When It's Just Us

Opal Wilson: Over and Over

Ever since I was a young girl, I can only remember a few things. Some people would call those "core memories." I call them "Recovered memories." I can't remember much from my childhood. Sometimes I can't even tell the difference between my dreams and childhood memories. I'm not sure why though.

Anyway, I only have a few recovered memories. The first memory I have is me on the playground. I was in the first grade, only around 5 or 6 years old.

"Hey Opal," Girl No1 said. I looked up at her in confusion. She wasn't the type of girl to talk to people like me. "Yeah, you." Suddenly a group of them were surrounding me. I looked around even more confused than ever. Girl No1 grabbed my hair as I dropped my stuffed bunny. The other kids laughed and she toyed with me. I can't remember anything else after that. My brain won't let me.

My next memory – which I'm assuming is what happened next – was me curled up as a ball in my room crying. My parents knocked on my door. "Honey, there are new neighbors and they have a son your age. He came into our house, and I promise I tried to stop him but he came right in when he heard that there was someone his age." Those words were unclear and I can't remember if that's what she said exactly. Then I heard the voice of a young boy at the doorway of my bedroom. "Hey! I'm Sam, what's your name?" I wiped my tears away and looked where the voice was coming from. "Why are you crying? I'm here now!" I smiled.

(Assuming) A few days later, Sammy started attending my school. He would then try to scare off anyone who tried to tease me. It didn't always work, but I appreciated it a lot. My next memory was something I wish I could forget. After Sammy had left me alone to use the restroom. He promised he'd be back soon in case anything happened. I believed him. My stuffed bunny now had stitches as I played with it more carefully. A shadow went over my head. I turned to see who was behind me. It was girl No1. My body tightened up as my heart throbbed in my chest. She tugged my hair as 2 other girls came along. Girl No2 grabbed my left arm as girl No3 grabbed my right arm. I couldn't move even if they weren't pulling me down. I started crying and screaming. Girl No2 covered my mouth so no grown ups could hear me. At that time Sammy had finally come out of the bathroom. He saw what was going on and rushed as quickly as he could toward me. Girl No1 took out a pair of scissors from her back pocket, "I never liked your long wavy hair. It looks so ugly on you."

Sammy wasn't fast enough to stop them. They had already let me go and ran away when the teachers came. I was crying my heart out, feeling my hair and trying to see what I had left. Sammy, from that day has always kept an eye out for me. We also promised that I would keep my hair long and wavy like I had wanted it to be as a child. Sometimes I feel my face and could still feel the scars of the scissors. For the rest of my life, those were the only memories I could remember. Over and over.

"Opal?" Sammy looked at me concerned. I looked around and realized we were already in our third period. "Oh, sorry. I got distracted." He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "For a whole period you were staying quiet. Hmmm," Sammy looked at me as he realized. "Oh. Is it the memories?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. My mind was just wandering so I wasn't paying much attention." He patted my back and smiled at me. I smiled at him back. "Don't worry, dear. You're safe now!" My heart bursted with flames as he said those words. I played them over and over. Over and over.