The Secrecy: Tale of Invisible Friendship!

[*Writer's Note:
This is the story of a child and his struggles to have a normal childhood.
They say and show, being different is all cakes and pastries. That's not it... This is the truth..!]



"Mom.. I don't want to go there.."

"But Adhiraj you have to go...School is good...you learn everything there.."

"I have no friends there and Rohan n the group teases me...bully me!"

"Shut up and stop searching for excuses...you have to go means you have to go!!"


"But Mom..."

She dragged him to the school.
He pleaded but everything was in vain.
He had to face another day of misery.
Misery??
Yes. He had no friends. Other kids snatched his tiffin. Rohan and his group mocked him every now and then.
And the worst part, even his mother didn't understand him.

That day, he was sitting in the playground.
It was games period but no one played with him.
He was looking at his classmates and was about to cry.

When he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned in a reflex to see who it was.
Only to witness a lady in her mid 30s.

"Beta.. Why are you sitting her all alone? Why are you not playing with your friends?"

"I have no friends", he uttered barely enough to be heard.

"Will you make me your friend??"

His eyes gleamed out of joy and she became his friend.
Days passed by and the bond grew stronger and stronger...

Both enjoyed each other's company and they both spent whole day together.

His mom was surprised to see her naggy-buggy boy who hated school was now desperate to go there every day..
One day, she noticed him talking to himself at night.
He was uttering something like...

"But mimma aap mere saath baithna kal class mein... Rohan aur uske dost se alag baithenge hum..."

She got a bit suspicious but then what a five year old would be doing by himself.
And she let it go.
But this became a routine, he used to talk all the time to someone.

But one day when she was scolding him, he abruptly shouted, "Mom you are so bad.... Mimma is so good.. She is always with me... She is my friend and never leaves me alone.. Even in school"

Her mother got suspicious and next day she was standing in front of a building with a nameplate.
"Dr. Dalpat S. Paatni"
M.B.B.S., M.D. (Psychiatry)
****************
"Schizophrenia it is!"

[Writer's Note: Schizophrenia is a disease in which person hallucinates and even visualizes the presence of the things and person which are not really present.]

These three words changed her whole life.

"But doctor, How?"

"Mam I talked to him. And it revealed that the person he sees is a motherly figure who cares about him and also is his best friend.
Mam, may be this is because... Neither does he have friends at his school and nor you are able to give him time I guess."

Being a single mother, this was her failure.
After her husband's death, she took all her broken pieces and made a huge empire out of them.
But she got so busy into her business world that she forgot that her little boy needs a mother.
Not a money making machine.

"Doctor... Do whatever it takes! Start his treatment immediately! "

And that was when his misery started again.
The horrendously distasteful medicines, psychological sessions and her mother's all time undivided attention.

He was feelings helpless because Mimma wasn't there. He was unable to understand that the medicines made her disappear...instead he thought Mimma won't come if his mother was present.
He pushed her away and it took a lot of time..

*After 5 years of treatment*

"So doctor, is he completely okay now?"

"Yes mam, he surely is! 1 year and no occurrence of any hallucination. ..He is definitely okay now!"

She hugged him in joy and took him for a treat.
After dinner, she tucked him under him into his bed and turned the lights off.

She finally slept off a peaceful night after 5 years, today.

Little did she know,
Under the blanket was a torch and his Mimma.
"Did you tell doctor that we met?"

"No mimma.. I didn't"

And they pinky promised to each other again..
That "The secrecy" of this friendship will always Remain...!!