I Wish...

4

The house is dark, and the shadows do nothing to calm me. The sound of my ragged breaths are deafening in the silence. "Momma?" I say quietly into the darkness and jolt at the sound of my own voice.

"Momma?" I repeat louder. "Momma?" I ask loudly into the darkness. "Daddy?" My eyes brim with tears. Maybe they didn't want me anymore. With my voice shaky and uncontrolled this time, I call again, "Momma?" I start whimpering softly. "Daddy? Mommy?" I practically yell while tears stream down my face.

Immediately, I hear a door open and footsteps grow closer quickly. "Rubicea? Are you okay?" my momma asks as she comes over to me, my father at her side. I stare at her, eyes wide, and reach out for her with my uninjured arm. She leans down and hugs me gently. "What's wrong, darlin'?" my dad asks as he strokes my hair. "I'm-I'm scared," I whisper out.

"Why? What made you so scared?" my momma asks softly. "I... When I got hurt- I dreamt what happened," I choked out, "a-and I thought- I thought you didn't... want me anymore b-be-cause I called you and you did-n't come..." They looked shocked. "Darlin'," dad started, "we adopted you because we like you. Why would we put back an adorable little girl we love dearly?" "How 'bout we stay up? It's practically 5 already, Noel," momma said. "Yeah, let's do that," he replied and kissed the top of my head.

I was carried downstairs and put into my wheelchair. Momma started breakfast and Daddy went outside. "Do you want to watch something, sugar?" momma asked. I nodded, sitting in a wheelchair doing nothing was BORING. She rolled me towards the couch and, with a grunt, plopped me on there. "What do you want to watch?" she asked, dipping through the channels. "Micky Mouse! Micky Mouse!" I squealed. She laughed, "Alright, alright. Micky Mouse it is."

I sat there watching for hours as they solved all their problems with Toodles. I wish I could do that. Maybe I can! "Oh, Tootles!" I screeched at the top of my lungs. "Rubicea!" Momma's voice scolded, "Don't raise your voice so suddenly!" "Sorry," I replied, "I was calling Tootles to see if he could help." I heard some laughing, "Ok, sugar."

~~⊙ω⊙~~

Days passed like that. Watching Micky Mouse on the couch while I talked with my momma. Poppa was always outside with the plants and stuff. He says he's taking care of all the animals and plants. When he told me, I remembered the droopy plant, so I told him about it and he said it was hurt. I occasionally went outside, but only on the porch with the jungle-like plants.

After a few months of Micky Mouse and whatever was on TV, my casts were to finally be removed. "I'm going to be free!" I yelled once in the car. Poppa chuckled and momma said, "I thought you were free when we let you out of the house yesterday." "Yeah, but I'm going to be free-er!" I replied. The car started and everything went silent.

They switched the radio on and country music filled the silence. I looked your the window as the scenery slowly changed. Grass and trees became pavement and buildings. I sighed, the air here was polluted and stuffy compared to our house. At least the sky is still blue, I thought as I focused my gaze on the clouds, and the clouds are still soft. Our car approached the large white building's parking lot. "Here we are, darlin'," my dads accented voice said over the turned down music.

We were in the hospital in a jiffy and the smell attacked my nostrils. Momma signed me in and we sat - well my parents sat, I was already sitting - in the waiting room. "Rubicea Rosa," the nurse called after nearly 30 minutes. I smiled at both my new last name and the fact that my casts were to be removed.

I was wheeled to a room and put on the hospital bed. Then, we waited even longer than we did in the waiting room, a few hours or so actually. "What's taking so long?" I asked my dad. "I dunno, Rubi," he replied. I waited a few moments longer and finally decided sleeping was the best option.

~~⊙ω⊙~~

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder and vaguely noticed I felt lighter. "Darlin', are ya up yet?" dad asked. I nodded. He helped sit me up and I noticed my once injured arm and legs were free from their confines. I wiggled my toes and giggled. "I'm free," I squealed with a ridiculous grin on my face. "Hold your horses," momma started as I attempted to get up. I stopped and glanced at her, she wasn't looking at me with her typical gentle smile.

"What?" I prompted as my smile and cheeriness deflated. She gestured towards my legs. I looked down and understood immediately. My legs hadn't healed properly. They were at odd angles. The tears fell before I could even register that I was crying. Momma came to hug me and poppa once again patted my head gently.

"I-I thought I was sup-posed to h-eal," I hiccuped. "I know, I know," momma said gently. I looked at my once injured arm, it didn't look weird. "The good news is that you can still walk, with therapy of course," a doctor, who had slipped into the room, said. I muted everything after that. All I knew is that my legs didn't look normal. I wasn't normal anymore. I cried myself to sleep in my parent's arms.

~~⊙ω⊙~~