PART TWO: INSOMNIA
Imani shamefully looked down at her knees whilst swinging her legs back and forth, fingers clasped tightly on her lap as she waited for her parents in the Principal’s office. She avoided making eye contact with the two adults present in the Office with her at all costs.
The Savior had been called to the office of the Principal of Charlize Rivers Magic Middle School although she had been performing exceptionally well in all her classes. Imani had been called to the office due to the fact tha she had been caught napping during classes on several occasions which had prompted her teachers to report the issue to the School Counselor and Principal.
The Principal had called both of Imani’s parents to the school to meet together with the School Counselor and their daughter to assess the issue deeper and get to the root cause of the concern raised by her teachers.
Imani held back tears as she wildly and restlessly moved her feet. The School Secretary soon called the Principal to inform him that both Imani and Flint had arrived for the meeting. The Principal asked the Secretary to let them in and in no time, the frantic parents were in the Office.
Imani ‘Senior’ immediately ran to her adoptive daughter and hugged her tightly. She assessed Imani to ascertain that her daughter was in perfect health before turning to her mate who performed a more thorough examination.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kanda, welcome. I assure you that we shall get to the bottom of what brought us all here today. Please, have your seats,” the Principal stated.
The Older Imani pulled up her seat so that it was as close as possible to her daughter’s. She squeezed Imani’s hands tightly with her own, non-verbally and yet firmly reassuring her that everything would be alright.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kanda, the reason we called you in today was to discuss something we found concerning about Imani,”
“Concerning, you say? How’s so?” Flint asked the Principal.
“You’ll notice that the young Miss displays signs of insomnia- she has bags under her eyes, she is constantly yawning and dosing off in the classroom and her play and physical activity have significantly decreased. We had hoped to determine the cause of this sudden change in behavior as Imani is one of our star pupils,”
“Imani, don’t be afraid, okay? We only want to help you,” the School Counselor stated compassionately.
Imani shook her head vigorously and raised her head up defiantly. “No! I won’t let you- I won’t let you take me away from my parents. I love them! I won’t leave with anyone else,”
All adults gathered in the room were stunned to silence.
“No one is going to take you away from your parents, Imani. Please, just be honest with us, okay? How are things going at home? Are you happy with your parents?” the School Counselor asked her still in a compassionate tone.
“I am very, very, happy at home. My mom and dad love me and love one another very, very much. I have Aunts and cousins that love me too and my Paw-Paw loves me so, so much! Don’t let her take me away from you, please mom,” Imani stated looking up at her mother desperately.
“No one is going to take you away from us honey, I promise,” Imani Senior stated firmly.
“Honey, no one is trying to hurt you, okay? We all care about you so much and that is why we are here today. Please tell the truth. Are things truly as happy as you say at home? We can talk in private if being around your mommy and daddy makes you feel scared to tell the truth,” the Counselor asserted.
Imani could no longer hold back her tears. She shook her head vigorously and kept stating no as the tears poured steadily from her face to her clasped hands.
“Please stop treating our daughter like she is a murder suspect! You are clearly upsetting her,” Imani Senior angrily stated letting out a little hiss in anger.
“We are merely trying to establish the cause of the insomnia she is suffering from, Madam. The questions I am asking are merely hoped to get us to the root cause of the insomnia. Surely that is not comparable to a murder suspect interrogation,” the Counselor stated calmly.
“She has assured you of how happy she is with us so clearly your persistence in following that line of thought is a wasted effort. Why not just directly inquire from her what the cause of her insomnia is without all this unnecessary beating around the bush?” Imani Senior snapped at her.
The Counselor did not respond to Imani’s questioning but instead jotted down notes in her notebook.
“No! You can’t! You can’t say that about my mom!” Imani retorted to the Counselor who appeared stunned.
“Imani, what are you talking about?” the Counselor asked her compassionately.
“She is trying to trick you, Mama and Papa. She wants to call Child Services so they can take me away. I won’t go, Mama. I won’t!” Imani stated turning to face her parents.
The Counselor was even more stunned. “It appears that your daughter has quite the imagination,” she stated.
“Our daughter is Clairvoyant as we informed the school, Counselor. Just so you know, my mate and I are not afraid of Child Protective Services. We are great parents and we passed their inspections before they even let us adopt Imani. A visit from the Department shall not change that fact,” Flint confidently stated.
“No Papa, please don’t say that! She is going to make you look so, so bad and then… then they will take me away from you,” Imani stated worriedly.
The room remained as silent as the grave with only Imani’s soft weeping being heard for several tense moments later.
“Imani, do you get enough sleep every night?” the Principal asked after a pregnant pause.
Imani nodded.
“It’s okay honey, tell them the truth. You won’t lose us,” her mother stated tenderly, consoling Imani by gently rubbing her back.
“I sleep very well and I am happy with my life and I don’t want any other parents, please Principal, please don’t let the Counselor take me away from home. I love it there- I love school and I love my friends and I am so happy here, please-” Imani begged desperately.
“Imani, why do you think that the Counselor wants to separate you from your parents if they are making you happy?”
“Because- because she serves the Entity and the Entity wants to hurt me,”
The Counselor was so stunned that she dropped her pen on the ground.
“The child is obviously very tired and murmuring things she is uncertain of,” the Counselor asserted once she had had enough time to absorb what Imani had stated. She graciously picked up her pen and jotted down more notes in her notepad.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kanda…”
“If our daughter says that the School Counselor is working for the Entity, we believe her,” Imani Senior stated.
“We shall be having our daughter discharged from this school immediately until the School Counselor is no longer employed here,” Flint asserted.
The Principal looked stunned and observed all gathered in the room including the School Counselor who was furiously jotting down notes in her pad.
“Sir, Madam, I think that you are jumping the gun here. We called you here to ascertain the cause of your daughter’s insomnia. We have not as yet established what is truly causing it and I think it wrong for us to take her word for it when she is clearly distressed and sleep deprived,” the Principal stated.
“You are absolutely right, Principal but I have seen and heard enough today to make an informed decision. It is my professional opinion that Child Protective Services is indeed required in this case. Mrs. Kanda clearly has temper issues and Mr. Kanda is negligent in spite of his partner’s anger management issues. Miss Kanda is clearly not being parented as should be and as such, I believe proper evaluation of their home situation by Child Protective Services is necessary,” the Counselor asserted.
TO BE CONTINUED…
What shall become of the young Savior? Stay tuned to find out. The link to a previous entry in this Saga is listed down below;
elenaverseblog.wordpress.com 