The Golden Rule

Ch 5: Treatment

Despite her best efforts, she could not fall asleep that night. The image of her vomiting the brown goo on her shirt was regurgitated by her mind every hour while she tried to rest. But today, there was not a reason for her to get off her bed mat. Yesterday, she had to pretend to faint into Nathaniel’s arms, so he would take her to the doctor’s office. Making sure the black hair was tucked out of sight, Alicia told the doctor that she was ill and without a second thought she was sent home for the week to recover. Nathaniel even volunteered to carry her home himself and even though she knew that she was perfectly capable of walking home, she didn’t try to dissuade him from doing it.

The memory of being wrapped in his strong arms, so close to his solid chest that she could feel his heart beating on her forehead, was still fresh on her mind. Warmth rose in cheeks and stomach as she dwelt in the sweet moment and then a sickening wave of cold shame swept it all away. Her pleasure from being in his presence was tainted. She neglected to think about his feelings and indulged in her own. Everything that the community taught her was unraveling around her, and it was becoming impossible to rewind it back. She rolled on her side and tried to quell her beating heart to get back to sleep when her mother came up from behind her.

"Angeline, are you awake?” said her mother. Angeline quickly pulled her blanket over her head hoping that she did not see her black hair streaks.

“Oh good morning mother! What do you need?” she responded anxiously.

“Dear, I do not need anything from you. I am sorry if I disturbed you, but the Learning Center informed me yesterday afternoon that they want you to meet with a councilor today. “

What? Why?” She covered her in mouth surprise. “No, I mean. It is not my place to question the decisions of Learning Center. It’s just that… Never mind, I’m sorry!” She turned away from her to avoid seeing her mother’s shocked expression.

“No, It is quite alright my dear,” she said with a noticeable amount of shakiness in voice. “They just want to make sure you are feeling well. I hope you are alright with this.”

“Of course I am! I’ll just change now and go to the Learning Center.” She rolled off her bed mat with her blanket still covering her head and ran towards her closet to change her clothes. After putting on her uniform, she walked over to the mirror still dragging the blanket behind her. With the blanket over her hair, she saw that even her eyebrows were beginning to become discolored. Staring at the blanket in her reflection, she found that in spite of her obligation to finish dressing her grip on the blanket grew tighter and more obstinate to her commands.

“Angeline. Are you alright?” said her mother’s voice.

“Yes mother!” She flung off the blanket and dropped to her knees when she saw how far the black hair had grown. The top of head was still white, but the lower half was completely black. No amount of tucking and folding could hide the marks anymore. She had to do something drastic. Returning to her closet, she grabbed a light brown hat from the top shelf, and slammed it on her head. She went back to the mirror to make sure that no stray strands of black hair escaped the seal of the hat. Finally the distracting follicles were out of sight but from the puzzled expression on her mother’s face when she approached her with her completed wardrobe, she was still an eye sore.

“Alright, Angeline. I took the liberty of fetching your meal, so once you’re done eating we will go to the Learning Center,” her mother said. She watched as Angeline took a seat at the table and began to eat the food. Angeline tried to avoid her gaze by focusing down at her food. She forsook her normal table manners and shoveled spoonful after spoonful into her mouth, so that its awful flavor would not get a chance to seep into her mouth. After finishing her food, she grabbed her satchel and followed her mother out the door.