This is the eighth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII before continuing.
Sam and I had agreed to meet the following morning so we could walk to the high school together. I didn’t have a watch, much less an alarm clock, but I was determined not to miss this chance, so I made sure to get up early. I made my way to a nearby park with a drinking fountain and used the fountain to wash myself. It was far from ideal, and there was nothing I could do about my clothes, but it was better than nothing. At the very least, having a clean face and clean hands made me feel like I was almost presentable.
I was on my way back to my spot under the bridge when I saw Sam and Michael coming out of one of the nearby townhouses with a man I didn’t recognize. Sam saw me and said something to Michael I couldn’t hear. Michael looked at me warily as I made my way up to him.
I squatted in front of him so I wouldn’t be looming over him while trying to apologize. “I’m very sorry for the way I screamed at you, Michael. I was seeing things that weren’t there and didn’t realize you were there. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and you deserve better than that.”
I extended my hand, and after a brief hesitation, Michael shook it.
“Still friends?” I said, just to be sure.
“Still friends,” he confirmed.
I was surprised at the relief that flooded through me at those words. I smiled and said, “I’m glad to hear it.”
“How can you see something if it isn’t there?”
I wasn’t sure I fully understood what the doctors had told me, much less how to explain it so a kid would understand it, but I did my best.
“Normally your eyes take in light and color and shapes, and they send all that information to the back of your brain,” I tapped the back of his skull. “That’s where your brain makes sense of what your eyes are seeing. But sometimes my brain decides what I’m looking at, regardless of the information my eyes are sending back there. It kind of hijacks the whole process.”
“How does it do that?”
“I’m not sure. Something about the way the cells in the brain talk to each other. A doctor explained it to me once, but it didn’t make much sense. All I took away from it was the knowledge that sometimes I see and hear things that aren’t there.
“So, how do you know when something is real?”
“I don’t always. That’s what makes it so tricky. But there are clues. If I see someone else looking at something or talking to someone, that usually means I’m not the only one seeing it. People and things that disappear without a trace, only to reappear out of nowhere later on, I can usually peg as figments of my imagination.”
Michael considered this for a moment before saying, “That sounds confusing.”
I laughed at the kid’s ability to get directly to the heart of the matter in just a few words. “It is. It’s very confusing.”
Michael reached out with one hand to touch my arm. He looked me straight in the eye as he said, “I’m real.”
I smiled and said. “I’m glad. And thank you.”
He nodded seriously before turning to the other man and nodding, at which point they walked off together, the man giving me a wave and a smile of acknowledgement as he did so.
“That’s my husband, Kevin. I’ll introduce you two later. In the meantime, shall we be on our way?”
“We shall.”
To be continued…