The Petals that Broke off

 

As the roller coaster started to ascend, Sofie’s heart began to thump loudly, she held onto her seat tightly and closed her eyes, as she tried to put off her panic attack. 

Someone grabbed her hand, she looked up and saw her best friend, Jenny mouth, ‘You got this, girl.’

 

She felt better, yes, she can do this, for sure. No longer was she a scared and timid girl, she felt free and adventurous now. 

So, as the ride sped up, Sofie felt happier than ever on finally entering college but moreover she was glad to be the part of the coolest friend’s group ever. Jenny, Mia, Jack and Sam, have fitted in Sofie’s life like some missing puzzle pieces and they made her complete.

 

As the team of five got out of the ride; Jack said, “Now that’s what I call a ride.” Mia on the other hand said, “Well, I am still a bit dizzy from all that thrill.” Sam said, “The ride was just like the last one. Now let us go grab something to eat.”

 

But Jenny shouted over everyone’s conversation, “It’s shopping time guys.”

Sofie laughed at her friend’s bossy nature as they went to the stalls. Clearly, this amusement park idea had been a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

 

Reaching the jewelry section, Sofie spotted the prettiest flower necklace ever. It had 5 black petals with yellow highlights. There was a certain charm to it that pulled Sofie towards it. She didn’t realize that she had already taken out her wallet to buy it. 

When she went out to show it to her friends, they all had something to say. Mia exclaimed, “Wow Sofie! that's a pretty cool piece.” 

Sam commented, “But do you know whether it’s really made of something valuable to be priced this much?” “No, we don’t, but pretty things don’t come at petty prices,” snarked Jenny.

 

Jack laughed, “I just saw that it has 5 petals, every petal for each one of us, see this short and fat one, that’s Sam.” 

As Sam chased him off, the girls chuckled.

 

That night back in the hostel, Sofie was talking to her mother animatedly. It has been 3 months since she had met her mom and if she didn’t have her friends around her, she would have surely gone insane. Her mother had been her only friend during school years. 

Being an introvert, she never had any friends. Thankfully, Jenny took Sofie under her wing and she was added to the group here.

“And mom, do you know I got this awesome necklace, wait a minute, I will just send you a picture.”

 

As she was grappling with her things the necklace fell off the desk and shattered.

 

Two of its petals skid off while the remaining three held on barely.

 

As her mother consoled her. Sofie tenderly picked up the remaining necklace, just a feeble reminder to an awesome day she had.

 

The next morning, as they were having breakfast at their usual table, Sofie noticed that Mia had still not arrived. So, she asked Jenny, “Hey, has Mia already eaten today?”

 

Jenny replied with her mouth full, “Mia who?” 

Sophie thought Jenny was pranking her, so she said, “You know Mia, our friend, the smarty pants. Come on now, just tell me where she is, did she head for class, already?”

 

Jenny chuckled nervously, “Hey, I really don’t know any such girl, last, I remember that you were the sole nerd on board.”

 

Sophie couldn’t stop gaping at Jenny's poker face. So, she opened her phone ready to text Mia, but she couldn’t find her contact anywhere.

 

Mia was not present even on the class chat group.

 

How is this possible? Before she could work it out further, Jenny started pulling her to class.

“Come on, Sam is waiting for us, you know him, it would be like sitting next to a big grump if we reach a bit late.”

 

As they finally settled in class, Sophie scanned around to get any sign of Mia, but her red, curly haired friend was nowhere to be seen.

 

When the classes got over, Sofie asked Sam, “Hey, did you by any chance see Mia in class? or what about Jack, are they both hanging out together?”

 

Sam stopped short and said, “I don’t really know, who were they again?”

Sofie’s heart dropped. No, this couldn’t be happening, as Jenny and Sam looked at her with confused expressions.

 

Sofie said, “Okay guys, you can stop it now. It's not funny okay, tell them both to come out here, because your prank just got busted.”

 

Jenny came closer to her and spoke softly, “Sophie this is not a joke. Sam and I really don’t know any Jack and Mia. Maybe you hung out with them somewhere else.”

 

“No, we were a perfect group of 5 and if you don’t want to stop this silly prank right now, then I am leaving.”

 

Saying so, Sophie stormed off with her frustration building up. Back in her room, she tossed her bag on her table.

 

She saw another piece break off the necklace. “Yeah fall away, see if I care,” she shouted.

 

Soon, Jenny was knocking on the door and Sofie let her in. But she kept her back to her. Jenny said, “Um, okay, I get it you are giving me the silent treatment, but how about we find this Mia friend of yours?” 

“Yours? Mia is our friend, how can she just disappear? We were all hanging out together yesterday at the park.”

Mia tried to reason, “No, Sofie it was just the two of us.” She then went on to show pictures on her phone in which all of them were present but now there were only the both of them. 

Sofie said, “But, Sam was there with us, you know him right, he sat with us in class.”

Now, for the first time Sofie saw genuine concern on Jenny’s face, “Sofie I guess you are unwell, like seriously maybe it's flu or something, the entire day you have kept naming people who don’t even exist.”

 

Tears started to spring up in Sofie’s eyes, it couldn’t be happening. Sam was just there with them, 15 minutes ago.

Jenny was trying to console her but Sofie was shaking uncontrollably. That's when her eyes fell on the necklace.

5 petals, 5 friends. She looked at the necklace only holding 2 petals now. Her blood drained from her face.

She rushed over to it, “No, no, this can’t be true, I need to fix this.” As she frantically searched for some glue to piece it back together, Jenny came over and said, “Hey, calm down Sofie, forget about this necklace, I will buy you a new one.”

Jenny tried to take it away from her but Sofie held on and a tiny tug was enough for another petal to fall.

It was as if time slowed down, as Sofie saw the petal fall and her best friend fade away.

She sat on her bed and stared at the wall ahead, then she threw her necklace on the wall, because she can’t bear the thought of being all alone anymore.

She waited to turn into nothingness but she still remained there. 

She exited the room and bumped into another girl, “Ouch, watch where you are going.”

So, she was still alive, maybe they all will come back now that the necklace was destroyed. 

But she still couldn’t hold back the feeling of dread spreading through her body. 

So, she dialed up her mom, her last resort. 

Her mother didn’t answer and panic gripped her as Sophie redailed the number. Still no answer.

Seeing no hope she called her father, a number she rarely dialed as he was always so busy. 

But today, he picked it up and Sofie asked him urgently, “Dad, is mom okay?” 

Her dad gave a tired sigh, “Sofie, how are you?”

“Dad, where is mom? I need to know whether she is okay or not. I can’t be without her.” her knees buckled as she fell back on the ground and poured out the entire story to her father.

The next day, Sophie and her father were sitting in front of the physiatrist.

Maladaptive Daydreaming that’s what Sofie was diagnosed with.

The therapist kept rolling off on how this condition began when her mother died, when she was just 5.

The therapist was stating some remedies but Sofie had already zoned out from the conversation.

Her perfect life was broken petal by petal.

But on a positive side, her college life had just started and she was going to make a lot of friends.