always have that are often times accompanied with blackouts?" "Yeah I remember". I smiled, "well let's agree that I lied or I wasn't completely honest". She gave me a look of 'uhhnn?' To which I only shook my head and continued.
"I don't have headaches just like that, I have visions and the longer the vision the stronger the headache, which most times causes a blackout like this morning. You've also noticed that sometimes I wear earplugs in school and I gave you a flimsy excuse when you asked, it's because more often than not when my mind gets carried away my other senses get acute to my surroundings and because of that I can hear things from a very far distance. Before it only happened with one or two voices but recently I've been hearing car horns on the streets and screaming from another neighborhood all at the same time which only brings about a terrible migraine".
I could tell Nat was still absorbing everything I had said, and from the look of things she was taking it quite well but I also didn't wanna pile on too much.
"When I said I knew the girl in the picture, I didn't mean it on a personal level. I only meant that I had seen her before". She opened her mouth to say something but I beat her to it. "Before you ask, I only saw her this morning in the vision I had".
She took her time absorbing everything I had told her. I was starting to get scared when she still didn't say anything after a few minutes. I loved Nat and I really didn't wanna lose her friendship.
"So what you're telling me is you had a vision and saw this girl this morning, right", she asked as if trying to connect some invisible dots. I replied her immediately, "Yeah, that's what I mean". I wanted to find out where she was going with this.
"Can I ask for the details of this vision", at this question I turned to see Aunt Maia walk in with our glasses of lemonade.
"Great timing I've got", Aunt Maia said as she handed us our glasses and sat on the nearest sofa to ours. "I'm also interested in hearing about this vision", she went on to say.
Aunt Maia had been my vision diary since she came to live with us ten years ago. I guess she just had that homely feeling to her, because I found it very easy to talk to her even about things that I normally wouldn't tell my mom. She keeps my visions a secret from my mom most times, why? Cos my mom cannot handle most of the things I go through. So we censor which ones to tell her. It's not justified but I can't have my mom going through more pain than she already has.
With everyone seated and ears perked to listen, I told Nat and Aunt Maia all about my vision, leaving the part about 'mate' out. Don't judge me, some things you just wanna figure out on your own and this was that something for me.