Dried Tears
Sunlight trickled through the vertical blinds. The small openings allowed a tiny view of the evergreen trees outside. This was a usual sight to the young girl in bed. The ordinary hospital bed was pushed up to the wall with the window, just for her. For six years of her entire life, she spent it in this very room, fighting an odd form of cancer while drawing out her dreams and writing.
But this morning, the young girl was expecting company. Waking to the morning sun, the girl forced her body to sit up. She peeked out the window, seeing the walkway that disappeared into the trees entirely deserted. Doubt flickered in her green eyes, her lips forming a frown. She laid back down, her black brown hair falling over her face.
A nurse came in with a trolley, an optimistic smile on her face.
"Mari, breakfast," the nurse said. Mari pushed back her hair and forced herself again, a look of dejection on her face. The nurse pulled a bedside tray over and placed a tray of pancakes, eggs, and sausage with a glass of orange juice and two sets of pills.
"What's with that look? Doctor Alexander said he'd be here in the morning, not first thing."
Mari pulled out a notepad from under her pillow and a pen from a cup on a table close to her bed. A simple scribble of I know was written and Mari gave a weak smile.
Though she was twelve and couldn't remember her life before coming to the hospital high in the mountains of Oregon, she was mature and no one understood how she had lost hope for living. Until Dr. Alexander came in to check on her as a study case. Her cancer was in her legs but it affected her heart strongly and sometimes sent her into spasms. Now that hardly happens. Mari had been asked to draw every time her emotions were overwhelming, to write stories and poems of what she dreamed of the future. It had taken her a while but it helped the most. She soon started thinking of 'what if's. It became an inspiration.
Mari picked at her food, a smile hidden by the curtain of her hair. Mari silently nodded to herself. Where did this impatience come from? The nurse had a slight smirk.
"There you go. Go on like that and his arrival will be quick," the nurse encouraged, earning an appreciative smile from Mari before leaving her to breakfast. Mari dug in excitedly. Rarely did the hospital make this kind of breakfast. It was normally cream-o'-wheat or a breakfast stew, making it so much easier to feed the other patients. Mari wasn't sure what made today special other than Dr. Alexander coming up.
Needless, Mari smiled, enjoying the food with great pleasure. She finished in time for the nurse to come back and make sure she took her pills before taking the tray. She was replaced by another nurse who helped her to the bathroom so she can bathe. The nurses enjoyed Mari. She was the only patient capable of taking care of herself. With a smile, the nurse sat close by as required as Mari cleaned herself thoroughly, yet briskly.
She was left in her room after being fully dressed in a blue dress that barely reached her knees. The blinds were fully drawn, the window opened to allow in a breeze. It was forbidden for the patients to go in the yard out front. Many had slight schizophrenia and with small animals, rabbits in particular, running about, it would set them off. Before, even opened windows were forbidden, especially for Mari.
A breeze played with Mari's hair as she braided a ribbon into a bit of it. Constantly, she glanced out the window, still looking for the doctor. The day went on and soon, the sun was setting. Mari's hope dwindled to nothing. She silently stared at her legs, not really seeing anything. She closed the window, the warm breeze blowing chilling her. A nurse came in and Mari masked her disappointment. Following in behind the nurse was Dr. Alexander. He came to her bedside, the nurse leaving, and Mari hugged him tightly, beginning to cry.
"Sorry I was late, Mari," he whispered, hugging her back. "I hope you haven't lost hope."
"Not yet," Mari said, her voice hardly hearable. It was the first time she spoke in her life that she can remember. She had stopped crying and let herself be comforted by Dr. Alexander. "Not yet.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.07.2011

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