Page 148 - Student: dazed And Confused

Mom out to 'talk'. And what did they tell Cassie, apart from more lies about how
'everything was going to be alright' and 'these things take time'? Absolutely Jack Shit's

what. Not the truth.

She's speaking in whispers
Saying words I can't hear
My limbs all have blisters
Because this is my fear

Okay, yeah. Cassie feared the D-word. Disability freaked her out a bit. Her toned

muscles would turn to flab because she couldn't exercise, she'd have to get people to do
everything for her, she would start getting fat and lazy. Stumbling around in an apparently

half-drunken state had to be better than giving up her entire life for something that didn't

even have a name. Going away to uni had been an impossible dream from the day she was
given the form. The D-word had been creeping up on her since she was little. It hadn't

made her life any easier - looking at other people running and dancing and knowing her

days of joining in were numbered.

Her past, and whatever future she had left, would be filled with physiotherapy and

drugs and doctors - and she hated doctors.
"Cass?" Mom knocked on the door that opened out although she needn't have

bothered. It wasn't like Cassie could get up and shut it. "Have you calmed down a bit? I

thought we might go for a push around the park. Test it out. Get you used to it."
Cassie looked at her in disbelief. The stupidity of what her mother had just said

rushed at her and a high giggle crept out. "You want to push me around a park full of brats

like a baby in a pram and in half an hour I'm going to be cured of all my issues about being a

cripple and I'll be embracing the beautiful - nay, wondrous - knowledge that I'm not
normal." Mom tapped her fingernails on the black door. Everything about Cassie was black

or dark purple. It was clear she was getting tired of the arguments. "Excuse me if I say no."

"You knew this was coming, Cass. You could have spent a bit more time getting used

to the idea and a little less time playing rough."
"You're blaming me?" Was Mom actually saying those words? "I work hard, I play

hard. Don't make me angry or I'll start using big words again."