The Battle

Chapter 3

The slap of bare feet hitting the floor grows louder in my ears, louder until my fuzzy hearing registers a figure walking-inconsiderately noisy for a wakeup call-towards my lifeless body. Who would want to ruin my resting time now? Dad? Caroline?

"Good morning, Miss Blathers!" I hear the loud chirp of juvenile girl beside my ear. Why would a young girl be in my room? I have no recollection of ever befriending a girl with a voice as high-pitched as this one. "It's 9:00 in the morning and I wanted to eat breakfast with you right now. All the other kids here in the ward are no fun. I heard there was a new patient who arrived yesterday-you-and I wanted to see if it was a boy or girl." This girl seems to be very excited about meeting me. It's as if I'm a celebrity of some sort. "Guess what? We're having eggs and toast for breakfast today! It's so much better than the oatmeal we have almost every day."

Guess what? I wanted to say to her. You're really annoying. Stop bothering me!

There are a few moments of silence as I listen to her meticulously cut her eggs and toast into small pieces. The welcoming smells of her breakfast dance into my memory as I inhale deeply, wistfully remembering how Mom made breakfast for our family every morning. It was always scrambled eggs on a piece of buttered toast with the occasional home-baked muffin as a bonus.

"Oh! I almost forgot," the girl said with food in her mouth, "My name's Finley Lomannoff and I'm fifteen-years-old. You must have been wondering who you were listening to rambling about breakfast. Sorry about that!" She giggles and I am reminded of the last time I laughed. I was laughing at a joke made by Mom two days before she died. Ever since then, there was no laughter in my house or from me.

"Miss Lomannoff!" I hear a yelp of surprise from outside my room. The door opens and I hear the worried voice of an elderly man speaking to Finley. "My goodness, Miss! Why are you in here? You know the rules of the hospital ward. You are not permitted to visit patients without the consent of the family of the patient."

Finley huffs an exasperated breath. "Well, I wanted to join Olivia for breakfast today, Kelvin. So there! I know my father assigned you the task of monitoring my health condition, but I need to have some freedom-especially right now! Please leave."

Kelvin stammers, "But, Miss! You have to leave!" After a few minutes of bickering, he finally sighs with defeat and leaves the room.

"I win again!" Finley shouts triumphantly after Kelvin leaves. She returns to eating her breakfast while humming Katy Perry's Firework. I brace myself for another hour of talking from Finley. At least she is a change to my dull life. Whether or not this is a good change is still unknown.