Be You

Written for https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2024/09/19/reenas-xploration-challenge-348/

This was a totally different training day and being in a crowd normally set Amber’s stomach churching. Forced to attend, she hid in the corner and found a like-minded woman doing the same.

‘I don’t attend this sort of thing. Most times, I pretend to be sick,’ Sheila said.

‘Me too. All that team bonding is tiring.’ Amber looked at the ceiling. She could never look people in the eye. She wasn’t being rude, simply scared.

‘What does he want us to do?’

‘Talk about something that we are interested in.’

‘I can’t say. You’ll laugh.’

‘Embrace your weirdness. Who would be normal, anyway?’

Sheila squared her shoulders and brought out a pack of Pokemon cards. ‘I collect these, my favourite is Ponyta, I adore the shiny of it. Beautiful.’

‘Brilliant! Do you have the app?’

Normally she had to explain about Pokémon Go, which allows users to store the digital version of the cards on one device. Every month, going outside, and catching them with a two dimensional red and white ball. Being a nineties baby, most of her friends collected them, but as an adult, she continued.

‘Yea, I get the exercise I need by walking in town and meet up with other enthusiasts. Sunday was amazing, swapped so many and added to my collection.’

‘That’s so cool! I love Halloween, have multiple boxes of decorations. A bit of an obsession … My doctor says it’s an element of being on the autistic spectrum.’

‘Spectrum?’

‘Received a diagnosis when I was three. It is why I hate social gatherings.’

‘You always seem so confident. Everybody likes you.’

‘Do they? I think they are being kind, especially when I talk too much.’ She twisted her hair around her fingers.

‘You’re a nice person.’

‘I suppose it is because being a girl is different; we are more likely to talk. Mostly, I mask.’

‘Mask?’

‘I copy others to see how they react in certain situations. If there is an appropriate action, I will do the same. It differs from boys. They are more reclusive. No, that’s unfair. It is difficult to put into words, but we attempt to make sense of our world.’

Sheila thought about her childhood, not quite fitting in. She never considered it being a condition. Perhaps she was overthinking things, but for the moment she could be in a room without wanting to escape from it.