Now that Emily was 12, she could walk toschool without her parents. And even better, she could go with her best friend,Heidi, who lived on the same street as her.
The only problem was, that Emily had towalk the long way round, which took them a good 15 minutes longer. She justcould not take the shortcut through the park.
Most days it didn't matter that much, butthere were times when it was a real a pain, like when it was raining, or whenthey were late for registration.
But Heidi never complained. Even if itmeant getting a detention for being late, Heidi walked beside her friend.
They had been hanging out at each other’shouses for as long as they could remember. The best times were when they hadsleepovers and could sit up late talking about anything and everything andeveryone.
So if anyone understood why Emily could notwalk through the park, it was Heidi.
Emily was a sweet girl, bubbly in natureand full of fun, except when she was shy at times. She thought it was reallytough to be both bubbly and shy - like both parts of her personality werefighting.
And she had an even bigger problem… Aproblem that affected her daily life, as it caused her to avoid certain placeswhere ‘they’ might be.
She was always conscious of where she wentand got quite good at finding ways to avoid bumping into any of ‘them’. It wasalways in the back of her mind to take a preemptive tactic to keep away from‘one’. I mean she planned ahead good and proper before she headed outdoors orto a friends’ home. She could spot ‘one’ a mile away! And if ever thathappened, she’d hurtle across the road in a flash to the other side, sometimeswithout thinking. (Which is obviously very dangerous as we all need to be awareof road safety!)
She was beginning to feel that her own fearwas hindering her from living life to the full. She was starting to becometired of constantly dodging her big fear:
Dogs!
All dogs!
Big bouncing dogs!
Tiny yappy dogs!
Even the cutest little teddy bear dogs withbig puppy eyes!
She was scared of them all!
But the strange thing was, she didn'tdislike dogs. In fact she was quite fond of the idea of them.
What she wanted so badly was to be able topet a dog like ‘normal’ people did. She was sad that she wasn't like her bigsister, Lola or Heidi who were able to happily and easily play with a friend’sdog, without going into a full blown panic attack! Poor Emily really felt shewas missing out. She had tried many times to pluck up the courage to pet onebut just couldn't manage it. There had been brief moments where she verybravely agreed to accompany her parents for their long country walks theyenjoyed so much. You see, they lived in a little part of England, called Oxfordwhich is blessed by lush, green countryside. A great place to go for beautifulwalks along the River Thames where dog lovers also take their beloved pets forfresh long runs or walks along the meadow.
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