Vicki Manser Short Stories

Just hold my hand - 1

Collette POV
I wake up at 6:25am , the same time as usual. I do this as everyday Vicki likes to wake up at 6:30 am and have breakfast by 6:35am. It is just the way she works. If she wakes up earlier she will wait till 6:35 to have her breakfast. I always cuddle her during the night because she likes the weight, so when I wake up I put her weighted blanket over her so that she stays asleep and is calm. I get some Coco pops out (Vicki's favourite) and some milk and put them on the table before getting Vicki's cereal bowl and her favourite spoon out. It is little things like this that help me and Vicki start the day without any meltdowns.
I check the time and see that it is 6:30 so I make my way back to the bedroom quickly so I can wake Vicki up. As soon as she wakes up I take Vicki's hand before walking back to the kitchen with her. The dishwasher was going and there were a few cars driving past as well as the neighbours dogs barking. Vicki quickly put her hands over her ears trying to block out the sound so I quickly grabbed her headphones from the sofa and placing them over her head. She looks at the time and signs 'breakfast' to me. We walk to the kitchen and Vicki makes her cereal and I make myself a smoothie. It was a good job Vicki already had her headphones on because the blender is quite loud, and from experience I know this can be very overwhelming for her. After I have made my smoothie I pour Vicki a cup of apple juice and pass her her daily medication.
Today we are trying something different. Usually during the day we go on a small walk to the park and maybe a trip to the shops, but today with a lot of planning we decided to go out into central London and go to the theatre to watch a show called Six. I have played the soundtrack at home many times and Vicki seems to like it. I haven't told her yet but we are sitting in the front row.
"Hey Vicks, you know how we are going to see Six later on?" I question her. She nods her head slightly, quite unsure of it. "Well we are sitting in the front row. It's a relaxed performance as well so the lights won't be as bright and the sound won't be as loud." She smiles and starts stimming happily, not caring about the rest of her breakfast. I know that Vicki will still want to wear her headphones whilst we are at the show, just in case there are any unexpected loud noises. This is also the very first relaxed performance of six and I am so glad they have it, it makes the show so much more accessible to people like Vicki.
After Vicki had finished eating her breakfast and her bowl was in the dishwasher it was around 6:45. Vicki wanted to do some colouring so I went and got out the colouring books we got made and Vicki's colours. Colouring keeps Vicki occupied for hours. I decided to play some musical soundtracks in the background so that we had something to listen to.

A few hours later

Vicki POV

I am very excited about going into central London today, normally me and Coco stay in Harrow as it isn't as busy. We are waiting at the train station for our train into London and I can't wait. I have my headphones on and my hidden disability lanyard. It is green (my favourite colour) and has daisies on it. This lanyard is also known as a mask exemption lanyard. I have my small keyring fidgets on the end as well as information cards in case I lose Collette and need help.
The train arrives and we get on. I see a few people give me funny stares when Collette asks somebody if I could sit down. I always sit down on the train as it makes me feel more comfortable as less people will be able to touch me. The person got up and I sat in the seat. It was a single seat near the end of the carriage. More and more people were getting into the train the closer we got. I started playing with my fidgets and rocking myself slightly, trying to keep myself calm. I felt Collette bend down and give me a strong hug. I relax a little but I am still scared. I start vocally stimming but try to stay quiet so I don't attract much attention to myself.
We pull into kings cross and everybody starts getting off of the train. More people were pushing past us and I started getting more overwhelmed and panicking more. Once everybody was off Collette took her bag off of her back and turned me around so she could crouch down in front of me. She started calming me down how we usually do. It was working until the train staff walked down and started shouting at us telling us we had to get off of the train. I started getting more overwhelmed again and started vocal stimming and rocking back and forth. Collette got the weighted blanket out of the bag and wrapped it around me before explaining to the train staff what was happening. They quickly apologised and left.
Coco started calming me down again and when I was fully calm she packed everything away into her bag and took my hand before leading me off the train, with me clutching onto her hand as well as my stuffed animal. It is a little elephant my mum gave me. The station was quite quiet for midday but I didn't worry about that.