Chapter 29: Reminiscences (2): Ana Garcia.

A young girl wearing big round glasses sighs deeply while looking through a window. She has a cute oval shaped face, black eyes, and a long unbound black hair. She is wearing a dark red skirt and a white shirt with a dark red tie, she is wearing her school uniform.

‘Ugh… Why I feel so empty and bored this days…’ She talks to herself while reclining her face powerlessly in her desk, still looking through the window at the distant blue sky. Without lifting her face from the desk, she rolls her head and turns to look to her left. Next to her, there is an empty chair with its respective desk.

‘It has been two weeks, why hasn’t he come to school? Why can’t I see him?’ She stares thoughtful to the empty seat, then she suddenly lifts her head. There’s a hint of pink in her cheeks. ‘It’s not like I miss him! It’s not like I’m worried! That dummy… if he doesn’t even answers my calls then he can forget about me helping him to study, humph!’ She sticks out pridefully her almost flat chest, ‘That’s right, is he who needs me, is he, not me! Sooner or later he will come begging me for help!’

Lost in thoughts, the pink on her cheeks turns several shades redder and then she shakes her head vigorously, ‘It’s not like I want him to come, it’s definitely not that!’ While letting his thoughts go wild, the young girl didn’t notice that two other girls are approaching her desk.

“Oh, Ana, are you still worried about your boyfriend?” One of the girls says in an innocent tone while chuckling. The girl at her side upon hearing her couldn’t help but chuckle softly too.

“How many times have I told you that Marcus is not my boyfriend?!” Ana stops shaking his head and rebukes energetically at the girl who talked to her.

The girl who talked first touches with her elbow the side of the second girl, then the second girl chuckles again and says while trying to hold her laugh, “I didn’t hear Amy mentioning Marcus.”

Ana’s face turned completely red. “You meanies! Don’t let me catch you!” She stands up and waves her hands in the air. Her two friends start laughing merrily while running from desk to desk in the classroom trying to avoid Ana, but Amy is soon caught by Ana and is victim of a tickle hell.

Amy and Sophia have a very close friendship with Ana. They have seen her depressed lately, so they always try to come with ideas to cheer her up. Although they always have success, the expression in Ana’s face becomes gloomier each day that passes, and they know the reason for Ana’s behavior, because deep in their hearts, they are worried too by the clumsy Marcus.

Two months later.

Today is the graduation day at the New Hopes Academy. Everybody should be in high spirits, but in one of the 3 classes that will graduate today there is a tense atmosphere. One of the seats of the classroom has been empty for two and a half months, the seat of Marcus Trevor. Many of his classmates and even teachers have made attempts to contact him, but his family refuses to say a word.

Ana no longer looks at that seat, nor is she showing hints of sadness today. There isn’t traces of happiness either. Her demeanor changed drastically in the past few days, her gaze is now filled with coldness, and she no longer speaks with her classmates. Not even Amy or Sophie could understand what is happening in the mind of Ana.

As the better student of this promotion, Ana has the honor of giving a little graduation speech. The graduation ceremony starts an soon is her turn. She goes to the stage and places herself in a tiny podium after a round of claps. She cast her icy gaze towards the public until she spots an empty seat and then her parents, a strange glint appears in the corner of her eyes. ‘Let’s see what is more important, your daughter, or keeping the secret of what happened to Marcus.’ Ana remained silent for a long two minutes and then just stepped out of the podium and the stage.

Everybody gasps in shock. Murmurs and gossips could be heard in the public. The teachers watch nervously at Ana but those who knows her have a vague idea of what is going on, so instead of trying to say something to her they try to awkwardly continue with the ceremony as if nothing happened. Ana’s mother couldn’t contain the shock and starts crying while her husband, Ana’s father, tries to console her.

It has been one month since Ana stopped talking first to them, then to the rest of the world. The last thing Ana’s parents remember she said is something along the lines that if they don’t tell her anything, then they must attain at the consequences.

After that last conversation with her parents, Ana did something that only she is aware of and has not tell anybody about it. She looked up into the internet for a mental disease that could scare her parents. After finding a suitable one that included loss of speech and apathy, he started to mimic the symptoms.

Ana would never going that far under normal circumstances, not even for Marcus. One day, when she was returning from school, she saw her ‘Uncle Richard’ leaving her home. After desperately trying to chase him but failing, she went to ask her mother and father if something happened to Marcus. Instead of receiving an answer, she was grounded and told to never ask again about that brat or even try to approach him. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The ceremony graduation concludes and then some days go by. Ana’s fathers are worried about her only daughter. They contact some of their friends whom are psychologists or know something about psychology to inquire about Ana’s situation. After meditating it carefully, they decide to bring someone to the house in order for him to make a test on Ana. This sessions extends for a couple of weeks.

‘What’s wrong with them, I will not budge until they tell me!’ Ana resolutely says inwardly while she is walking towards the living room. There, the same old man that has come the past couple of weeks is waiting for her. She puts the same act of indifference and apathy without answering any of the question that the old man throws at her.

