I am attending a course "Start Writing Fiction" in www.futurelearn.com so I have to write stories from time to time. Here is one of them.
“Even if people empathize, they still don’t know what it’s like”, - she said to her friend, sitting in front of her in the café. Alison was wearing dark violet sweater, shirt with blue and white stripes and black knitted scarf. Her wardrobe, short maroon hair and glasses with thick frames made her look artistical. She had a silver ring with a rabbit head on her right hand index finger, which I saw when she put her fingers near her mouth. Alison also had two other rings on her middle finger, but they didn’t seem as outstanding as the one with rabbit head. She was wearing no makeup, but she had dark red polished nails.
“I can’t imagine”, - her friend answered. “If I experienced at least anything close to that, I could relate. But now… it’s just something alien.” She took a cup of coffee and took a sip. “You know, I’m just being honest.”
“I know, I don’t blame you”, - Alison answered. “At least, you don’t run away from me, or don’t look at me with goggle eyes like others. When I tell somebody that I have schizophrenia, the first thing they say is: hahaha, you’re joking, right?” - she took a deep breath. “You’re different. You took it seriously once I told you.” Alison was keeping her hands near her mouth. What if she will run away eventually, - she thought, - Maybe I shouldn’t have told her. She stood up and said rapidly to her friend: “Sorry, I have to go.”
“Wait!”, - her friend shouted. “I’m sorry, did I tell something wrong?”
“No, it’s ok. It’s just… It sometimes happens like this. I have to go.” And then she left. Her friend remained sitting there if café thinking what she said wrong. “I shouldn’t have told her that her experience is alien to me. I am so not understanding. I must have hurt her. I have to do something to make it up to her. I knew she was fragile, why would I say something like that, especially on such a sensitive topic? I’m so dumb.”
Alison got back home and the first thing she done was to take pastels and draw. She was doodling random lines with the colors she felt like using. Drawing always helped her to relax. It was one of the ways to deal with her inner reality that often wanted to burst out as hallucinations. So she just drew them. But her mind was in the café. “I will have to apologize to her and explain everything.”
