Finding Adelina

2

**ADELINA**

When everyone is finished with their food, the plates are taken away and the table is cleared. My parents stand, and so does Wendy so I do too. My mother and my father are tall, towering over me like two skyscrapers, which makes their strides long as they lead Wendy and I out of the restaurant, forcing me to quicken my pace in order to keep up with them.

My father notices and seems to slow down. When we get outside, my mother looks down at me. "How about we take you shopping and you can get anything you might need if you decide you wanna come with us?" She suggests.

I shrug. "Sure."

She smiles. "Alright. We can walk, since the shopping centre is only across the street."

So we walk. Somehow, I end up between my mother and father as though they're my bodyguards while Wendy continues to trail behind us. I glance back at her, and she sends me a reassuring smile.

     When we get to the front of the shopping centre, my father holds the door open for everyone, then walks through and returns to where he was standing at my side. We walk silently through the shopping centre until my mother leads us into a random store, all seemingly content for the lack of noise to be filled by the rumble of it that comes from all over the shopping centre.

     "What's your favourite colour?" My mother asks.

     I think for a moment. "Purple."

     She smiles again. "Lets see if there's anything you can use to decorate the room we have for you, then."

     I frown. They don't even know that I'll be coming back to New York with them, and they want me to pick out decorations for a bedroom? Instead of asking why, if I haven't made my choice yet, I just follow them over to another section of the store.

     I begin to become tired, and glance at Wendy. She must read the exhaustion in my eyes because she sets a hand on my shoulder. "Let's find you somewhere to sit." She says.

"What's wrong?" My father asks, glancing between us.

"Sometimes Adelina gets tired during the day, it's a symptom of her narcolepsy I'm afraid." She informs him, taking my arm in her gentle grip and guiding me out of the store, over to a random bench beside a fountain.

"Narcolepsy?" My mother questions, puzzlement lining her sharp, beautiful features.

"You weren't aware of her condition?" Wendy asks, passing me a bottle of water out of her back, which I asked her to carry for me when she picked me up earlier today. Hastily, I unscrew the lid and take a long sip of the drink.

"No, we weren't." My dad says, his jaw hardening as though he's annoyed. Is it because of me? Has he suddenly changed his mind, and he's decided he doesn't want a child who suffers from narcolepsy?

"Oh, honey, we had no idea." My mother tells me, sitting at my side. She sets a slim hand on my back, her rings gently scratching my spine as she rubs her palm up and down it. She turns to Wendy. "Does she take any medication during the day to help?"

"No, just some in the morning." She answers, closing her back again as I take another long sip of water. I've been suffering from Narcolepsy for years, since before I can remember, and it never gets easier. Sometimes I can do things to keep it at bay for a little while, however it always catches up with me in the end; there's no escaping this illness.

"Is there anything we can do to help you right now?" My mother questions gently.

I shake my head, leaning back and looking up at the tall ceiling of the shopping centre. Noise buzzes around me, but I tune it out.