I was driving my car to college. I looked towards the passenger seat and smiled excitedly at my bestest friend in the whole world. She was the only person who understood me. I have no idea where I would be without her. She was like the twin sister I never had. Even our names are twin-like: Althea and Athena.
Breaking my chain of thoughts, Althea said, "Stop showing me your thirty-two teeth and unlock the door."
That's when I realized that we had reached. I quickly unlocked the door and exclaimed, " I can't believe it's THE DAY! I am so damn excited."
"I know right. I am also so excited. I can't believe we are going to present our first song before such a large audience." She replied, squealing and bouncing on her heels.
I accompanied her in the bouncing, ignoring the strange looks people gave us. We both had a world of our own, and we never cared about the opinions of others. The amount of craziness we do is more than enough to land us in a mental asylum. The ringing bell stopped me from thinking any further. Althea and I gave each other a nervous glance before running off to the auditorium.
Before we could even process anything, we were rushed off to the stage. I knew I had to start as Althea had stage fright and needed a few minutes to adjust to being in the spotlight.
I stepped closer to the mic and said, " Good Morning Everyone. It is a great pleasure for my friend Althea and ..."
Before I could complete it, I was interrupted by the laughter of the entire student body. I looked up only to see sympathetic looks on the faces of the teachers and the students mocking me. I was completely confused. As far as I could remember my grammar was correct. I could not figure out my mistake and looked towards Althea for help only to find that air had replaced my dear friend.
That's when it clicked and the audience's reaction made sense. I remembered everything : the tragic accident, Althea's death, the operation, my long recovery and me eventually being diagnosed with PTSD. All the distressing and traumatic memories came back. At that moment, all I wanted was Althea beside my side telling me that this was all a dream.
I felt like dying right then and there. However, there was one thing stopping me from embracing the sweet arms of death. And that was Althea's heart beating in my chest. She had really lived up to her name.
Note: Althea means "to heal".
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