His son was running around in a striped red shirt. It was bright and beautiful out. It made him laugh gloriously. He started calling cheerfully for his father to come over. The doctor bounced over to him, and smiled lovingly down to him.
He reached down and took the child’s tiny, soft hand into his large, rough hand.
They walked along happily together, singing fun little songs. They stopped at a quaint little pond, and sat down next to each other
They were telling jokes, and laughing hysterically at them. His son then turned and picked a beautiful rose-colored flower from the water. It was a lotus flower. He placed it gently into the doctor’s hand.
The doctor smiled, and clamped the flower close to his heart. “I will always keep this close to me, as a reminder of my love for you!” he said joyfully.
His son smiled and replied, “ but you already know you love me!” and they fell into a heap of laughter.
Suddenly, the world was ripped apart with a loud boom.
A crack split between the doctor and his son. They tried to grab each other’s hand, but a wall of fire and blood flared up between them.
The doctor heard his son’s scream ring out loud and clear. But the doctor couldn’t see where he went. He was simply swallowed by an abyss of darkness, and he was engulfed in black flames.
The doctor fell out of bed, and was sprawled on the floor.
He was breathing heavily, and his skin was beading with perspiration. Once he regained himself and his bearings, he crawled to his dresser, and pulled out a little black box. He opened it, and found a simple silver key. He slowly reached his fingers out to pick it up.
When his fingertips made contact with the key, he felt a cold rush through him, like his heart started pumping ice instead of blood. The doctor briskly put the lid back on the container, and he slammed his dresser shut.
~~~~~
The child sat in the dining hall away from the other children. he had oatmeal before him but he wasn't consuming any of it. He held the little yellow car between the tips of his fingers and he would occasionally lift up his spoon and stir his breakfast.
The matron came over to the child and sat across from him. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" She asked, gently. "If you don't want the oatmeal I can get you something else to eat." The child lifted his head up, and picked up the spoon; he started to eat the oatmeal. As he ate away at his breakfast, he rolled the little car along the bench next to him. When he was finished, he simply got up and left the room.
The matron was slightly taken aback by this. this was the first time he had done something when he was questioned about it. She smiled, hoping he was getting better.
She got up, and picked up the child's dishes. Putting them on the dish counter, she followed the child with her eyes to see where he was going, for the children aren't supposed to leave the hall without permission. Then she followed him out of the hall, but kept a distance behind him.
She followed him into his chamber room, where she stood outside the door and watched him. He was again sitting in his usual spot on the dusty hardwood floor near his bed. He was rolling that little yellow car in front of him this time. He for once did not appear frightened at all. He seemed very calm and at rest. The stress lines that lined his brow continuously before were gone. The sides of his lips were even turned up, just slightly. The matron turned and went back to the dining hall, with a reassured feeling in her heart.
~~~~~
The matron weaved in and out between all of the classes the children were in during the day. She observed how every child was doing and she would record that and place it into the archives. She always kept a strong watch over the one child, hoping to see improvements. So far the child hasn't participated in any way during classes. The teachers never pushed him to do assignments or anything because they feared that would upset him. So they let him be until he was ready to start participating.
When the matron went into the language arts classroom, the class was having a special lesson. They were discussing how different people portray themselves and their feelings through art. After they talked about a variety of different artists, the children were to draw their own picture based on their emotions at that specific time.
The child was in this classroom. The matron decided to stay in on this class for a while and watch. After the pencils and papers were distributed, the children were told to draw whatever they felt they should draw. Some children got right to it and drew, others had to take their time and think.
The matron looked over at the child, and was shocked to see him drawing on his paper. He had the little car on his desk next to his paper, and he was drawing and shading wonderfully. The matron just watched him in amazement. When the bell rang for the next class, the children were supposed to sign their names at the bottom and leave their papers there.
The child went out of the room, and the matron went over to his paper. He drew a very beautiful picture of a flower; a lotus flower.
