She Is Such An Odd Girl

I came across another post from the archives. I believe this was the very first Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge!

So this is my response to a new picture prompt from the great Fandango! And I am chuffed with myself because it a genuine bit of flash-fiction, not a story from my life (although I did used to go walking all day in the countryside – I never played the flute and my parents were not anxious about me!)

https://fivedotoh.com/2019/02/18/fandangos-flash-fiction-challenge-1/

Fandango’s picture prompt is directly under the title, and the other little pictures I have just thrown in to brighten the post up!

“I don’t know what to do with Angela. I never had this trouble with her older sisters. It’s beyond me to understand why she is so different. I don’t know what else to try.”

“I must admit, I do feel sorry for you. She doesn’t want to hang around with my Jenny or any of the other girls at school. I know they have invited her to go shopping with them or to parties. She always declines. It’s not as if the other girls are not trying to get her involved!”

“She is just shut off in her own little world. She doesn’t seem to want friends. I always thought she was shy. But she is so stubborn and determined at times, I don’t think it is shyness at all.”

“Where does she go when she takes herself off with her flute-case Maud? Is she having lessons outside of school?”

“I don’t know Christine. When I ask her where she has been, she gives me such strange answers. I used to ask her sisters where they had been when they came home late. They replied like normal teenagers and said “nowhere“. Angela leaves the house as soon as the sun starts to rise and is always back before it sets. I ask Angela where she has been and she looks at me straight into my eyes and says “everywhere”.

“What does she mean?”

“I have no idea. I ask her who she has been with, and she claims to have been with her friends. But it’s all in her head. She doesn’t have any friends! Nobody ever calls at the house for her or rings asking to speak to her. I do wonder if she has some kind of imaginary friends.”

“How odd!”

“That’s exactly it Christine. She is such an odd girl. George wants her to see a specialist doctor or a psychiatrist to try to get to the bottom of why she is acting so strangely. But Angela is refusing to cooperate. I am so worried about her, I am at my wits end!”

“I am so sorry for you Maud. You are clearly under so much stress. Angela is putting you and George through misery. She clearly needs some kind of help. I remember my cousin telling me about a counsellor who helped her son Charles when he wanted to run away from home. Perhaps I could ask her for the counsellor’s phone number.”

“Oh would you Christine? I am desperate to try anything or anyone who could help. I just want a normal teenage daughter and not one that keeps always on the edge of a nervous breakdown!”