Algid (#TronnorAU)

Chapter 43: Into the birdcage

When it was her turn to go to school, on her first day, the teachers requested a meeting with her parents. The two of them went the next day, very concerned, thinking that perhaps she had misbehaved. They were perplexed by the idea though, because at home she was so well-mannered and sweet, despite her young age. But that hadn't been the reason why they were called. The teachers were concerned, yes, but because during the entire day, she hadn't spoken to a single one of her classmates. At first they thought that perhaps it was just a shyness thing, but it became a recurrent thing. By the end of her first year, she was yet to make a single friend.

But to her, it wasn't weird. The idea of friendship, on the other hand, was a completely foreign concept to her. She didn't understand why she needed to be friends with those girls she didn't know when she had Troye. Whenever she wanted to life, she would go to her brother. Whenever she felt sad, there he was for her. Whenever there was some mischief to be done, she would go to Troye for protection. The two were close like that, and she didn't know why people, her parents specifically, didn't notice this. But she didn't tell anyone. She thought perhaps they would think she's weird, like the girls at school who whispered behind her back. They thought she couldn't hear them, but she did. She heard them loud and clear. "There goes the Ick girl", they said, "she never speaks top anyone, she must have no tongue", they said.

Whenever she felt the need to lock herself in her bedroom and cry because of the whispers, Troye would notice. He would go and give her a tight hug, and he would tell her that it was ok. That she could cry with him.

Still, she wouldn't cry. She didn't want him to see her cry.

By now, you would think that this explains her. This is the reason why she's the way she is today, and that there's no need for her to make any more questions. But that's not true. This was only the beginning. Now comes the next part.

The bad part.

Because there's a lot of things that one gets taught in school, when little, and she had always been a fast learning. She loved to be taught things, because of this. They teach you stuff like how to read first, then how to write. Then they teach you how to count up to ten, and then up to twenty. Then they teach you that one and one makes two, and so on. At first you think you're so smart, that there's no way that you could be any smarter. But then you learn more things, like how you're not supposed to talk to strangers. You must always look at both sides of the street before crossing it. You must never take candy from people you don't know. Those things are very important. Even more so than reading and writing.

But there's some other stuff they don't teach you.

They didn't teach her what to do on that day.

That day was the birthday of one of the girls in her class, and her mother had organized a party at a playground at a park. She was turning eight years old, and was the first in their class to do so. She didn't want to go; she didn't like the girls who were going. But her mum and dad thought that she needed to go, that it would help her make friends. So, that day, her mum drove her in the car to the park, and the rest of the girls were there as well with all their mothers. She was scared. She didn't want to go off the car, but her mum told her to go, and it would be alright. That she would be there for her. She listened, and got down, and went to talk with the kids from her class. And she did talk with them, and they did play, and for once, she did have fun with them and wasn't afraid. They were playing hide and seek, she had to go hide.

It was her first time playing.

She didn't know how far she had to go.

She didn't know how far was too far.

She hadn't been taught that.

She hadn't been taught that, when someone grabs and picks you up from behind, you have to struggle, but she did so anyways. They didn't teach her that when you scream, they cover your mouth with their hand. They didn't teach her what to do when you get taken into a strange car, and away from your mum and the rest of the girls of your class. And because she didn't know what to do, she just cried. She cried and screamed.