Macie's Story

1

Macie was swinging her feet back and forward as she sat in the chair, fiddling her fingers in her lap as she waited. Occasionally she would look up to one of her parents sitting on either side of her and would watch them for a moment, watch how they were sitting, but she could never focus on them long enough before she'd find interest in following the patterned specs on the floor with her eyes.

Hailey had one leg crossed over the other and she could feel her toes on one foot nervously tapping in her shoe. Her hands were folded in front of her to stop herself picking at her nails.

The hallway was empty, and there was the faint sound of the receptionist typing away behind the closed door leading out to the lobby. Hailey had blocked it out for a while, but when Macie complained about how annoying the noise was, that was all she could hear.

Jay moved his hand away from where it had rested on his jaw and checked the watch on his wrist. "What's taking them so long?" He asks, staring at the door to the office they were waiting to be invited into.

Hailey moved her eyes onto Jay, who turned his head to meet it simultaneously. "They'll be out any minute."

Macie groans in the middle. "I'm bored!" She all but throws her head back. "I wanna go home."

"Me too," Jay says and on the side of his face, he can feel the slight stare he got in return from Hailey. "But you've gotta see this special doctor, Mace, she's gonna help you."

The six-year-old brings her eyebrows to form a line as she stares up at her father. "Why do I need help?"

Hailey taps Macie's shoulder, quickly gaining the young one's attention. "Because you're struggling with your learning at school, and you need help to make sure you don't struggle any more."

This just seems to stir up further questions for the tiny blonde, and she continues to flash her gaze between her mother and father.

"Why am I struggling at school?" She wonders.

Jay shrugs his shoulders. "We don't know, that's why we're here, so we can find out."

Macie's legs seem to swing a little faster. "Is my brain broken?"

The fast question catches Hailey and Jay by surprise, and both of them stare down at their daughter, unsure of what to say next. Ever since Hailey had been pulled into the classroom by the teacher a few days prior, they had been worried about if there was something making her learning harder, and Mae's appointment with Doctor Charles had only escalated the concerns, but Jay had told her not to focus on that until they knew what it was for certain.

That's why they were here; to see if Doctor Charles had been right when Macie had her consultation with him earlier in the week.

Hailey quickly shakes her head. "No, baby, your brain isn't broken," she replies, earning a questioning look in return. "It might just be a little different."

"Why?" Mae asks again.

"I don't know." The words fall from the detective's lips as more of a whisper.

Macie jerks forward in the plastic chair. "But you're grown-ups, you know everything."

Jay sits up in the chair and looks over at his wife with a subtle tilt in his head, stopping her from responding straight away. "Should we tell her?" He questions.

"This isn't exactly where I planned on doing it." Hailey says, referring to their position as she side-eyes the office door and empty corridor around them.

Jay raises his eyebrows. "It might help her understand this all a little more."

The younger one jumps in, darting her gaze up at both her parents. "Is it about how my brain's maybe a bit different?"