Lisa.
Me and Mrs. Watkins went to the nearest diner to talk about Tionne. The look on her face told me I should have brought tissue with me. She cleared her throat and began speaking, "Tionne wasn't like any normal child. She was mute as a child. She never spoke to anyone. Not even us or her own brother. All she did was say "hi" and that's it. I never knew what was wrong with her. I thought she had some type of disorder or something. I took her to the doctor but they couldn't find any reason why she was like that...but they did find one thing wrong." I seen her eyes tear up. "I'm sorry, I just get so emotional thinking about this." She took a deep breathe and started over. "Tionne is diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. We found this out when she was 7 years old. We were all saddened hearing this, but Tionne didn't take it to the heart. She wasn't mad. She wasn't crying. All she did was nod her head and walked out of the room. I was surprised of her reaction. No emotion at all. She never smiled, laughed or cried. Just the same blank stare all day and everyday. One day, I went into the bathroom and I seen her cutting her hair with a pair of scissors. She cut it into a pixie cut. It looked amazing on her. Ever since that day, she's been wearing her hair like that everyday. Whenever it started to get long, she'd cut it back to normal. Tionne never did like long hair. I'm still trying to figure out why til this day." We both laughed after she said that. "But Mrs. Watkins, I just need to know this. Did she ever have a problem going to school?" I heard Mrs. Watkins let out another sigh. "Well, Lisa...at first, everything was going great for Tionne at school. Tionne used to be bestfriends with a girl named Crystal Jones. Crystal was the only friend Tionne had. They used to hangout al the time. I remember seeing Tionne smile one day just from being around Crystal. One day, I guess Crystal told everybody that Tionne had sickle cell. Ever since, Tionne would always be bullied. People would push her around and tease her for it. What was worse is that Tionne was told she wouldn't be able to have any kids and she couldn't live past 30. Crystal told everybody that, as well. Tionne would always come home early and just stay in her room all day. She wouldn't come out of her room for anything. Just stay in there and cried. Tionne had a bad experience with a guy before so she's into girls now. Everybody knew she was because of her appearence. She had that haircut and she always wore baggy clothes. Tionne is 18 now and I can't help but think that one of these days, she is going to commit suicide. I believe she's cutting now cause everytime I walk in the bathroom, I see a razor with blood on it in the trashcan. I just.....Lisa. Just promise me you'll make my daughter happy and you won't harm her in any way?" Mrs. Watkins held my hand and she let out a few tears. I don't blame her cause I was bawling my eyes out. I nodded my head and held her hand. "I promise Mrs. Watkins." She nodded, stood up and hugged me tight. "I gotta go sweetie. You can come by our house anytime you want to. It was nice meeting you and I hope to see you again real soon." She grabbed her things and walked out of the diner. I sat back down in the chair for a minute to sum everything up. So, that's Tionne lifestory. I never knew her life was this hard. I know what I'm going to do now. I'm going to be Tionne's guardian angel. I'm going to be by her side, no matter what.
