"Wait," Cammie said holding up her hands as Evan gently pulled off the bandages around her face, keeping her new face together. She had seen her face for the first time just days before, but not without the bandage along the border, where they sliced away Caroline and placed her on top of Cammie's once destroyed face. The sutures were still visible, and she needed to be careful still, but this face was hers. Her face was also always sore. "I want to see it before you put a new bandage on." Evan nodded and turned her in her chair so she faced the mirror. She kept her eyes closed not wanting to know what she would look like when this was all over. Without the gauze, before all the healing.
"You ready for... oh." Scarlett said freezing in her spot. She hadn't seen Cammie's face without the bandage before, Evan always changed the wrap, he was better at it, had more experience. It was still her little girl, but she was so different. Cammie opened her eyes and saw what her mom saw. A face that wasn't hers, but a face that would move at her command. A face that she would have hopefully for the rest of her life. Cammie turned away from the mirror without saying a word and Evan began to wrap her face again.
"We are going to facial stretches today."
"Jaw strengthening."
"Fine motor control."
"Working on your vowel."
Each therapy revealed a new exercise for Cammie to do daily, multiple times a day to regain full function of her face. She didn't like doing them, she felt strange. One exercise she was to look in the mirror and make faces. Shape her lips into an O, pucker her lips, clamp her lips shut. She had to see what she was doing to make sure she was actually doing the exercises correctly. She saw a lot of herself. In the beginning that was hard. She had focus only on her lips and then her eyes as she blinked, winked, rose her eye brows, then her nose, she couldn't focus on her whole face for over a month.
When Cammie got the surgery the school year was starting up again and she was devastated that she wouldn't be able to join her classmates again, but also relieved. School being just her and Colton had been easy and fun, going back was slightly terrifying and her parents told her that if she didn't want to go back she didn't have to, she could do homeschooling like they had planned after her sophomore year.
But, Cammie got a face back and she swore that once she did, if she did let's face it she lost hope for a while. If she got a face, a fresh start, a new mask she would do everything, go everywhere. She would volunteer at church again with the little kids whom she loved so much. She would never miss another game of Eliot's they pinky promised that. She would do her own sports again and keep spending time with good people, like Colton. She vowed and pleaded and she got what she wanted, but it had been months since her surgery now and she had also vowed to get back to school, to be normal. To ask that really cute guy out as well.
