CHIDINMA'S STORY

Part 5

5

I found an old newspaper in the newspaper stash in my home. It was the headline, "Secondary school swarmed with Chlamydia." It's an article from fifteen years ago. Evergreen, the school that helped me escape every year from those monsters. I finally got the opportunity to go to boarding school after being successfully kicked out. 

My first time in Evergreen felt like freedom. Well, aside from crying over my grandmother's death every night. I tried telling her every time she was too old to understand. She had dementia, yet they felt I was better off with her.

Well, I think I was better off with her. I could literally say everything to her. She barely recalled what I said in the next hour. But each time I complained, she would bring me fruits, telling me they were her favourite thing to consume and that it made her happy.

She'll wipe my tears and we'll eat fruit together while she tells me random things she remembers. She constantly asked me about my dad. She never really remembers that he died. I loved being with her because she didn't know dad was late and, according to her, dad was very well and alive. We lived in a fantasy there, or perhaps only I did. She didn't even know most of the things that were happening. Some days, she forgets who I am and misidentifies me as a caregiver or an old friend my age. I went along with it each time. 

Evergreen was another group of individuals calling me weird. Teenage boys thought they had the right to girlfriends or that popularity would get them anywhere. Teenagers were trying so hard to be adults. And I avoided everything and dealt with the battles I fought in my head all the time. I was a lesbian because I despised boys but I loved the image. At least that way, none of that gender or those irritating, desperate teenagers came close to me.

Everyone gave me space and formed all sorts of stories about me, which was better than living in that house.