The Fire Inside

Amoret

Double Update Alert!

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Over the next night, Elise went home to her husband and two kids, so Mor was left alone after taking a bath and getting in bed. She and most of the other kids were left with the lead nurse to supervise as they slept. Before going, Elise warned the lead nurse of Mor's sleeping fit and how to calm her if it happened again.

And in fact, it did. At about three A.M., Mor started kicking and thrashing in her sleep. Each of the other kids had something similar overnight with tactics to either calm or wake them. The lead nurse hushed Mor and gently lay a hand on her head. Soon thereafter, she peacefully fell asleep again.

Elise arrived around eight A.M. and clocked in. She saw the coping exercise they were going to try that day and smiled. At nine A.M., Elise grabbed a tray of breakfast and the stand stacked under the cart and took it to Mor. The girl was sleeping peacefully, curled up in a ball and clutching tightly to the blanket she had been gifted the day before. "Amoret," she whispered, coaxing her awake. Mor opened her blurry eyes to see her, still smiling from her dream. "Goodmorning."

"Morning," Mor whispered, rubbing her eyes. Elise gave Mor a breakfast of blueberry pancakes topped with strawberries and whip cream. "Thank you, ma'am."

Elise smiled. "Of course, you're welcome to anything you want."

Mor nodded. "Thank you."

This morning, Mor picked a forest green lace shirt and white pants. Elise helped brush her hair and then took her to one of the adjacent rooms that went down from the hall at the end of the big room. Inside, a bunch of the other kids were sitting on the rug or on low-lying couches. "This is the living room of the wing," Elise explained to Mor.

Mor had grown to talk a little more freely the past two days as she saw other kids doing it too. "Excuse me, ma'am, what's that?" Mor pointed to the large box at the back wall.

"That's a television. You can watch news or shows on it."

"Oh." Upfront, a few nurses were showing the kids how to use it, and Mor jumped in on the lesson. She learned how to turn the TV on and off and use the weird box thing with buttons they called a remote to change the channel. Caroline managed to figure out how to turn on a movie with the help of her nurse. They watched part of the movie before being called out for lunch. Mor sat with Caroline and Ivelle again, talking a little more with the other kids too. Elise helped her make her own sandwich with ham, cheese, butter, and rye bread. She then picked out an apple and Elise let her try to cut it...which after a few close calls in which Mor almost cut her hand a few times, Elise did it anyway. She also picked out baby carrots.

Once they were finished, the kids went back to the movie room to finish their film. But when they had gotten fifteen minutes in since they paused, one of the boys' nurses went and paused it again, making all of the kids turn their heads. "Sorry guys, we'll let you get back to your movie in just a moment. We wanted to try something new with you guys." He turned to the open door where another nurse was poking her head in. "Come on in."

One by one each of the kids' nurses came in with all different types of dogs, big or small. "Woah," someone said.

Elise walked up to Mor with a big fluffy dog. "Here, Amoret. This is Maggie."

Maggie trotted up to Mor and nudged her leg, sniffing.

"Maggie is an emotional support dog. She's here for you if you feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable or upset. She's all yours too."

Maggie rested her head against Mor's leg. "What kind of dog is she?"

Elise pet Maggie's back. "She's a four-year-old Goldendoodle."