Until Tomorrow

   According to the people around Katie, she is eleven but she can act like she’s seven. Her endeavors can be her greatest imperfections. Sensitivity to the emotions around her tire her brain. When Katie gets home, she runs into the woods to take a break from the world. When everyone talks too loud and too much in the school cafeteria, Katie sits in a fetal position on the ground. Whenever she hears of an upcoming fire drill, she scratches her arms so much, the skin becomes raw. When the fire drill rings, Katie covers her ears and tries to match her voice to the blaring sound. 
   Katie still has that childhood spark everybody else seemed to lose. She’s thrilled with the smallest victories. She wears a camouflage outfit everywhere, telling her father it’s because life is filled with adventures. On days off Katie rolls down hills, climbs up trees, and creates piles of leaves so she can jump into them later. She makes survival tools and shelters in the woods. Her camoflauge outfit reeks of mud and leaves litter by days end. Katie resists the outfit being washed. She thrashes herself on the ground until her father gives way. At school the other sixth graders moan in disgust and turn their backs, while pinching their noses. This power she has over her classmates satisfies her.
   Katie doesn’t speak well because she stopped going to a speech therapist a year ago. She believes that she can speak well enough to get a point across. Katie draws more than she speaks because speaking is overwhelming. She explains through her art why she reacts strongly to the simplest situations, why she loves the woods and why she believes that her disability makes her into a better self. 
    Katie draws memories of her mother. Katie remembers her well, even though her mother left when she was four. Katie remembers going to a series of doctors and taking tests. A week later, her mother packed her things and left. She knows why her mother left, because Katie’s different, because she was wrong. Katie misses her mother. She draws her mother coming back. She draws her mother looking proud of her and her dad. She wants her mother to help around the house since her father struggles to make ends meet.
   Tears fill Katie’s eyes. She grabs a walking stick she found earlier to demolish the tent that took two hours to create. Katie screams at the top of her lungs because no one will hear her in the middle of the woods. She sinks to her knees, holds her chest, grimaces, then sobs. Katie fears falling apart at home. Her dad is having a hard enough life. Is it because of her?
   She walks to where the trees begin. Orange and yellow leaves fall. She looks back at the forest, her voice breaks, “Until tomorrow.”