TIFITY

Our ticket

It felt like a dream. I could not believe Evangeline was finally back. My dearest friend in the whole world was right there and better than when she left, which is what matters. I knew for a fact that she hadn't healed yet because miracles don't exist. I didn't have much information about my friend's disease the day she was taken away to the psychiatric, but I have to admit I did my careful research to understand the whole situation better. I found out that anorexia nervosa is "an eating disorder characterized by abnormally low body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of weight". Being honest, I did not know about the distorted perception part. I could just imagine how bad Evangeline was feeling about her body at that moment of her life. The fact that she hated herself to such a point still breaks my heart, and not having noticed it makes me feel even worse. The clues where there, but I was too blind to see that my friend was exercising too much and started to refuse going out for dinner.

There was more to it than a preoccupation with food. She was frightened to eat in public because she thought people would stare at her as if her way of eating was the strangest. Insomnia was also one of the symptoms, making nightmares the stars of most of her dreams. She had lost muscle mass due to starvation, along with developing amenorrhea and growing baby hair all over her body. The consequences were serious, but nothing that she could not fix eating properly and exercising. The doctors told her that the nightmares would become less recurrent eventually and that her back would stop aching once she gained some muscle mass back.

As she explained herself, anorexia was a way to cope with emotional problems, apart from being related to having low self steam and being so insecure about one's body. She told me she hated herself so much that she would see a deformed monster instead of her reflection. "I have these constant thoughts about me not deserving anything and being the worst person ever. The worst thing is that I can't explain why", she said. I could notice that she was so confused about everything and also didn't know how to cope with what was happening. Nevertheless, Evangeline was one of the strongest people I'd ever met and I was pretty sure my family friend would get out of the hole she fell into sooner than she expected. I truly believed she would. She indeed had a long battle ahead, and I knew I would not be able to understand her as much as I would like to, but I knew that I was going to stay by her side no matter what. It would not be easy for neither of us, taking into account the situation I was in too. But we had each other and we had Tifity.

*****

I invited Evangeline to my house after dinner, with the excuse of organizing a welcome back pyjama party. But little did she know what was awaiting her. The doorbell was heard at 9:30 PM, and it, of course, was my friend carrying her sleeping bag and her Koya pyjamas. She came in and after greeting my mum (my father and brother were out, probably drinking as it was Friday) we went to my room and left everything on my bed. "What's the plan for today?" she asked. Tifity was ready for her to see and I planned to show her it and spend as much time as we wanted there. But I didn't want to ruin the surprise so I just said: "We are playing hide and seek". I knew that Evangeline had always loved playing hide and seek; no matter how old she was, so I was not impressed when she smiled so widely.

I used a headband to cover her eyes, so she could not see where we were going. "Don't take it off until I tell you to do so okay?". "Wait for a second, what am I supposed to look for?" she asked in the middle of confusion. I forgot to think about that and I just said the first thing that came to my mind: presents. Yes, that sounded believable, I thought. I proceeded to lead Evangeline through the corridor, downstairs and to the backyard. I was so nervous to see her reaction the moment I told her I had created a whole new dimension by mistake but also on purpose. I thought she would think I was insane and that she would just take it as a bad joke, but for my surprise, she didn't.  

"You can take it off now Ev". The second she saw Boo's door, she started crying. "Oh my Alexis, it's so beautiful!! Have you built it yourself? It looks just like the original one", she said. How funny that she thought it was a normal door. "Yes, I thought of doing it while you were... well, you know, there. As you're my Boo and I'm your Sulli it seemed like the best idea to me". Before I could say anything else she hugged and thanked me for taking the time to do such a thing. I put my finger on her lips to shut her up and tell her to open the door. She looked at me as if I was saying something stupid, as the only thing she could see was a common door, but I convinced her to do so anyway.

When she opened it both of us got a surprise. Evangeline saw what seemed to be a black hole and what left me astonished was the fact that the previously mentioned was even smaller than the last time I went through it. Not much smaller, but I could notice the difference. I was worried about the black hole lasting, but I didn't give it as much attention as I should have. I was dragged back into reality when my friend asked me what that dark thing on the door was. "It's our ticket to Tifity".