My Hidden Tale

Chapter 3

When I had told my dad I believed him, he looked so happy and quickly changed the subject. "So what do you want to do now? You know because your not going to school anymore..." I looked at my dad with wide eyes. "Wait what!?! I'm not going to school? You were actually serious about that?" My dad looked at me. "Yeah. Of course I was serious..." That made me go on a rage. My face turned red and I started shouting at my dad as fast as my tongue could spit out the words.

"Why can't I go to school? Huh? Why can't I? Why do I have to do everything that you want? Why can't I do something that I want to do for once. It's so unfair! And also what about my friends? They were always there for me whenever you weren't available. They were like my second parents! And now your dragging them away from me?!? You know what dad? This is absolutely ridiculous. And I don't get how just this one little accident, this one accident is enough to make me have to drop out of school."

There was a moment of silence as we stared at each other. Me: angry and my dad: speechless. This lasted for almost an hour. Well I guess that's a bit exaggerated. Let's say ten minutes. No one minute. And then my dad broke the silence and whispered, "only if you knew the truth..." At least that's what I heard because he who press it and I could barely hear him. I was about to ask him 'what truth' but I didn't want my dad to get more stressed out than he was.

So I decided to go to my room and read a book like the good girl I am. Oh yeah, after I slam the door as hard as I can. So i did all these things. Well I didn't really get to do the reading book part because as soon as I slammed the door I heard footstep. Heavy ones. I crawled under my blankets scared out of my wits. I was trembling. I could tell. And to make it worse I had forgotten to put my bedroom lights on so it was completely dark. But there needed to be some kind of light source somewhere. Then I remembered my night lights. I reached for the switch. But it was so far away. I reached as far as I could go but I just couldn't reach it.

I thought, maybe I should just go on my wheelchair and go put the lights on. But time wasn't in my side. It was ticking quickly just as fast as my heart was beating. The footsteps were coming closer and closer. The. I finally got to the light switch but at that moment my bedroom door swung open. A shadow stood at my door. I glanced then fell on to the floor. There was a huge thud! And the lights flickered on revealing the owner of the shadow and the heavy footsteps.

It was my dad, he rushed to me and helped me up from the floor. I was seated back onto my bed but this didn't mean I was going to forgive him. I tried to stare away from my dad to show him that I was still mad at him. And it worked. "Look Charlotte, I'm really sorry back there... But I just can't... I can't make you go back there. It's too dangerous." I felt like shouting at him. How was school dangerous?!? I go there to learn! So is learning dangerous now? But I just continued listening. My dad continued speaking, "It's just something. Something from long ago. When your mum used to be alive. It was a promise. A promise I made not to tell anyone about."

I nodded. And showed him I understood. But I still didn't get how this had anything to do with leaving school. But I was still wondering why and how I could breathe underwater. And how I could see clearly underwater. I wanted answers. Then I thought something must be wrong with me. Maybe if I go to the doctors that will explain something. I looked at my dad and told him I wanted to go to the doctors. At first my dad disagreed and said that he would not take me.

So I insisted that I would wheel myself all the way to the doctors. But my dad said that that was too dangerous and gave in. I was at the doctors in a tick. I was starting to get impatient because o had to wait for 30 minutes for my turn. I was also super nervous because they were going to stick needles into me and draw blood out which apparently hurt
a lot. But I had to be brave because this could unravel something new. Eventually all my waiting came to a stop and I was called into the blood test rooms.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Anthony and your name is?" The doctor greeted me. I answered, "Charlotte"
"And your last name?"
"Walter"
"Okay so I'm going to prepare for the blood test. It's not going to hurt just relax"
I gulped and looked away. I felt something getting pulled out of my arm and he said "there, and we're... Done." There was a small mirror on his desk. I looked at it and saw a ghost version of myself. I nearly fainted. But the Dr. Anthony held me and gave me something to eat and drink.

"Just a moment. I'll be back soon with the results." I looked at my dad. His eyes were closed and his hands were together really tight as if he was praying. There was five minutes of silence. And the whole time my dad was in that position. I wanted to start a conversation but I didn't know what to say. Then I realised something on his neck. It was attached to a string like a necklace. I went to get a closer look but I was still feeling weak so I couldn't move. Adding to that was the weight of the wheelchair. I couldn't possibly wheel it myself if I was that weak.

And eventually my Dr. Anthony came back to tell me the results. My heart was pounding so fast I nearly felt like vomiting. He opened the file and and read them aloud to me...