My Brain and Other Things I Don't Understand

Five

Alex

Months have passed, the holidays are over, and Cassidy has taken me to all sorts of places by now.

It was a new adventure every time.

We didn't get to see each other over the holidays, and now that school's starting again, I actually had something to give her. 

It was a simple gift I made her, to thank her for simply being my friend.  It was a crocheted frog doll that I made, as taught by my older sister. Cassidy loved going to the animal shelter, made obvious by the way how we usually go there after school. I was still a beginner at crochet, and all I could make at this point was a frog.

I waited for her in homeroom. Then in science class. Then in math. 

But she was nowhere.

I tried texting her, but she rarely responded. Whenever she answers, it's usually a day or two late from when I sent her a message. Then when I asked where she lived so I could somehow visit her, she didn't reply.

That was the last time she ever answered my texts.

It turns out, Cassidy didn't go to school until a week after school started. I eventually forgot to take that little crocheted frog with me by that week.

"Hey Al? Could we postpone our little field trips for now? I have, --something going on." she said the first moment we actually got together again in school.

"Are you alright? Why didn't you go to school last week? I was starting to get worried."

That day she came back to school, she seemed a little more fragile. 

She was thinner than I remembered, and she walked slower now, I had to decrease my pace just to stand by her. Cassidy didn't bother styling her fiery, auburn hair in her usually intricate braids anymore. It was either down or in a low ponytail. 

"School started last week?" she said, trying to brighten up the mood with that infectious smile she plastered on her face. Even with that, her smile seemed forced.

"Yeah." I nodded.

She shrugged at me.

"Huh. Must've forgot."

For the following days turned weeks, Cassidy barely attended school.

She would go one day, then she would be gone for the next two. Sometimes, on days she actually went to school, she would attend class, go to the nurse's office, and after that, the next time I would see her was by the time the final bell rang.

I was starting to get a little worried for her. 

Especially by the time she was pulled out of school.

I was a bit shocked by it all when all of the sudden, in the middle of English class, the speaker called my name, and that I was to head over to the principal's office immediately.

"Were you close with her, Mr. Park?" Mr. Berry, the principal, asked me.

I nodded, but I wasn't sure if we were close enough.

I mean, she was my friend, and I only hung out with her. 

"Well, it seems as if Ms. Cassandra Watson was really sick. Did she tell you about it? Why she pulled out?" He continued to ask.

I shook my head.

"No."

Cassidy never really enclosed why she was sick to me. I always knew there was something going on with her since she uses a walker most of the time but, as a friend, she should've told me about it.