I Fall Apart

Lin

Five days later, I sat on an airplane with a reluctant passenger next to me. Nora was continuing to be difficult, so I had decided to bring her with me to Chicago. I'd had a conference with several with her teachers yesterday to get a better understanding of what was going on with her at school. She was subdued and mostly non-communicative in class; rarely did work. In most of her classes, she had C's and D's. Her teachers had been gracious enough to give three days of work that we could take with us to Chicago. Nora would be coming with me to the theatre every day and working.

Nora already had her headphones in, zoning out as the flight attendant went through her spiel. She was giving me the cold shoulder completely. She only talked to me when she had to and had been holing up in her room.

Though her coming with me was somewhat of a punishment, I was hoping to use this time to get her to open up to me. She'd been nothing but angry the last couple weeks. Angry at the world, and in turn, angry at me. She resented me trying to keep her steered in the right direction. That was fine if she hated me. I wasn't going to let her throw her life away.

We landed in Chicago and Nora trailed behind me throughout the airport. I hailed a cab to take us to our hotel.

"Have you ever been to Chicago?" I asked her.

"Nope," she told me.

"Maybe we can fit in some time to do some sightseeing," I told her as I looked out the window at the buildings passing. She didn't respond, but I guess it was too much to think she might be excited about it. She was in a city she'd never been in and I was the only person she knew.

We checked in at the hotel. The theatre had set us up in a nice suite with separate bedrooms. There was a spacious living room and mini kitchen so we could cook if we wanted to. I saw a little grocery store down the street, so we walked down to get a few essentials. I had a couple hours before I had to be at the theatre, so I suggested we walk around. Nora reluctantly followed me, hood up and hands tucked into her hoodie pockets.

"I'll introduce you to some of the cast members," I told her. "Miguel is great. I was so impressed with him during auditions."

It was like I was talking to myself most of the time. We wandered around Millennium Park and came to the bean. You pretty much had to take a selfie with the bean. I put my arm around Nora and held up my phone. She scowled and I snapped the picture. Somehow, I found humor in it. A couple people recognized me and came up asking for pictures with me. Nora wandered over to some benches to wait.

After the fans and I had chatted for a minute or so, I wandered over to where Nora was sitting. I sat down next to her, leaning forward on my elbows like she was. I decided to level with her.

"Nora, I didn't just bring you here so I could keep an eye on you," I began. "I was hoping we could talk. Get to the bottom of what's going on with you. I don't like seeing you like this."

"I'm fine," she grumbled.

"You're not," I told her. "But that's okay. We just need to figure out a way to get you through this."

She'd been going to counseling every week and it had been a bit hit or miss. Some days she was in a mood and would barely communicate with her therapist. We kept sending her, though, because I knew Nora was like a brick wall that needed to be slowly chipped away at.

"I'm tired of you asking how I'm feeling," she told me.

I nodded in understanding. "I can get how that would be annoying. I'll try to stop. But can you talk to me?"