Jaime’s POV

“You needed me, Dr. Wilson?” I asked him. We sat down in two fairly comfortable chairs on the balcony overlooking the lobby four stories down. I saw Alex rubbing Jack’s back for him, and Rian and Zack coloring a picture together. Outside, three boys and one very angered season all argued beside a bus.

If only Willow was there to kick the door down for them.

“Yes, I needed to give you some instructions for when Willow is released from the hospital.” He spoke in his soft tone. He always had that air around him, like he was dancing around delicate subjects. I mean, he is a doctor. He always has to be careful.

“Oh, that.” I sighed in relief. I thought it was going to be something worse!

“Here’s a packet on trauma patients and how to help care for them after they’ve been released from the hospital. On page four, there’s some guidelines for what to do if Willow is feeling lightheaded, sick, dizzy, or just isn’t feeling well. It’s pretty basic stuff and I have a feeling that Willow will be healing just fine. I’ve also stapled a packet about blindness and helping out people who are blind.” His pen tapped the edges of my packet. I flipped to the back, where green paper was stapled to the white.

How to care for the blind: A way to help those around you see the world in a new perspective!

Just because it had a picture of a cloud with a smile on it doesn’t make it a “happy subject”.

“Oh, thank you.” I responded while setting the packet down on my lap. He tapped his blue capped pen on his wrist a couple of times while we sat in silence.

“Would Willow be described as outgoing? Risk-taking? A daredevil or constantly active?” He asked softly. Again with the soft voice! Gosh, it was really starting to make me anxious.

But he did seem genuinely worried.

“Well, yeah. She loved concerts, she wants to go cliff diving, and if she can get passport to Egypt, ride camels.” I shrugged casually.

MD absolutely loved to go on adventures. She was so active and would constantly beg me to take her to amusement parks or find something new to do. One of her favorite places was an indoor rock climbing arena called Rock n’ and Jam n’, a place in Colorado just outside of Denver.

“Well, there’s no easy way to say this, but she can’t really do that stuff anymore.” His soft eyes met mine. I saw a thousand emotions flicker through that one glance. The elevator behind us dinged as a small family moved through the halls. The little boy in the back caught my eye. I smiled a little, but didn’t feel happy at all.

“Wait, why? I mean, yeah, we’ll keep her resting for a few weeks, but once she gets better, she should be able to do that stuff, right?” As soon as I said that, Dr. Wilson shook his head. I gulped nervously. Below us, Rian whined for Zack to give him the blue crayon.

“No, not even then. You see, her brain has this wonderful, incredible, and amazing thing it does. It’s little known to medical science yet, but her brain can repair itself.” Dr. Wilson gasped, seemingly amazed at this. I tapped my heel on the ground, waiting patiently.

“Well, why can’t she do all her favorite things?” I asked, growing increasingly frustrated.

“She will die.”

“What?” I put bluntly. The doctor nodded. My entire body went numb. No, this couldn’t be happening…

“Her brain is working so hard to try to repair itself, that it will slowly wear down until it eventually cannot work anymore. Willow’s brain has been hard at work remaking the part of her brain that controls language. When she was hit by the car and then the sign, something sparked in there and restarted her language functions. That’s why she can speak now. Now her brain has to deal with repairing the sight functions of the brain. Her brain is like a machine; the more machines work, the faster they wear out.” He explained. My mouth went numb. It was a couple of seconds before I could speak.

“I…I don’t understand.” I stuttered, not able to comprehend.

“The more Willow puts herself at risk, the more her brain is going to have to work to repair any damages that is caused to it. The more the brain has to work, the faster it wears out. The faster it wears out, the sooner it shuts down. As soon as it shuts down, her body will fail. When her body fails…she will die.” The doctor explained, his eyes wide with worry. I put my head in my hands.

“So….s-she’s g-going to d-die?” I sputtered and moaned. The doctor’s hand gently patted my shoulder. I shook my head, running my hands through my hair. There has to be a solution, there has to!

“It’s a terrible price to pay for such an amazing gift, but she will die earlier than most people. People with such damage to the brain would’ve been dead years ago, or disabled for the rest of their life! She’s lucky to have such a unique gift to be able to recover from these.” He appeared hopefully, but I saw through his voice. Soft classical music started to play downstairs. I think the nurse at the desk was playing it to drown out Jack’s snores as he fell asleep.

“Please, isn’t there a way to stop this from happening? To help her stay alive a little longer?” I choked out, nearly in tears. No, I had to be strong for Willow. I had to be strong for her.

