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They were clapping: Hannah and her parents were standing in the doorway. She had a rag on her head, a red silk bonnet with blue and yellow flowers, and her eyebrows were missing. When we locked eyes, she walked forward, wrapping her frail little limbs around my neck. I was surprised. I couldn’t remember ever having spoken to her before. I didn’t understand. She tightened her grip and turned her head towards my ear, whispering, “I missed you.” It didn’t make any sense. Was she mistaking me for someone else? Was I supposed to remember her? Were we friends at some point? My brain was a storm of questions to which I had no answers. But the one question that I could hear over all the others, the one that I couldn’t shake, was, “Why me? Why are they looking at me like that? Why was I the one standing in the center of the room, surrounded by kids and adults alike, all of whom seemed to be looking at me with sympathy?” But now, after all these years, it makes sense. She wasn’t hugging me because we were friends at some point and I had forgotten her, or because she was mistaking me for someone else. She was hugging me because we were the same. The others in the room seemed to understand it as well, even if I wouldn’t for another fifteen years. They must’ve been able to sense it. Or maybe it was just that obvious. Or maybe they had conversations about it when I wasn’t around. I wonder now if my mother had to have a meeting with the teacher before letting me join the class. I wonder if she had to explain that I was going to be different from the other students. When Hannah wrapped her arms around my neck, she was saying, “We’re both different. We’re both very sick.” Works Cited Devlin, Mike. “Top 10 Suicidal Writers”. Listverse. January 30, 2012. Kaufman, Scott Barry. “The Real link Between Creativity and Mental Illness”. Scientific American. October 3, 2013. Miller, Jennifer. “Does Creativity Come With a Price? New Insight on Creatives and Mental Illness”. Fast Company. November 26, 2012. Staff, LiveScience. “Creativity Linked to Mental Illness, Study Confirms” LiveScience. October 16, 2012. Temple, Emily. “9 Famous Authors Who Did Stints in Mental Institutions” Flavorwire. April 18, 2013.
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