Through The Doorway

[Artemis Tuuri]

Well, this is going terribly well, thought Artemis sadly as she peeked out of the crack in the doorway for a moment. I have the strangest feeling that I’ve only embarrassed myself. It was just typical. But what else was she meant to think? Apparently someone had not told her something; why on Earth should Art have been expecting something like this? Art shook her head at Patricia to say that she was not feeling any better, but nodded as though to thank her for the consideration.

“I have a feeling that this situation isn’t all it seemed, is it? But I really don’t know what’s going on-" began Artemis, but squeaked and ran towards the bathroom. Several minutes later, she shuffled out of the cubicle in a strange manner, as though she had been layering a lot of toilet paper in her knickers. Her cheeks were bright pink with embarrassment, but her face was grim with a determination to find out the truth of the matter. “Can ‘ye explain now? I’m sorry that I’m so confused, but frankly this is weird!” she exclaimed to Pat. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she added in a tiny voice.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Closed, seriously haha

Patricia looked at the girls face, it was clear to see she was distressed about the whole situation. Obviously she would be distressed, Patricia remembered being in the situation herself and even though she knew what was happening, it was still an awkward time. At least Artemis didn't have to go to a teacher to ask for help. Patricia listened to the girl as she started talking, as Patricia tried to think of the words in her head that would be easiest for the girl to understand, but as she did she heard the girl stop mid-sentence and run into one of the cubicals.

Patricia waited until she came out again, she could see the girls face had turned a different shade altogether. Poor thing she thought to herself. Patricia heard the girls request and nodded her head, it was about time she cleared the confusion. "Well the cramps don't tend to stay for too long, they come and go so expect them back at some stage." she warned the girl. They were well and truely the worst part of the deal. "Well what's happening to you is far from weird, it's actually very normal for girls your age." she started off, expecting that letting the girl know she wasn't alone would be a good way to start off. "Well Artemis to be quite frank you have your period!" she said straight out, not wanting to have to say the embarrassing things like you have become a woman it was so cringe worthy. "Do you know what that is?" she asked, to be sure.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

Apparently she did not. For when Patricia introduced the topic altogether, Artemis's face became more and more astounded, so flabbergasted that her entire face became a living emoticon of shock and horror. Mutely she shook her head from side to side, her pointed ears flapping a little in the breeze. But then she paused, and her entire face changed to 'thinking hard'. Art was like a fairy; only room for one emotion at a time. "Well, Bess and Connie sometimes whinge to themselves about it sometimes, and Deirdre used to get reeeaaally grumpy when Simon stole the bathroom before her, right about this time. But ... does that mean that ..." Her enormous hazel eyes grew even larger till they seemed to take up her entire face with horror. "It's coming back?" she gasped.

Her first instinct was to throw a tantrum, but 'Little ladies ought not to shout and scream when they can be quiet and still to deal with things instead.' her father used to say, and so she did. "No," she told Pat slowly, raising her head again. "No, I'm really not sure what it is. But if some girls have it," she paused and gulped. "If...if all girls have it, then why hasn't anyone told me? I was so frightened!". Little did poor Artemis know that she had been the early bird in a family of five women. Her mother had said nothing because she hadn't been expecting Art to get hers so soon; it was quite out of character in their family. "What am I to do about it!" exclaimed Art, still with eyes as round and saucers, the expression giving her a very good impression of a squirrel.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Feel free to shout obscenities to me later

Patricia bit her bottom lip as the younger girl seemed to be getting more and more confused about the topic. How could someone not have told her? Patricia wondered to herself. Luckily Patricia had got it at quite a young age, so she was still at home and had her parents there with her, and her mum had told her about it before so it wasn't such a shock to the younger Patricia. But with Artemis staying away from home for most of the year, how could her mother not have given her the heads up about it. Patricia listened to the girl talk about girls and when they showed some of the more obvious symptoms of their 'little friend' coming to visit. At the little girls shriek Patricia let out a little giggle, it really was a rotten deal. "I'm afraid so." she said, sympathy clear on her face, she knew all about it too well.

