The Girl with Numbers

Prologue

♥Anni's P.O.V.♥

"What took you so long?" Karmine asked, frantically searching her bag for refreshments.
I took out a black Sharpie and started scribbling on a new page of my notepad.
There was a traffic jam. I was trapped on the bus for 20 minutes.
Karmine looked up and read what I've written. She furrowed her eyebrows and said, "You and your handwriting." She pointed towards the door and zipped up her bag. "The doc must have been waiting, and, uh, your relatives are here too." I realised who she was talking about. It was my mum and dad.
I wrote on another page, I hope they're here for a good purpose rather than asking you to take up more of the burden yourself. She saw that and smiled, reaching out for my hand, "I've never thought of you in that way, you are and always will be my little sis."
I smiled genuinely, holding her hand tightly, and we stepped into the room together.
"Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Collins," Karmine shook hands with them. The woman on the left of the loveseat was my mother, in her early forties. She was wearing a teal suit with black pumps. Her eyes were red, probably from working in front of the computer for the whole night.
The man next to her was my father. He was a few years older than my mother. His hair was combed in the professional way and he was wearing a tuxedo. Don't ask me why, they have been wearing these since I was born.
"Good afternoon, Karmine. And you too, my lovely daughter." She breathed out the last two words, treating it as poison. I nodded, and flipped to a new page of my notepad. Good afternoon Mom and Dad.
They didn't even bother to read what I have put on the paper. They pointed to the loveseat next to theirs, and we sat there. There were nothing but silence for the first few minutes, except for the sound of my father clearing his throat and the sound my mother made with her pumps tapping impatiently on the wooden floor. Tap, tap, tap.
After ten minutes gone by, enough for the sound of tapping to drill through my head, Dr. Amber arrived in her black coat (the hospital provides white coats, but she doesn't approve of it, saying that white doesn't go well with her mindset) and waved hello to the four of us. She opened a folder from her left and started speaking in a very fast but organised manner. I continued to stare at the ceiling, counting the specks of grey.
The appointment was always something like this. It consists of me not paying attention, Karmine dropping down notes, my parents glaring at Karmine and muttering under their breath about "bad influence" and "burden", and Dr. Amber talking about weird nouns that I haven't learn about. I have this once a month, and my parents would only communicate with me during this one-hour session.
This is my life of being Anni Collins. I haven't talked about school yet.

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