Hiding Inside

Beautiful Hope

Christine awoke in a haze. Her vision was blurry and her head was throbbing. She tried to lift her arms, but she felt as though she was being held down by restraints, but there was no bondage keeping her in place. Her eyes finally began to adjust to the light, and she realized she was in a different room. There were nurses busily moving about, all wearing masks and gloves. She started to feel very uncomfortable, and terror started to set in. What is happening? She tried to speak but her words were muffled by a mask covering her mouth and nose.
One of the nurses noticed Christine was awake. "She's awake again, give her some more juice." She said. Another nurse promptly started messing with a nearby machine and suddenly Christine's vision went black.

Several hours later...

"Christine?" A soft voice whispered. "Christine, Honey. Are you awake?"
She strained to open her eyes. The light was like acid, and she winced. Her arms still felt heavy, but she was able to bring her hand up to rub her eyes.
"What happened?" Christine asked.
"You are ok now, but you needed an emergency surgery on your leg." Dr. Getz brushed Christine's hair from her face. "But luckily, the surgery allowed us to go in and repair the ligaments that were damaged during the accident."
Christine had no idea what that meant, but the casts were off of her legs and she could wiggle her toes! She was still in a lot of pain, even with the morphine dripping into her IV, but she could finally see her feet and touch her legs. There was a large patch taped to one of her legs, where Christine assumed they did the surgery. It felt amazing to touch the skin on her knee. She was still a little itchy, but at least now she could scratch.
"We want to keep you for a while longer to make sure your wound doesn't get infected," Dr. Getz began, "but then we have to discharge you and release you to your Uncle."
Christine had almost forgotten that she was an orphan, doomed to live her life with a some stranger claiming to be family.
"What is his name?" Christine didn't really care.
"His name is Jethro, and he lives in Nebraska." Dr. Getz tried to sound enthusiastic. "He has a farm with lots of animals. I'm sure it will be lovely."
Christine sat quietly for a moment, imagining what the farm would look like. She could see endless fields of green, showered with yellow, pink and blue flowers. Large, multicolored cows grazing while their calves nurse. Beautiful horses gallop across the plains, their mains flowing in the breeze. Chickens and ducks gently peck the dirt, picking up pieces of corn as they ruffle their feathers. An enormous, red barn stands tall, filled with pigs, goats and sheep. She imagined rows and rows of fresh vegetables; corn, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, onions, tomatos and peas. She could almost taste the juice of the plump, ruby tomatos. For a moment, Christine was almost excited to go to the farm. Only for a moment.