“Really the only way to help her live a little longer is to make sure that she isn’t at risk of another head injury. If you can keep her away from things that will bring further injury to her head, it might help. The less the brain has to repair itself, then it won’t have to work as hard and in turn, won’t wear down any faster than normal.” The doctor said. I numbly flipped through the packets, trying to distract myself from things. There was minutes of silence before I finally looked up. I could almost feel the energy of my impatient friend waiting for me in her room.

“So no more cliff diving?”

“Or camel races.” The doctor chuckled. I tried to smile, but it all felt so fake. This happiness felt so wrong. How could I be happy she was alive when she had to deal with this!? And now she was dying!

“Should I tell her?” I asked him. Wilson shook his head, taking me a bit by surprise. I bit my lip and started to stand up. We walked back towards Willow’s room.

“No, she’s already in enough pain and this might cause her some anxiety. Let’s just keep this low key. Tell the others if you want, but until she’s feeling better, try to keep this between yourselves.” The doctor smiled. I nodded, thanking him.

“When can she be released?” I asked him. Once more, he flipped through his clipboard of papers. The ocean of ink and paper seemed to be flooded with terrible news.

“Hopefully the day after tomorrow. We fixed her ribs and her head will be healing soon. There shouldn’t be too much more healing for us to help with.” With that, the doctor disappeared into another room and I slowly opened Willow’s door with my hands shaking.

“Hey, Willow.” I whispered as I got into her room.

“Hi, Jaime.”

“Feeling better?” I asked her hopefully. She kept staring at the wall, as if she could see it. The packet in my hands weighed a thousand pounds. It was as if it dragged my feet across the floor for me. I plopped down in the chair next to her. She laughed a little.

“Sure. Not as bad as when I was flying through the air.” She chuckled softly. I took her hand in mine. It felt so small, so delicate now. She used to be so hardy and could take hits from anyone or anything. MD could crush mountains with her pinky but wouldn’t hurt that caterpillar that crawled on the bus. She had strength and was so resilient, but now…it was like she was a fragile glass sculpture: beautiful, but so delicate.

I held her hand in both of mine, keeping both hands around it. She felt so cold to my touch. I held it up to my cheek, feeling the icy touch. Her thumb stroked my cheek.

“Jaime, why are you so sad?” She whispered to me. I saw her hand pull away, a shiny tear perched on the pad of her thumb.

“Oh, I just thought I might’ve lost you when I saw the car hit you.” I whispered, feeling a little bad for telling a partial lie. I did feel like I lost her when I saw the car contact with her body, but that wasn’t the reason I was crying.

“Well, I’m here now, silly. I just want to get out of here.” She smiled, still staring forward. I saw those wonderful blue eyes of hers that held the sea in two small orbs. I saw such beauty reflected in those, even though she couldn’t see the world back. They weren’t glazed over, but still bright and shining. You wouldn’t know she was blind unless she told you.

Why does such a beautiful girl have to hold a clock in her mind?

“The doctor said they’ll set you free in a couple of days. We just have to be patient.” I whispered back, holding on to the tears that were trying to escape. She held her hand out for me to take again. I grasped it in both of mine. Her fingers automatically intertwined with mine, as if she wouldn’t let go again.

“Shoot. Will we get back in time for Mike to play Skee-ball with Rena?” She questioned hopefully. I nodded, but then realized she wouldn’t see my small gestures.

“Yeah, it’s only Monday. We’ll be home in no time. You can see Jake again.” I whispered. She turned towards me, but her eyes were looking at the cabinet behind me.

“Jaime?”

“Oh, sorry. You’ll…um…hear Jake!” I added. She gave me that curvy grin of hers that I always loved.

“I can hear him sneeze and snore. Yep, that’s the life.” She sighed, as if content despite her situation.

“Are you, um, sad…that you’re blind?” I asked her cautiously. I don’t want to upset her too much, like the doctor said.

“At first, I was. I was a little angry and upset and confused because I couldn’t tell up from down. But then, I realized that being blind has its perks, even if it is possibly temporary. I mean, you can accidentally trip people you hate and no one gets mad because you can’t see. Oh! You can ride rollercoasters and fell like you’re floating!” She laughed. At the last part, I frowned, but didn’t want to say anything about what the doctor had told me.

“Oh, yeah, sounds fun.” I responded weakly. She gave my hand a squeeze.

“This is just a new adventure for us, Himes.”

Notes