Captured (A Modern Medusa Story)

CHAPTER 10: PHOEBE💙

Wildflowers.

All I could smell was wildflowers.

I wasn't sure if I was guessing it right, but I had smelt wildflowers before. I just couldn't remember where.

Whoever saved my life that night, I had a feeling it was someone I knew.

And they called me 'friend'. Was that meant to insinuate something?

"What's her name?" I asked.

I could feel Noreen turning to look at me.

She had her attention to other people all throughout class, and I hadn't spoken a word. For a minute, I regretted accepting her request to keep her company in her classes.

I was home-schooled. I didn't need to be here. She knew that more than I did. I only let her drag me with her so we could hang out together.

I couldn't even see what's up on the projector screen, I could only hear what the lecturer was saying. And judging from the constant whispering I was hearing from the seats next to me, Noreen was more into gossiping than actually learning. I knew she wasn't the kind of person who took her academics seriously but begging me to accompany her and then not even saying a word to me was a hurtful way to ditch someone.

I bet she wished to leave. The only reason she couldn't dump me was because I couldn't see a thing and didn't have my cane around. I had no one and nothing to guide me. In fact, she was the reason I never took my cane with me. She had said before , that it's embarrassing for her to have someone in her friend group walking with a 'stick'. So she made me leave it behind. Instead, she told me to stick onto her arm and she'll guide the way.

Desperate for a friend, I did what she said. Because if I didn't, then I would end up being a lonely ass bitch. And people would pity me. I didn't like it when people pitied me all because I was disabled. My impairment shouldn't be the reason to miss out on having friends or living an ordinary life like any other girl on the planet.

I merely wanted someone to care for me. Like genuinely care for me. Not because I was blind, but because I was a friend. Period.

Did Noreen care, though?

Probably not. Papa had made it clear already that she had paid her to befriend me. It was all because he wanted me out of the house and mingling with people my age. People who weren't Miss Halima.

These people pissed me off.

Noreen pissed me off. And I didn't care about what she took me as.

Whether she saw me as a clown or an idiot, I didn't care. For this moment, I had her friendship, and that's all that mattered. I didn't care if it was fake because I'd rather have a fake friend than have none. I simply wanted to be normal.

A normal human with friends.

"Who?" she asked back.

"That girl." I fidgeted with a pen. "The one you called cute."

"Oh, I don't know. I've never really talked to her myself," Noreen marked. "But I'll try to ask around."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Why?" she suddenly asked. "Why do you wanna know her name? Are you interested in her?"

I could sense she was wearing a cunning smile and blood rose to my cheeks at the question.

"N–no, I–" It was a mystery to me too. "I just wanna know?"

"You're adorable when you blush, you know," she leaned and whispered in my ear.

I forced a smile, not knowing what to do.

"Except that those eyes ruin everything," she added. "If only you weren't blind."

My face fell, a certain pain striking through me.

Why did she have to say that? Where in the hell did she even have the audacity?

Broken, I got up on my feet.

"Phebes, what the hell are you doing?" That was Noreen's voice.

I knew people were staring, but I was too sad and too mad to care. Overwhelmed by too many emotions, I felt and sensed my way out. I didn't know how I managed it, but I found my way outside the stupid crowded lecture hall.

The fresh air hit me once I was out and, not knowing what to do, I kept my hands on the wall and let it guide me.

Screw Noreen and her mean ways. Screw her and her group of friends that she had to force me into.

Why did she hate so much that I was blind? I wouldn't even try to be her friend if I wasn't blind. I wondered how she even had friends in the first place with her disgusting personality. Such a disrespectful bitch.

I knew she was mocking me.

When I felt a set of stairs, that's when I stopped walking.

Slowly, I dropped myself down and sat. Burying my face into my lap and letting the tears that I had been holding back pour away.

I wished I was home with Miss Halima. I wished I had my cane with me. At least I won't have to depend on that bitch who called herself my friend.