As Artemis began to question why no one had explained to her about this beforehand Patricia shrugged and shook her head, "I really don't know hun. I was wondering the same thing myself. My mum told me when I was 8 or 9. Are you sure your mum never mentioned it to you?" she asked softly, wanting to clear things up. Under moments of distress it was easy to forget some of the little things you have been told over the years. When the little girl asked her what she was to do about Patricia went a little red in the face. She never imagined herself having to tell someone about things like this, or at least not until she was waayyyy older and telling her own children. "Well..." she started off.

She explained to her about how it came every month and the signs that showed the girl it was coming. She suggested keeping a calendar as it could help her know in advance of when it was coming. Finally she mentioned about the hygiene part of it, about keeping clean and the pads. "I have a few spare if you want some to tide you over until you can get your family to owl you some. Or I'd say the nurse would have some." she suggested. Patricia really did feel sorry for Artemis, she just hoped she hadn't scared the poor girl with all this, it was a hard thing to take in at such a young age, especially by someone who was, after all, a complete stranger until a short while ago.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

“Nah, not a peep. It just seems so random to me, so unnatural.” said Artemis awkwardly, trying to think of a better way to express her astonishment. Patricia seemed to be taking it all in her stride, so that must mean that whatever was happening to her wasn’t unheard of. She took comfort in this, and decided to make sure she new every single last detail of this strange phenomenon. After all, she liked all that medical jargon and those weird catastrophe’s that Father would come home and tell them about. She would treat this as one of those things.

Her face went through hundreds of different expressions. From disbelief to bewilderment, disgust to fascination, until it made it’s final stop at embarrassment. Has she really made such a fuss over what Pat explained was simple ‘bleeding’ that wasn’t even bleeding? With her brows pressed so closely together that they looked like she only had one, Artemis looked up at Patricia and finally said “That is completely and utterly disgusting, and I want to be a boy now.”

Perhaps it had been a childish thing to say, and she was supposed to be a woman now, but Art didn’t feel any more womanly, just icky. “Well, well I mean ... It’s just so strange. I know what to do now, but ... But why does it happen?” asked Art, shaking her head to herself. “I mean, it makes a little bit of sense now. Maybe I did hear of it once and paid it no mind. But it can’t be that woman do this every single month and not have a reason, right?” she decided clinically. Turning her eyes back to her helper, grateful but still not satisfied yet, Artemis asked “Do ’ye know why all this occurs?”. She expected that Patricia wouldn’t. Must be one of life’s greatest mysteries, thought Art.

 

[Patricia Styx]

The above option still stands -_-

Patricia nodded sympathetically to Artemis, it was all she could over as she had been warned well ahead of time by her mother, to have to go to a school, so far from her family Patricia wondered if she have been able to cope. As Patricia explained everything as well as she could to the young girl she saw her facial expression change, she must have gone through everyone imaginable. Although Patricia tried her best to not laugh at the girl, she knew it must have been hard for her and she felt sorry but when she thought about it all the older people in Pat's life when she had got her period laughed at her during her first time. Although that was more coos of affection, commenting on how she was becoming a woman, something she was never do to anyone.

Patricia urge to not laugh broke soon after though when she heard the girls wish to become a boy. "Eww! No you don't want that." she said giggling as she shook her head. "Boys are icky." she said in a silly way, hoping to lighten the mood a bit, this after all was a fact of life so the girl was going to have to get over it eventually. Patricia let the girl talk, she had a lot of questions and Pat was going to try her best to answer them. She didn't want the girl to have to go ask another stranger or an older member of staff, telling this to someone once would be hard enough for her without having to tell someone else. Biting her lip Patricia began to think of what the best way to describe why this was happening, without completely freaking her out. "Well. When you start your period your body starts to develop." she stopped, explaining a few of the more finer details on what develops exactly. Once that was done she explained how having your period plays a big part in being able to become pregnant. After having gone red explaining that part she let out a sigh of relief, "Does that clear that up for you?" she asked, hoping it had.