Unthinkable

Unthinkable ~ Chapter 18

"Hi, I'm Manila Davidson." The woman on the other end didn't respond for a moment, but rather spoke to another person in a hushed but urgent tone. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but before I knew it, I was put on the phone with the experiments people and asking to make an appointment.

~~~

"So you did it?" Kania asked, mostly concerned but also with a hint of curiosity and excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, they were pretty anticlimactic actually." I popped a fun-sized snickers bar in my mouth. "I didn't want to do any of those trigger things so they basically just ran a bunch of blood tests and then asked me some kind of boring questions. It was over in a few hours."

"Well, I'm proud of you, girly. I'm sure it'll help their research so they can help more abnormal people just like you!" She giggled in her usual bubbly way and I pinched her arm with narrowed eyes. It didn't phase her, she just laughed a little more and opened up a new candy bar.

"So one fear conquered, right? What about the next?"

I raised my eyebrows at her. "What do you mean?"

Kania stared at me for a moment, and then put her piece of chocolate down on her lap. "Are you really never gonna talk to Maybelle? It's been at least a month."

I shrugged and looked away. "I've got nothing to say."

"Really? But I don't get why you're mad at her--"

"I'm not mad at her at all. She did nothing wrong. I just needed some space. From all the drama and all that."

"And your brother? Have you guys talked recently?"

"Yeah, we've been talking a little more recently since that day he cried in my arms. But it hasn't been more than a few words each time."

Kania looked at me intensely as I just tried to nonchalantly eat my chocolate, but her eyes were powerful and frightening. She pulled the rest of the chocolate away from my lap and got up from the park bench. "Alright, let's go."

"What?" Suddenly, her fingers were around my wrist, pulling me off the bench. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to talk to Maybelle now." 

"Woah, wait a minute." I skid to a halt. "I didn't agree to this. I wanted to have a relaxing day hanging out with you."

Kania looked at me for a moment, and then tilted her head and propped her hand on her hip. "We hang out all the time. And we will always hang out. I promise. But this is important." I looked away for a second, but Kania's gaze was unfaltering. This kind of serious was rare for the Kania I had grown up with. "Maybelle is important and you need to fix whatever weird thing it is you guys are having right now."

I stared at her for a moment, and nodded.

~~~ 

It took me at least ten minutes of staring at the sitting girl with her one arm placed gingerly on her lap before I could even attempt to move. When I finally did, it was a slow stride toward the bench and a lot of chewing the inside of my cheek. When I finally got to be just a foot away from the back of her head, I felt it would be creepy to stand a little longer to muster up the courage to talk to her with silent breathing behind her neck, so I just jumped right in.

"Hey."

I couldn't see her face, but I felt the long pause that told me her facial expressions were scrunched up to try and figure out if that really was the voice she thought it was. When she slowly turned around to face me and her eyes lit up at my sight, I couldn't help but smile.