After half an hour of being asked the same questions as every day, the session finishes. Ana goes back to her room while the old man speaks with Ana’s parents. He writes an address on a card and after some words the old man gives it to Ana’s father. He receives the card with a face full of mixed emotions while Ana’s mother couldn’t help but cry.

A couple of days later Ana’s parents convince her to go for a ride. Ana sits in the back of the car with the same icy expression. Ana watches the scenery through the window and soon she notices that they are leaving the outskirts of Greenfield. ‘Where are we going?’ She asks inwardly while trying to maintain her act. An hour later the car starts to slow down and after making some turns Ana could spot a big sign.

Ana’s eyes widen slightly upon reading the row of words on the sign and her heartbeat accelerates slightly. ‘They… They couldn’t dare to go this far… right?’ Ana thinks inwardly but then she tries to regain her composure. She peeks slightly at the frontal seats, but neither her mother of her father look at her. She looks one last time at the row of words: St. Peter Mental Hospital.

The recommendation that the old man gave to her parents was to intern her in a mental hospital and they didn’t doubted for a second that that was the right thing to do. Ana couldn’t blame her parents because her plan was successful after all. She got some reaction from her parents, just she wasn’t ready for this kind of backfire.

After getting this far, Ana knows that she couldn’t back off now. If she just reveals that all was an act, everything will be a mess. Sighing in her heart, she decides to keep it up to the utmost consequences.

Life inside a mental hospital is everything but easy. Even if you are completely sane you could see as every day you gain a bit of insanity. The first days Ana was truly scared, she felt completely hopeless and lost, she didn’t know what to do, but inside her, a flame of resoluteness burns brightly, and thanks to that never-ending stubbornness of her, she could endure the chaotic live here.

One month later.

Ana is partially accustomed to this place. There are weekly group sessions and singular sessions. She keeps her icy demeanor and tries to speak just through gestures. Although she has kept her act flawlessly, there is a fear in her heart. If she could have access to internet, she could search how to show improvements in the condition she is mimicking, but there’s no way she can do that in here. She fears that if she does something too rashly, her cover will be blown. Ana is thinking hard, trying to come up with an idea.

*Knock, knock.*

After two soft knocks, the door of her room slowly opens. Ana couldn’t help but watch towards the door, and see as a nurse accompanying a masculine dressed girl enters the room.

“Hello Ana, from today onwards Chelsea will be your room partner. She is a good girl so I hope you two get along well.” The nurse says while patting Chelsea’s shoulders. After finishing her words, she takes a step back and closes the door.

Ana looks quietly at Chelsea who the first thing that she does is to inspect all the corners of the room with her gaze. Chelsea is actually a bit paranoid and is looking for cameras, however, there are no cameras inside the rooms in this Mental Hospital. After looking meticulously everywhere, Chelsea finally sighs in relief and then she looks at Ana who is looking back at her.

Without warning Ana, Chelsea rushes and then pounces towards Ana. Chelsea pushes Ana to lay down in the bed and the she sits on top of her. Before Ana could let out a shriek, Chelsea covers her mouth and smiles gently. Ana couldn’t help but feel fear, she is in a mental hospital after all.

“Hey, aren’t you a too pretty to be here? Whatcha doing?” Chelsea says casually. She speaks with a strange accent, English is not her native language.

Ana feels that she doesn’t have strength in her arms and could only shake her head.

“Oh right, sorry, hehe.” Chelsea uncovers the mouth of Ana and laughs awkwardly, however she remains sitting on top of Ana.

“*Puaff.*” Ana inhales deeply after Chelsea uncovers her mouth.

“Haha, you are so pretty, your face is flushed! Are you ashamed?!” Chelsea says with a strange joyous tone.

“Of course my face is flushed, I couldn’t breathe!” Ana says angrily but then she gasps and covers her mouth.

“Haha-haha, sorry about that… Why are you covering your mouth?” Chelsea asks as she sees Ana’s actions.

Ana feels helplessness in her heart. In just one minute this girl in front of her proved to be more problematic and harder to predict than all the nurses and doctors in this hospital. She knows that it’s a lost cause to try to feign improvements in front of the staff without risking being discovered. Sighing inwardly, she sees a sliver of hope. The last month shw has been alone, but maybe this crazy girl who is sitting in her stomach could help her. “Doctors can’t know I can speak.” Ana says with a low voice.

“Ah, don’t worry, I’ll not say a thing… so, what was your name?” Chelsea says playfully as she sticks out her tongue.

“Ana.” Ana answers plainly.

“Oh, so you are Anita!” Chelsea says with her strange accent.

“Anita?” For Ana this is the first time that someone tries to call her 'Anita,’ so she feels a bit confused about the meaning of the nick Chelsea just gave her.

‘Oh, so she doesn’t know Spanish?’ Chelsea thinks inwardly and a smile appears in her face. “Right, from now on you will be Anita, and you can call me Novio!” Chelsea says happily.

“No… vi… o?” Ana says slowly as it is the first time she has heard such nickname, she clearly heard the nurse saying that her name was Chelsea.

“Yes! Just like that!” Chelsea faces turns red and then she throws her whole body on top of Ana, taking small advantages of her in the process.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAA.”

END OF CHAPTER 29.