by Colette Rosenhof » Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:10 am
"I zink zat, at zat time, I told you zat I had some understanding of how you felt. I cannot remember how much I told you but...." Despite not having any lungs, Colette closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh through her nose before she continued.
"All of my life, I have been different. At an early age I had to be taken out of school because ze children, zey treated me poorly. Children can be very, very cruel. And zey can be unabashedly honest. Zey will say ze zings zat adults will only zink. I learned from a very early age how ozers saw me, and so I strove to defy zeir expectations. You saw how I dressed, very formal and professional, not sloppy. Not... disgusting. Zis zinking also extended to my relationships. Spending almost my entire life at home, I had very few friends, zose zat I did have were of ze online sort. Coming to ze school did offer wonderful new opportunities, but even among so many people who were different, I was different still from zem. So ze few friends I do have, ze real friends, are very special to me.
"When I learned of your disappearance, and zen ze reason for your presence on campus, I... doubted ze relationship we shared. I began to zink zat you had merely tolerated me, and my mind went back to zose days in... école primaire." She struggled trying to come up with the English word for it. "I zought perhaps zat you had zought about me ze same zings zat zose ozer children had. And such zoughts hurt me deeply.
"Knowing now zat zis is not ze case, it fills my heart wiz happiness. But I owe you an apology. I am sorry for doubting your sincerity and your friendship. And I am sorry if my actions or mannerisms in any way made you feel disliked." Even when she opened her eyes, she couldn't look directly at the other girl, instead opening a neat little wooden box and looking at the colourful plastic pucks within.