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━━━━━━━━━━━━ Circa 2004 — 2006
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Mae Evans has always been vulnerable. By always, she means ever since the very moment she came out of her mother's womb. There is no strength in her bones, and coming from a family who are a the combination of intelligence, strength and authority— that means a lot. She was only two years old when she was diagnosed with CVID — Common Variable Immunodeficiency, which in a short version means that it's hard for her body to fight infections. She has always been relatively weaker than her bigger, healthier sister, Sarah but she doesn't understand why it took two years to figure it out. Most people are diagnosed with CVID only as adults. When you're children? Not very much. Her father, Harry Evans, owns the biggest brain Mae ever knew and it took him a long time to figure out how she happened to have the disorder. Turns out, it isn't much of a mystery. Mae's great aunt ( the younger sister of her father's least favourite late grandmother ) also had the disorder at one point in her life, and very conveniently, a family history of CVID is a risk for children of the same problem.
Eleven years of age, Mae only knew so much about the disorder she is dealing with. The girl has so much on her bucket list, she wants to go out and play like the other girls her age but she doesn't understand why her mother won't allow her to. She's confined in her home for most of the day, only goes out of it for school and then returns home alone. Mama has always been particular about hygiene— so washing hands is compulsory along with swallowing hard tasteless pills that Mae absolutely despises. ' Why is Sarah allowed to play outside?' She would ask her mother who would always reply with a disappointed sigh, ' She is a strong girl, and you will be too if you stay home.' But Mae doesn't want to stay home, she wants to run on the empty streets especially in summer, and say hi to the sun. Mae knows that she is the sun's best friend but Mama would never listen. So Mae would frown before gloomily walking to her room and would stare at the sun from her window.
Maya Evans didn't have to ask Mae to figure out that she isn't her favourite parent. Mae and her Papa are two peas in a pod, and he is Mae's favourite person in the whole world. Mae is always excited to get home from school because Papa is always waiting for her in his workshop in the basement. Everyday after school, Mae would wash her hands using her favourite lavender-scented soap and sprint into the basement and onto her father's lap. Together the father and daughter would play with science experiments. Mae is always impatient to start reciting the periodic table to her father— chemistry is her favourite subject, even though most eleven year olds don't know the topic like she does.
