I dont lie

“Mom, it‘s fine! I‘m just tired“, Ava complained. While her mother didn‘t seem convinced at all, her father just gave an acknowledging hum. 

“Ava, you are more sluggish than normal! Did you not sleep properly last night?“, her mother continued prodding, ignoring the offended ‘Hey!‘ thrown her way. 
“Yeah, I slept a little late, fine. Can I eat in peace now?“, Ava asked. 

It was a lie, she slept enough. But she was still so tired and had no idea why. Figuring it out did not sound exciting either, and telling a little lie wouldn’t hurt anybody.

Her mother sighed. “Alright, but do make sure you sleep well tonight, you‘ve got school tomorrow.“ 
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks for the food“, Ava muttered and left for her room. 

“Honey, are you not worried about Ava?“, she whispered so Ava wouldn‘t hear. 
“No, why would I?“, her husband answered, seemingly more interested in the daily news than their conversation.

“She’s been so quiet lately, and she never talks about school anymore. She loved doing that.” The last part was directed more to herself than anyone.

“I never really noticed, not that I cared anyway.” She knew that, and was glad Ava didn’t seem to mind.
“Look, if she’s got good grades, she’s fine. The teachers say Ava acts normal at school. You’re just overthinking it”, her husband replied.

Yet that didn’t still the worry she had for her daughter.



Once Ava got to her room, she shut the door and sat down at the edge of her bed.
The familiar feeling of her head pounding was back. Ava hadn’t gotten used to it, and it was annoying.
Where did this stupid headache even come from?

You know where it came from. You prefer to stay ignorant. I doubt it’s good for you.

Ava didn’t remember being so critical of herself.
Not wanting to think about it, she took out her phone and clicked on the Photos-app. The first picture that caught her attention was of the mountains they drove past yesterday. Painting the mountains with acrylics was Ava’s first idea, an enjoyable activity. The second was her subconscious, reminding her it was a waste of time.
Like father had told her.

And suddenly, painting didn’t seem very fun anymore. Neither did she have the energy for it, as if it’d been drained the moment she thought about it. Ava wasn’t too surprised, seeing how often that’d happened in the past week.
Wait…past week? Has it been a week already? That’s odd.