After the accident, Sierra seemed to be a completely different person.
People started saying how she used to be such a funny, humorous and extroverted person always in need of doing something new and doing something different . She could never sit around in a room doing nothing. She would always have friends around and always talk .
It happened one Friday night which seemed to have changed everything. It was a car accident. She had a minor leg injury.
It wasn't really a life or death experience but it was enough to dull away her cheery personality.
Now, she sat, with all the doors and windows closed, in a lonely room with her feet bandaged and placed properly over cushions. She was advised to be in complete bed rest, so, she couldn't go anywhere and was moping around in a room.
She didn't talk much. In fact, she didn't say anything other than when asked. Sometimes, when she did not want to answer which was more often than usual, she would act of being fake asleep. All the conversation she had now were started by other people. She hardly gave one worded answers. The most she said was not more than a small sentence. The whole day went by giving everyone answers like-“I am fine.”
Maybe it was the assurity she had to give to everyone else of her well-being that made her feel so sad because she herself wasn't sure if she was fine. If she was alright with everything going on. She was always lost in thoughts and none of the people knew what her mind was always immersed in.
People would always come by giving her “Get well soon”cards, Teddy Bears....etc. But none of those things interested her enough. Her face was always morphed into a frown. The beautiful smile that she used to have, which made everyone in the room bloom up, was lost as if it was never there in the first place.
Then her friend, Cori, came along. She had gone out of the town with her parents. She was not informed about Sierra's accident but when she heard about Sierra's accident, she went to meet her as fast as she could.
When she went to meet her, she came to know about how Sierra had changed in matter of few days. When she asked her how she was doing, she gave the same answer she had been giving everyone else,“I am fine.” when in reality she completely wasn't. When Cori asked what was bothering her,she ignored the question and told her to let it go.
But Cori did not just let it go. She thought about it and realised how Sierra wasn't able to go anywhere and how it affected her.
She decided that she would uplift Sierra's mood anyway she can.
The next day, she went and talked about anything she could when, suddenly, Sierra said,
“Tell me about the places you visited out of town.”
Cori was astonished to know that Sierra showed interest in anything she said. She told her to close her eyes and imagine everything she was going to tell. Sierra quickly did so.
Then she went on about how she saw the vast fields,the night sky with so many stars illuminating the night which wasn't really visible in town, the various types of birds and animals roaming around. She told her about the legends she heard about from old people during large bonfires sitting on logs of wood and so many things she came to know and experience.
Sierra listened to her with delight, asking her questions in between her explaining and always telling Cori to give her every detail about her experiences. It was the most she had said in days. She looked satisfied.
By the end of all of the explaining, Sierra had a smile on her face. It was a soft and pretty small smile but a smile nonetheless. It looked beautiful on her face than the frown she had been carrying the past few days. It was enough to brighten the room and to make Cori grin. She was happy and more importantly content. Then she went to sleep.
Cori was content with herself that atleast she was able to make Sierra happy even if it was for a while. She thought, not Sierra's fault afterall. She was the outgoing, adventurous person. When locked up inside a room, she would obviously feel distressed and the continuous looks of pity would obviously make her feel useless so, she had been this way.
She mentally told herself that she would come by and tell her about everything that she saw and came to experience by the end of day.
That way Sierra would be happy and content and never an ounce of frown will form on her smile-worthy face.
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