MidReal Story
Under Wraps: The Secret Life of Amelia
Scenario: My name is Amelia, and I am not incontinent! Sure, maybe I have a lot of close calls every day, like right now at school, but I do not need diapers!
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Amelia Carter
high school student, friends with Lucas and mentored by Dr. Patel, short with curly brown hair, resilient and witty
Dr. Priya Patel
school nurse and mentor to Amelia, professional relationship with Amelia, middleaged with kind eyes, compassionate and wise
Lucas Nguyen
Amelia's best friend and confidant, friends with Amelia, tall and athletic build, supportive and humorous
Chapter 1
I’m in the bathroom when it happens.
I’ve been sitting in class all day, and I have to go so bad that my bladder feels like it’s going to explode.
I rush into the stall, pull down my pants, and sit on the toilet.
But nothing happens.
I try to relax, but my muscles are too tight.
I take a deep breath and try again.
Still nothing.
I’ve been sitting through all of my classes trying to focus on what the teacher is saying, but all I can think about is how badly I have to pee.
The pressure’s building in my lower stomach and spreading through my body like a virus until it’s the only thing that matters.
When the bell sounds for lunch, I grab my stuff and head straight to the girls’ bathroom.
There’s no one else here, so I rush into a stall and close the door behind me before pulling down my pants and sitting on the toilet.
Nothing happens.
There’s no reason for this; it just happens sometimes, no matter how bad I have to go or where I am at the time.
It feels like my body has forgotten how to pee, and no matter how hard I try or how much I wish I could make it happen, nothing comes out.
The pressure builds until it hurts, until I can’t stand it anymore.
Sometimes, when this happens, there are accidents—embarrassing ones that force me to walk around with wet pants for the rest of the day—and other times, like right now, it just won’t happen no matter what I do and how badly I need it to.
My hands shake as they reach up to cover my face while tears prickle at the corners of my eyes.
It hurts so much because there’s no relief in sight, and even though it feels like there’s a dam about to burst inside me, not a single drop will come out no matter how hard I try.
There are times when this happens at home too, and usually I just skip school or stay home from work until things finally start moving again because otherwise it’s unbearable—but today isn’t one of those days.
And then, just as I think that I’m going to die from the pain of holding it in, something miraculous happens: there’s relief!
It’s not much, but it’s enough to make me feel like I won’t explode into a million pieces—and even though I know that this is only temporary, I also know that it will be enough to get me through the rest of the day without any accidents happening because of how full I was after drinking so many glasses of water last night before bed.
I pull up my pants as quickly as possible and try to clean up with what little toilet paper there is left in the dispenser (because of course, there isn’t enough!).
It takes several handfuls before I’m satisfied that everything is clean enough for now, but then I hear footsteps outside and realize that someone else is coming in!
Panicking at the thought of being caught half-dressed by some random girl I don’t even know, I quickly wash my hands before drying them on a paper towel.
I wipe away any stray tears that might still be on my cheeks, and then I take a deep breath to try and calm down before fixing my hair in the mirror.
My eyes are swollen from crying, and they hurt so much that I can barely open them all the way—but when I manage to look at myself, I see that there’s a weak smile on my face despite everything.
It may not be much, but it’s better than nothing; so with one last glance at myself, I turn around to leave just as another girl walks in.
She smiles sympathetically at me when she sees how red and puffy my eyes are, but then she also notices what I’m holding in one hand: "Oh no! Did you run out of toilet paper?"
I nod miserably.
"Yeah…"
I mumble, trying not to cry again from the embarrassment—and maybe it was obvious enough for her to figure out the rest on her own—because even though school has been over for hours now, there are still students coming and going through here between classes.
I try to smooth my hair down over my face so that I can hide behind it a little bit, but it’s only when I’m finally back in the hallway and walking toward my classroom that I start to relax again.
It was a close call, but at least it’s over now; and while today may have been worse than most, it’s not like this has never happened before.
I mean… sure, there are times when I can hold it in all day without any problems, and then other days when I can’t seem to make it to the bathroom on time no matter how hard I try—but for the most part, this is just one of those things that has always been a part of my life.
I’ve dealt with this since I was a little girl, but over time I’ve learned how to manage it pretty well; and even though accidents like this still happen sometimes, today wasn’t one of them.
Once I’m inside the classroom, I hurry straight to my desk without looking around at anyone else—and in a way, it makes me feel better about what happened.
After all, if no one saw me go into the bathroom with wet eyes and come out with wet clothes, then maybe they’ll never even know that anything happened at all!
But from the other side of the room, I catch Lucas’s eye as soon as I walk in; and while he doesn’t say anything right away, there’s no mistaking the look on his face.
My best friend and I have always been able to communicate silently like that with nothing but a single glance or facial expression.
And after everything we’ve been through together over the years, he knows me well enough by now that he can tell when something’s wrong.
But as soon as I catch sight of him looking at me like that, I give him a quick thumbs-up before dropping down into my seat; and it seems to reassure him just enough that he doesn’t press for more.
Lucas and I have always had a little bit of a twisted sense of humor about this kind of thing.
I mean, what else could we do except laugh about it?
It’s better than crying!
And while there are plenty of times when accidents really do happen and things get pretty bad for me—like today could have been if I hadn’t managed to hold it in just long enough—my best friend is always there for me whenever things do get tough.
