BEFORE NOON (On Hold)

Chapter1-Little Emily

A four-year-old girl wakes up in a beauteous furnished room. As pretty as she looked even just waking up, with her long black hair in a messy bun, there was another expression barricaded on her face. She pushes her duvet aside and stepped down from her bed, her black almond eyes hovered around the room, accompanied by a frantic heartbeat.

She could hear the beats of her heart, as fear enveloped her. She was confused, about who she was, and where she was. Struggling to breathe, she gasps and held her chest; rushing towards the exit, she opened the door in a haste. As though the room was stuffy and depriving her of a fresh breath, she dashed out.

She looked around her surroundings with confusion clouding her eyes, as it roamed the largely sized corridor, that led down to an expensively furnished sitting room.

Her small anxious eyes, beautiful and yet blurry with tears, land on a picture frame hanging on the wall.

She stared at the picture of a man and a woman, both engrossed with the beautiful smiling young girl wrapped around on the woman's arms. She looked intently at the strange picture and made to take a step, but a voice stops her.

"Emily" a voice called behind her.

She was startled but didn't turn to acknowledge her audience. Her heartbeat was accelerating, fearful of what was to come.

She was breathing heavily, her little fingers twitching.

"Emily?" the voice called again, getting closer.

A woman, obviously the one in the picture, with her deep blue sea nightie,  walked closer to her.  "Baby..." She touched her shoulder to make her turn to her, but Emily jerks away and shivered at her touch.

The woman looked perplexed and walked to her front, her eyes widened at what was before her sight.

"Were you crying? What's wrong? Are you alright? You're shivering." She bent, to be on the same level with her.

Emily looked to acknowledge her audience afterwards and took a step back. Her eyes squinting, as tears streamed down on her delicate cheeks.

"Oh my God! Baby what's wrong with you" She asked again, kneeling before her child. Scared and wary of her little girl's well being. Trying to envelop her in a hug; Emily took a quick step back, avoiding her contact.

Grace's eyes brimmed with threatening tears. Thoroughly confused at what was going on.

"Who. . . who. . . who are. . . you?" Emily asked with a shaky breath.

Just like a speeding train with no brakes, with widened eyes, Mrs Dennis Grace found herself caught in its headlight.

***

"She has an early Alzheimer's disease ". Doctor RM, a young neurologist confirmed.

"What!" Grace exclaimed at the same time with Max, Emily's father, who is popularly known as "Chief Max".

"Please calm down" he tries to comfort them.

"How possible...is that for a child?" Max asked.

The young couple looked puzzled, terrified of what the Doctor had just confirmed. If they didn't know the doctor well enough, they would both think he was crazy.

Such ailment was too much of a load for a child, not that anyone deserved it. But a child? This was heartbreaking.

"Chief Max, I'm sorry, but I would like to ask if there's a history of this disease in your respective families?"

They both looked puzzled and bewildered.

And the doctor continued. " There's a seventy per cent possibility that through an inherited gene, a child could be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease."

"No, no at all. My family is free from this generational ailment" Max said; turning to his wife, who shook her head.

The doctor sighed and stood up, walking to the counter laying at the side of his office. He picked a file on top and returned to the perplexed couple. "Also, through a neurological test, we were able to find out that there was a head injury"

They both kept mute.

"A severe traumatic brain injury is a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or a dementia years after the original head injury."

"She...it can't be that doctor?" Grace asked uneasily.

"What happened?" The doctor asked.

"There was an accident a few months back, she and the Nanny," Grace said uneasily while trying so hard to hold her tears at bay.

"We were told not to worry, they said she was ok." Chief Max added.

"I can tell you that age is the single biggest risk factor for this progression, and frankly the younger you're when beta-amyloid starts to build up in the brain, the more likely you're to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Which implicates performance and communication abilities"

Grace had already broken down in tears, while Max stroked her back softly.

"The good news is that she can start undergoing treatment, but her recuperation will be gradual. I can't promise you a permanent cure."

The couple stared at him in awe.

"I will begin the aducanumab treatment as soon as possible, this is the only thing I can offer, I'm sorry Mr and Mrs Dennis."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet Emily Dennis, a patient with Alzheimer's disease. Diseases which are found especially in old people.  A.D is the most common type of dementia. It gets worse with time and affects memory, language and thoughts. A.D which affects some older people is different from everyday forgetting. It is a condition that permanently affects the brain. Over time the disease makes it harder to remember even basic stuff, like how to tie a shoelace. Eventually, the person may have trouble remembering the names and faces of his/her family members. Or even who he/she is. This can be very sad for the person and the family.

Emily grew up with this disease; while she was constantly, daily administered supplements, with the hope of getting cured one day. But that one day never seems to come, even at age twenty-five.

Emily had to adjust to her predicament. She wakes up with no memory of who she is or where she is. When she manages to go on with her day, one thing was steadfast, she loses all her memory again, BEFORE NOON.

As a result of this illness, her father ensured tight security on her, therefore, she was never let out on her own accord.

   Emily had a bigger problem, her adopted sister "Cara".

Thank you for reading BN~💜