Forever Eight

Jenna

An eight year old girl sits on a wooden chair in her room at St. Judes hospital. She watches as raindrops bead down the window and listens to the drummer who hits the roof. She kicks her legs back and forth, humming to the rhythm of the rain. A knock at the door causes her electric blue eyes to turn away from the window. They follow her mother as she rises from her seat on the couch, and opens the door. Jenna would be a spitting image of her mother if it weren't for her bald head that shines from the ceiling lights. Jenna's mother has sun kissed hair that comes to her shoulders, along with the same electric blue eyes as her daughter. She has been a single mother all of Jenna's life, after her husband died in a car crash. Behind the door is Dr. Lindsey, Jenna's doctor.  She walks into the room and Jenna's mother closes the door behind her, a gentle click echoing in the room.

"Have a seat," Dr. Lindsey tells Jenna's mom.

She sits in the wooden chair beside her daughter. Dr. Lindsey pulls over a gray, fold out chair and sits in front of them.

"I got the results back from your blood test," Dr.Lindsey says. She pauses for a minute and looks at my mom.

"I'm afraid that we didn't get the good news we were looking for," she says in a professional, but soft voice.  "We found that her cancer cells have now spread everywhere."

Tears rolled down Mrs. Conner's face, her mascara, going with it. It leaves streaks of black charcoal down her face, as if someone had painted it there. Her eyes grow red and swollen the more that she cries. She holds her daughter tight, never wanting to let her go, but she knows that one day she will have too, and sooner than she thought.

"I thought the treatment was supposed to work," Jenna's mom says, pain evident in her voice.

Dr. Lindsey shakes her head and places a comforting hand on Mrs. Conner's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she says, before rising to her feet and walking over to Jenna. She pulls her into a hug and then steps back, leaving the room without even a glance back at Jenna and her mother.

Jenna stands up from her spot on the chair and goes over to her mom, giving her a hug.

"It's going to be ok mom," Jenna says to her mother. But in reality, it wasn't going to be ok. Mrs. Conner was going to have to face every mothers biggest fear. She was going to lose her only child, and there was nothing she could do to prevent that.

Two weeks later, the daughter of Mrs. Conner was gone. She vanishes into the arms of god and finally gets to meet her father. But one thing will always be the same. She will remain, forever eight.

Jenna Elizabeth Conner
1999-2007
Loving daughter and Free Spirit