Dec 1st

Elena was fourteen years old the first time she realized her abilities.

It was a cold Sunday afternoon, December 1st, the year 2013.

Elena had lain in her very comfortable bed at the provincial children’s hospital with Caroline by her side. Caroline had gotten some terrible news from the doctor about her daughter’s condition that afternoon, it had to do with the fact that her daughter was not progressing or responding to treatments as the doctors had expected her to.

So. Caroline had come into her daughter’s room with tears in her eyes, she was tired and her shoulders were downcast. She looked like she was about to cry but she held back her tears; she wanted to be strong for her daughter. She did not walk to Elena’s bed but instead stood by the window looking out towards the parking lot, her arm across her chest and the other on her face.

“what is it, mummy?” Elena had asked in her faint voice.

“Nothing honey. Go back to sleep” Caroline said as she wiped a tear from her eye and walked towards Elena.

Elena did not want to sleep, she wanted to comfort her mum, to tell her to wipe her tears, Elena had watched her mother too many times, as she sat with her in the hospital rooms that she sometimes wished her mother would go away, even for a little while, so she gets some time to herself as well but Caroline never left her, she went home briefly some days but was always back almost immediately; not spending enough time with her other daughters nor with her husband.

Caroline pulled up a chair beside the bed and took her daughter’s hand with a weak smile on her face “everything is going to be fine honey. You are going to be fine.” She said

Elena did not believe her. Not a word. she knew her mum was hiding something and she suspected it was something the doctor had told her; something they had all feared. Elena had long ago reconciled with the fact that she may never have a normal life like that of her sisters, Alexis and Cassandra, she had cried about it a lot but also accepted it. Even though the words had not been spoken, she had already mentally prepared herself for the worst. She looked at her mother deeply and searched her eyes for answers, the answers Caroline was not willing to give her and Caroline quickly looked away.

“mum” Elena pleaded and Caroline turned to her again, this time she could not hide the tears that swelled up in her eyes like puddles of rainwater. The tears ran down her cheeks and she wiped them away quickly. Elena held her mother’s hands again and looked into her eyes. She wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine, that she was going to be okay, she did not want her mother to worry about her. She looked reassuringly into her mother’s eyes and they held each other’s gaze for a couple of minutes before Elena lost herself.

Elena found herself journeying out of her body and feeling very light and even though she consciously struggled to stop, she could not. She kept floating away and it felt to her like this was her death, her final rest but she was wrong. she soon saw herself slide open a heart-shaped door and once she proceeded to go through the door, she was automatically in possession of her mother’s body and mind. That was a strange experience for her and very scary as well. She knew who she was, Elena, and she knew this was her mother, Caroline so why was she seeing her mother’s thoughts? She did not understand what was going on.

Elena stood to get up and as she did, she realized that her mother was the person getting up while she, Elena lay sound asleep on the hospital bed. She had access to her mother’s memories and all her emotions. She could sense the fear that Caroline had been feeling, the sadness and everything. She could also remember some things that Caroline had experienced or heard, one of them being the fact that her daughter, Elena would never be able to walk.

Elena was in absolute shock!

She remembered the birth of the triplets and the accidental drop of one of the babies on the hard-wooden floor by their aunt, Elizabeth. A drop that caused Elena to have a brain injury, resulted in a series of sicknesses that took over her early life. She remembered all the emotions her mother had felt on that day and the weeks and months that followed. The hurt and blame ultimately consumed the relationship she had with her sister, Elizabeth.

In minutes, her mother’s life flashed before her, like they were the same person. She could not explain it. In her confused state, she walked towards the reception where she met her favorite nurse. The nurse had always been extra nice to her, sometimes bringing her treats. She approached and heard her say

“I am sorry Caroline. I know we had hoped for the best. I have grown fond of your little girl”

“thank you. I am grateful for all your help and the treats” Elena heard herself say.

“Wow. why did she sound like her mum?” she thought to herself.

Elena hurried back to the bed and tried to wake up her sleeping body that was still sprawled on the bed…

“get up baby, Elena please wake up,” she said. In panic.

She kept shaking her sleeping frame. “This can not be it; I cannot be dead; this is not how death was made to sound in the movies. I am not ready. I am only fourteen.” The words kept pouring out of Elena. She was scared, fear draped every part of her as she came to her conclusions.

She instantly wished that she would return to her body, that the whole thing could just be a dream and that she was not dead, because that is what she thought had happened and in the seconds that followed, Elena started a series of coughs and jumped out of her hospital bed, in her own body. She found her mum lying on the floor, helpless. The fear and confusion intensified and she screamed,

“help”

Elena dialed the nurse who came running in with a couple of others to perform resuscitation on Caroline. Soon Caroline was conscious and looked around her

“What happened?” she asked

“can you remember anything?” a nurse asked her

“no. I think I fell asleep or something. I can’t remember anything. The last thing I remember was me holding my daughter’s hands”

“do you remember your name?” the nurse asked again

“yes, of course, I remember. My name is Caroline.”

“do you know what day it is?” she was asked again

“yes. It's December 1st,” she responded

“what’s going on” she probed. She got scared all of a sudden. What may have happened to her daughter?

“is Elena okay?” she looked up to Elena as she tried to get up with the help of the nurses.

“I am fine mummy. Oh my God, I was so scared, I thought something bad had happened to you” Elena cried as she came down from the bed and her feet touched the ground. She staggered out as the nurses tried to stop her from moving.

“I am fine” she insisted. She walked to her mother.

“Elena, what’s going on. This must be some kind of miracle” Caroline said ecstatically as she watched her daughter stand and walk unaided.

“I will go get the doctor,” one of the nurses said as she ran outside.

Everyone including Elena was very surprised.

They were surprised because Elena was walking unaided on her feet after suffering for fourteen years of her life. After years of being cramped in a wheelchair and lots of unyielding physiotherapies. After accepting the fact that I was not ever going to walk.

And unexpectedly, here she was on December 1st, 2013, standing and walking to her mother.

Caroline screamed for joy and squashed her daughter into a tight hug.

Elena never forgot the cry of joy her mum let out that day.

She never did!