Baby Steps

"You've got this honey," my mother said to me. I picked up my crutch and tried to walk for the first time in a year. The second my sock-covered feet hit the floor, I faltered. My mother caught me, but I was so embarrassed. "Hey, I've got you."

What Happened Before

"We've got to get out!" my younger sister - Paige - screamed. I bolted down the hall and grabbed her, my mother and brother hobbling out the door. It was the craziest tornado that had ever hit our shady little town, but it wasn't just that. After the tornado stopped, we all went back up to our rooms to sleep, and the earthquake hit.

None of us expected it, and only some of us survived. Paige managed to get my baby brother out of the door, and I pushed my mother out of the door. My father stayed in bed, insisting that nothing would happen. Stupid wretch. The roof fell on his head and shattered his skull. I was so close, the door just a few feet away, when the house started falling around me.

"Cassy!" Paige shouted through the dust and debris. I heard her, but couldn't move and everything was dark.

"She's over here!" my brother shouted. I could tell everyone had rushed around me, but I could barely see. And then it all unraveled.

A Little Before the Present

Paige clambered into the hospital room with her mother, holding onto her hand for dear life.

"Cassy! Oh... oh no," she said, almost as silent as the moon. She gripped her sister's pale hand, and flinched away when she saw all the machinery attached to Cassy, keeping her alive.

"Will my daughter be okay?" the mother asked the doctors.

"Yes, miss. After the earthquake, and the roof fell on her, something knocked into her head. She will survive, but she is in a coma," the doctor replied, not sounding very certain. The mother shook her head, not accepting the answer.

She stormed out with Paige in her hand, never stepping foot in that hospital again for the next thirteen months.

Present Day

I woke up with doctors surrounding me. They mumbled, twisted, and whirled around me, giving me all sorts of medicine.

"Ugh," I groaned, alerting the doctors that I was actually awake.

"Call her mother," one said.

"Call a therapist," said another.

I didn't know what was happening, but I knew one thing. I couldn't feel my legs.

My mother ran into the room about two hours later, Paige and Barry with her. They all looked different, like they had lost all their money. That's when I remembered the earthquake. When Dad died, they must have lost everything.

"Cassy," Paige whispered. "Are you... actually..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She started trembling and held onto my mother, who cradled her in her arms.

"Doctors, please leave the room," she said, all the fury of the world in her voice. They left, and everything was deathly silent.

Without The Doctors

"How are you feeling?" Barry asked me, holding my hand.

"Not too crappy, if I say so myself. I can't eel my legs, and these past few days have been really weird," I replied, tightening my grip on him, not daring to let go.

"Days?" Paige questioned.

"Yeah, the earthquake was just a few nights ago, wasn't it?" I asked.

Silence.

"Wasn't it?" I pushed.

"Um... Cassy. It's been a few months," my mother responded.

"How many months?" I asked. I looked around the room, and no one dared to look me in the eye.

"Thirteen. It's been thirteen months," Barry told me, finally breaking the uneasy silence. I slump back in my bed, astounded. I shook my head, and denied it.

Suddenly, the air grew dense, and I couldn't make sense of reality. It smelled of a thick perfume, and then I saw them. The bullies of my school years, coming to make mischief.

"Oh, hey Cassandra. How are you feeling? Oh look, you can't run away this time," the first girl sneered, like a tiger coming for the kill. I tried to get up, but the weight was too much for me to bear. Three of the people with her - "her" being Erica Grimmer - pushed my family out of the room, and blocked the door.

"Go...away..." I gasped, trying to get air and sit up straight. It didn't work, though. The three who were at the door came over to me and punched me, over and over, until I could taste the blood in my mouth.

"Had enough yet?" Erica asked, as vicious as a wolf.

"Never," I replied, trying my best to keep a straight face.

"Well then," she said, a little too friendly. She dug her perfectly pointed nails into my shoulder and everything went dark again.

The Next Day

The doctors eventually took down the barricades that were blocking the doors, and they all flowed in. They surrounded Cassy, who was pale and had blood all over her. They ran tests, and gave her blood, but she didn't wake up.

At least for a few hours.

Walking

I had broken my back when the walls fell on me in the earthquake, but I was lucky. The break wasn't terrible, just painful. I had to learn how to walk again, and everything I used hurt. Crutches, a cane, even my siblings arms.

"Come on! Walk!" my mother shouted, clearly aggravated at the fact that I couldn't walk. I sat down in the wheelchair provided for me after feeling lightheaded, and Paige sat down next to me.

"You okay?" she asked me, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah, it just hurts a bit," I replied.

"You know she just wants you to get better right?"

"Yeah. I forgot how much she yells."

We eventually took a break, and I rested in bed. I watched my favorite movie under the blanket, with Paige curled up next to me. Barry knocked on my bedroom door, and asked if he could come in. The look on his eyes made it seem like he wanted more, though.

"C'mon," I told him waving him to the bed. He giddily ran over and flopped on the bed, cuddling up with us.

The next morning, I had more therapy for walking. Now, I know this is a lot, but this is how everything went down, Dr. Wiser. Ever since that day, everything has been going crazy, but this journal has really helped.

"You've got this honey," my mother said to me. I picked up my crutch and tried to walk for the first time in a year. The second my sock-covered feet hit the floor, I faltered. My mother caught me, but I was so embarrassed. "Hey, I've got you."