Ordinarily Normal

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

I wake up on the 25th and see his face etched on the inside of my eyelids demanding to know who he is. I do recognize him, I'm sure of it but I can't get his forename. If I had that I could probably work it out. Just give me the wretched name Mr. Smith

I am in a care home, one that I was transported in after Mr. Smith showed up. It is an odd place with a cold and unwelcoming feeling. In it I feel unwanted and not cared for. I feel like I am an inconvenience. Food here tastes disgusting, well I say 'tastes', not really because it doesn't taste of anything. It consists of soggy weetabix with warmish orange juice for breakfast. Yuck, let me tell you.

After breakfast you become bored and the building is so colossal that you feel overwhelmed to go wandering around. I traipse back to my room and sit. And sit. And sit. There is zero things to do in my room, not even the walls are a nice colour. White. Plain white. I can almost hear in my head the depressing music of violins giving an eerie feeling. With the low ceilings and tiny windows no bigger than the palm of my hand I feel trapped like it's a prison. All of us are held here against our will as hostages.

There is only one bonus to being  locked up in this building and that is a get a day without bullying as there is no school for me today. At that thought I try to be a little grateful and lay down on my bed and remember my parents.

I remember when I was 8 years old and had maybe the worst luck in the world that ended up giving me a peek into a new world that I love and live so much of now. I was out playing in my garden with my dad, whilst my mum was cooking a barbeque for lunch. It was such a sunny day and my dad and I stopped for a break from a our football game to have ice cream. I remember having a 'strawberry cornetto' that was so appetising that a wasp landed on it. I screamed of course and waved the ice cream to get the little beast off it. It flew off but became very angry and sat on my shoulder without me knowing. I was talking to my dad and we were giggling when a sudden piercing shriek erupted out of me.

I could feel the burning and the stinging. My shoulder felt about 60 degrees in temperature. My dad picked me up how you would a baby and took me into our lounge. The wasp had gone thank goodness and there was no sting left. My parents gave it the 'magic kiss' and magically just like that I felt remarkably better.

My mum rushed upstairs and brought down 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone', I had been waiting 3 months to read that but my parents said I had to be nine before I began reading it. I would quite often stare at the book cover and I could have recited the blurb over and over again but I would never open that first page. I had not utter clue what was held inside.

Mum sat next to me and handed the book to me. She said one word 'Alohomora'.

I looked at her like she was out of her mind. She took a seat next to me with dad the other side and began reading me Harry Potter. I was hooked from the first sentence. As the book progressed I learnt that 'Alohomora' meant unlock. So on that day I unlocked my imagination to the wizarding world and have been hooked ever since. I know this does sound a little pathetic that this is the first memory that popped into my head but it was a huge momentous day that I will never forget.

A tear runs down my cheek as I realise that there is a possibility that I may never have a day like that again. No one can take that memory away from me though, it is a treasured one deep down in my heart that I will never discard.

There is a knock on my door. Not of the impatient kind that all the nurses or social workers have here but a soft and disconsolate one. For a minute I think it could be one of my parents but immediately put that thought away.