I plopped down in one of the chairs at the back row in the assembly hall and a long sigh escaped my lips, being exaggerated by the echoing silence of the hall.

I don't know why, but I just suddenly felt like crying. The least I had expected was betrayal from Mary. I didn't even understand why or what the hell was going on, but maybe she would have a good explanation. Or maybe I was even overreacting and nothing suspicious was going on, but I couldn't stop myself from feeling how I felt and the tears came before I could stop them.

Soundless tears opened up a vault of locked up emotions and I gradually got mad at myself, and then I felt angry at Mary, and then I felt sad, and then I felt dejected, and then I felt angry again.

I was a mess and I knew I had to use my drugs immediately because those were the symptoms of my PD and I sighed again, then got up reluctantly to go back to my dorm room and get my drugs before I did something that I would regret.

Sweat started trickling down my face and neck slowly as I walked along the hallways, towards the female hostel and my fingers clutched my skirt tightly, my teeth chattering as I tried to keep the "crazy" me at bay. I could feel an episode coming and tried my best to stop it.

Not today please.

"Hey! Why do you look so mad? I was only joking around with the picture thing," a voice startled me out of my concentrated strides to the hostel and my head snapped up immediately.

An unfamiliar, yet weirdly familiar face stared back at me and my brows creased as I tried to recollect where I'd seen that face before. It seemed like a distant memory and tried to grasp it but it only slipped further out of reach, so I gave up trying to remember and took a step back. Maybe remembering faces I'd never seen before was even part of my symptoms.

I was about to apologize because I thought I had bumped into him, until what he'd said earlier registered.

"You were what? You're the one who took my picture earlier?" I asked, my eyes narrowing into slits, as alarm bells went off in my head. Time was running fast, and I needed to take my pills or I'd regret it.

"Yes and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you but...don't you remember me?" He asked in an accent that I recognized to be Californian. Come to think of it, he didn't have Nigerian features. He had a stylish haircut on and his hair looked like he dyed it black, making it stand out against his really pale complexion. His cool coffee brown eyes held recognition, a small smile playing on his lips and I just stared, sweat trickling down my temple in gallons now as my blood started boiling.

"Uh...um, no I don't remember you. Have we met before?" I asked and wondered how I could have met him. All the times I've been out of the country, it had been either for a relative's party, or for some family gathering with my grandparents in Texas. Except for when I was...sick and had to see a doctor in LA. And even then, I couldn't have met him cause I'm not the social type—even if I was, my seizures would be in the way of any socialization. And it didn't look like I met him somewhere here in Nigeria.

I started to get curious, wondering what he was doing here, not that we don't have foreigners in the school, in fact, there are almost more Indian than Nigerian students. I just didn't get the reason why they would want to leave their countries.

"It's okay, I didn't really expect you to remember. I was just happy to see a familiar face, but it's cool. Are you really okay? You're covered in sweat and you're trembling," he spoke again, a disappointed look clouding the recognition his eyes held before and I looked away from him, feeling unnerved that someone that wasn't Mary was about to witness one of my "moments."

"I—I'm fine, I just..." And I was cut off by a loud siren-like scream that came from the inside of my skull.

No...this shouldn't happen here! Not now!

My eyes rolled back in their sockets and I felt my body start vibrating like I was holding onto a naked wire with a 450 voltage current. I started thrashing and screaming and punching and biting and...

And that's all I remember.

•

•

•

•

I woke up...in the sickbay again. And I sighed, looking up into the ceiling and then deciding to sit up and get myself out of there, until I saw a head rested right beside me, on the bed. A mane of full dark hair was tickling my left arm and I frowned, poking the head with my index finger.

"Oh hey, you're awake." The boy from earlier said groggily as he lifted his head up due to my pokes. He ran a hand tiredly over his face and got up from the metal chair he sat on. "Are you okay?" He asked, sounding both seriously worried and curious.

Well, curiosity killed the cat!

"I'm fine. Why are you here?" I frowned and got down from the bed, then proceeded to fill the sickbay attendees book and get out of there before nurse Ife came back to stop me.

"Uh, I brought you here when you um—"

"Well, thank you but I didn't need your help!" My voice rose as I interrupted him, getting angry for no exact reason. Maybe it was because a practical stranger had just seen me at my most vulnerable. I wonder how disgusted he must have been when he saw the foamy saliva dribbling through my mouth.

"Whoa! Simmer down hot sauce! You don't need to get all mad at me and I'm sorry, but you didn't look like you could handle yourself!" His voice rose too as a frown took over his face.

"Thanks for your help. Let's never meet again!" I yelled in his face, threw the black pen I used to fill in the sick ledger away and marched out of the room angrily.

The leather Gucci watch on my wrist said it was almost nine and assembly was definitely over, so I just trudged to my first class, which I was terribly late for.

I just hope Mr. Okoro's likeness for me will make him overlook it and not hand me a detention note. I know that was me relying on my privilege which was wrong but I really could do with a little help after all that had happened to me just that morning.