Goldentracks

Epilogue

It had been almost two months since the accident. And even though her memories had come back to her after a few days in the hospital, some days still felt a bit off the Ellie. It was as though her memories of her life before the accident were hers and someone else's at the same time.

A few days before Ellie was set to start her regular school schedule again, she began to seriously wonder if this slight feeling of being out of place half the time would ever go away. Following her afternoon physiotherapy appointment, Ellie was quieter than usual in the car ride back home with her grandmother. Lilian had moved into her family's guest room for an extended stay, to help care for Ellie.

As they walked into the house, Ellie turned to Lilian. "Gran, do you think things will ever feel normal again?"

Hanging her coat in the closet, Lilian said, "Yes, sweetie, but I don't think they'll be exactly the same as they were before. Things change, and people too." Lilian put a hand on the wall for support while she unzipped her ankle boots. Straightening up, she continued. "Feeling normal means you've gotten used to the new way your life's changed—it becomes the new normal. What's important is finding little ways to be happy no matter what life throws at you." After a side hug and a kiss on the cheek, Lilian walked toward the kitchen to prepare the evening meal. Ellie removed her own coat and shoes and followed her in.

Not long after, Simon arrived from school. He'd had a good day. A "How was your day?" from Lilian was all it took to open the floodgates. The answer came in an excited gush of slightly chaotic information. His soccer team had won the game in gym class because of his last-minute goal. If that wasn't enough, he'd gotten a B+ in math in his last exam. He was beaming. Ellie smile. It had been a while since Simon had brought home an exam with anything above a C+ grade. Maybe things were a bit different now, but they were all right too.

The next morning, Ellie woke up with a fragment of a dream still lingering in her mind's eye. It was a bright summer's day. A girl with long blond hair had come to meet her in a meadow and was smiling at her. As Ellie tried to focus on what she remembered of the girl's face a name popped in her head: Sabrina. What little was left of the dream faded as Ellie let out a yawn. Slowly rolling herself out from under her comforter, she sat on the side of the bed. She didn't know anyone named Sabrina. Thinking the name again made her smile. It must have been a happy dream, she thought as she rubbed her eyes and reached for her forearm crutch.