Love, My Delusion

Chapter 1

"Mom? Dad? C-could you please help me with my ankle? I-it hurts. I s-sprained it..." I stuttered. My mother rolled her eyes and tossed an ice pack towards me. Frowning, I picked up the ice pack and limped towards my room with the support of the walls. Slamming my door shut, I flung the ice pack out of my sight and sat beside my bed. Why did nobody care? What had I ever done to deserve this? I slammed my fists against the dark oak floorboards and closed my eyes tightly. I rested my head backwards, on my bed. Tears that stung my eyes started forming rapidly. 

"Hey! Allison! Look down here!" a voice that seemed to be coming from outside rung. Climbing onto the bed, I peeked out of the window. Eleanor?  My lips broke into a smile. My face lit up.

Making my way down as quickly as possible with my wounded ankle, I beamed. Upon seeing my bosom buddy, I squealed. I thought she had moved to a town somewhere across the country. I had not seen her in years. It gave me the biggest shock of my life to have my only true friend standing in front of me.

I ran up to hug her but she stepped back. She scratched her neck awkwardly. "Alison, I don't like hugs."

I tilted my head in confusion. Who didn't like hugs? I gaped at her. Eleanor grinned as her face flushed red. I didn't want to make her flustered so I flashed a smile.

Eleanor led me to the neighbourhood park. On the way there, we caught up about our lives. Seems like her school-life wasn't much better than mine. I confided in her and told her how I felt. I wanted somebody to love me for who I was. My schoolmates refused to leave me alone. They would go to the extent of posting false rumours about me on social media platforms. The popular ones at school would badmouth me and hit me. There were bruises, cuts and sprains all over my scrawny body. My scrawny frame had trouble tolerating the, often painful, wounds.

"Everything's going to be alright..." Eleanor comforted. I sighed. I looked down at my contorted ankle. Eleanor looked down as well, curious as to see what I had seemed so bothered about the whole time. "Oh my! How did you get injured! Did the bullies do that?" Eleanor gasped. I nodded as Eleanor's forehead creased from concern.

"Oh oh! I have that white thing that you use to wrap around you wound!" Eleanor squealed. I chuckled. She really knew how to make my day. It was nice to know someone believed I was not mentally-ill or crazy.

My friendship with Eleanor seemed so unreal. She could relate and understand how I felt about things. She put herself in my shoes before commenting about anything. Although people said our friendship would never last because of the lack of communication, there's a saying called "absence makes the heart grow fonder". No no no no. Hold up. Don't get the wrong idea. Change up the meaning a little bit in your heads please. Okay, got that out of the way, moving on.

Whipping out a bandage, Eleanor gingerly placed my leg onto the bench we were seated on and started wrapping the bandage around it tightly. Ensuring it was secured onto my ankle, she smiled at me. "Does it feel better now?" she asked with a tinge of hope in her voice. She always wanted to reach out to others and would, especially, go an extra mile for me.

Time flew by and the surroundings darkened. It wasn't too safe being outside at night, even for adults. I bade Eleanor farewell before we separated. While walking back, a vague memory came to my mind. I slowed down my pace and eventually reduced to a stop. Turning around, I called out, "Elea-"

My speech was abruptly interrupted by the shocking realisation that Eleanor had disappeared. Did she live that close by? Was I seeing things? Could she really run that fast? But what was the hurry? Millions of questions bombarded my mind. Being tired and unperturbed at that moment, I simply threw the thought to some corner of my huge, air-filled mind and went home.

Closing the door behind me, I heard my father speaking over the phone. "Thank you, thank you! I'm glad you could make those arrangements at the eleventh hour!" he spoke. I furrowed my eyebrows. What was he going on a about? I heard a high-pitched, but soft, voice over the phone before my father stopped the conversation and cut the call.

Should I? Should I not? I should. After all, what's the worst that could happen. It's not like my question would get me on the bad side of my parents. Not like I was the apple of their eyes anyways. Curiosity killed the cat after all.

"Dad? Who were you talking to?" I questioned, my voice laced with curiosity. He smiled softly. A genuine smile at once. What could have made him so happy?

"Ah! Dear! You're here! Your mother and I have something planned put for your summer. We'll tell you about it tomorrow so we won't let the cat out of the bag today. We'll wake you up first thing in the morning," he replied. I beamed. Maybe my parents regretted their past actions and wanted to turn over a new leaf. I could not keep grudges forever after all.

Little did I know, my father's words were a mere fantasy being played out to deceive me.