Down Memory Lane ✓

6- Perry The Parrot

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Perry The Parrot

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EVERY WALL, every surface, and every desk was pristine white. A sight that always made me nauseous hence making me seem worse than I actually was. If I didn't have any reason to be here, trust me, I wouldn't even come close.

I never liked to come to the nurse's office, even if a friend was sick. And I loathed being the sick person. I could count the visits I made to the nurse's office throughout my four years in Glory Bells Prep. They were so few that I remembered every reason I went.

Mrs. Morris' choking incident was not one of them.

I'd been quiet since and later realized that the person who had come in was Mr. Ben, the Physics teacher. Everything else felt like a blur.

"You seem to be in good condition," the nurse started. "You might just be in shock. Do you mind talking to me about it?"

My eyes moved from the sealed pack of gloves I saw in one of the open cabinets to her cool blue eyes. They weren't as cold as Mrs. Morris', but they reminded me of our World History teacher, regardless.

I shook my head no.

"That's fine. All I can do is send you to the counselor. She'll be in her office and you can always talk to her," she said. "Oh, and here's a dorm pass, in case you don't feel in the right mind and want to take a break for the rest of the day," she said.

"Thanks," I said, taking the blue rectangular paper that had my name over a long dash and the nurse's signature beneath it.

Was the paper always blue?

The weight of other questions I had shoved this question down as soon as it formed. I got outside to see Kai waiting. He was having a free period now, so he came once he had heard.

"How are you feeling?" he asked at once.

"Not good," I said in all honesty. I still couldn't decide if that was because of Mrs. Morris' haunting eyes, the white space I'd just emerged from, or both.

"But you just came from the nurse's office?" he asked, worry lacing his tone.

"No, I'm fine, health-wise. I just can't shake the thought of what happened to Mrs. Morris being my fault," I said.

"Hey," his hands moved to hold mine. "That's not your fault. I'm sure Mrs. Morris will be in good health soon."

"You don't understand Kai. I saw her eyes. The moment she fell and stopped coughing, it was like she was... dead," I said, whispering my last word.

Could this have been my fault?

She said she wasn't supposed to tell me anything and when she did; she started coughing. And then she mentioned something about one week just before... It seemed too wrong to be a coincidence.

"Clara," Kai called, using his free hand to cup my cheek and prompting me to look at him like I had done when he found me in the art room. "It wasn't your fault, and Mrs. Morris will be fine," he said with so much conviction I almost believed.

"Want to sit for a while?" he asked, and I looked around to see that we were near the bleachers by the field.

I nodded before we both went towards it, our shoes making a light imprint on the wet grass beneath us. The rain had seized along with Mrs. Morris' coughing.

Another occurrence I found strange.

Silence reigned between us as the distant chatter of voices came from the school building, but I could only focus on his hold on mine and use it to keep me grounded.