I saw the scene and heard the piano playing ‘Clair De Lune’. It felt warm around me with the feeling of sweat forming. Opening my eyes, I saw myself playing the piano in front of the audience. Finishing the piece, my head felt a little dizzy, but I tried to forget about it. I bowed and heard people applauding all around me. I walked off stage and tried to look for a place to sit. All I could hear was applause for the next performer. There were other people talking with their children. Probably about their own recital that’s upcoming or finished awhile ago. I closed my eyes for a moment and then heard footsteps getting louder and louder. When I opened my eyes, my brother, John, ran over with a water bottle in his hand.
“You were amazing out there. How are you feeling?” he said while handing me the bottle.
“I feel great,” I said with a weak smile. Thinking back to the performance made my head spin more. John was trying to tell me something, but my vision started to get blurry. Blanking out, the last thing I heard was the piano in the middle of ‘Interstellar’ that was playing.
Seeing the rays hit my eye, I realized I wasn’t in my room. It was the hospital. Looking around I noticed the clock said 8:24. Trying to slowly move my body up, it felt like weights were on top of me. Moving my neck while making a double chin, I saw my mom sleeping by my leg. I tried sliding out of bed without waking her but she woke up. We made eye contact and she called my name.
“Amanda! Are you okay?” and clamped my hand.
A nurse came in from the noise and told her to lower her voice because there were still people sleeping. Apologizing, I asked how I got here.
“John started running to us with you on his back knocked out. He called the ambulance and transported you to the nearest hospital. Right now, you’ve been here for about a day,” she said.
The doctor got called in and saw that I was awake. He introduced himself. “My name is Jason Williams but I’m called Dr.Williams. How are you feeling today?” he asked.
I told him my body felt heavy and he checked my body to make sure if everything else is fine. Once he was done checking everything, he said, “The heaviness must be the side effect of the medicine we gave you but it’ll wear off soon. Overall, we would like to do some tests but we’ll start tomorrow. Today, you can go home, rest and eat a hearty lunch.”
My mom and I thanked Dr. Williams and decided to go out to lunch with the rest of the family. I was going to get in touch with some of my friends but today is a school day so I don’t want to disturb them. Mom grabbed the clothes she brought and we headed out saying “Bye” to the nurses passing by.
After all the tests the doctors ran about a week ago, we went back to the hospital and met in Dr. Williams’ office to hear about my test results. Both my parents attended while John was at baseball practice. Dr. Williams grabbed a folder with his clipboard and looked through the papers. His facial expression changed into a more serious look, and he began to speak.
“Looking through the results, we have found something forming in one of the scans. It's hard to tell you this but your daughter might have brain cancer.”
Dad stood up. “What? There must be a mistake. She looks fine,” he said.
The doctor hung up the MRI pictures that was done during the tests. Pointing at a white part, he explained what it was. My vision became blurry from the tears that were falling. The doctor handed me the tissue box.
“I know it’s a surprise but we are here to support you. Don’t let this beat you up,” Dr. Williams said.
I nodded and my parents asked if there was anything that could stop or prevent it from getting worse.
All Dr.Williams said was that he’ll give some kind of prescribed medicine when I don’t feel well and told me that I don’t have to stop any of my daily activities.
Mom didn’t say much but when we headed to the car she was still shocked from the news. Dad tried to forget what happened today and started talking about what happened at work. I just rolled with what was happening, hoping they would change once we get home.

While the days were passing by, I felt symptoms that Dr.Williams mentioned popping up. I was thinking whether or not I should tell my parents but it just made me think they would over react and send me back to the hospital. My friends saw me struggling and tried to help out but I ended up telling them what happened at the hospital so they wouldn’t worry a lot. So far I’ve been losing my balance while having headaches every so often. To not make myself noticeable, I take out the prescribed medicine and take two of the pills. All the dizziness and pain fades away slowly and I try to act like I “accidentally” dropped my book. Going to my next class, everything suddenly went silent. Cleaning one of my ears with my finger, I thought they were just clogged. Nothing worked but I still thought it would clear by itself. English was next so it couldn’t be that bad. We were just going to be reading in class where everybody takes a turn reading. I was pretty sure I would know when my turn was even if I still couldn’t hear anything.
When I saw my turn come up, I started reading. For some reason, everybody looked at me with a strange look. Someone tapped on my shoulder and mouthed something. I couldn’t make out what she was saying and I started feeling nauseous. Running out the room, I went straight to the bathroom stall. It felt like I had to hurl but nothing was coming out. There was a voice in the bathroom but I couldn’t say a word. Instead, I tried reaching for the door to unlock it. I felt someone rubbing my bad and glancing over my shoulder, it was the school nurse. She was telling me something else but it wasn’t clear enough for me to understand. Pointing to my ear, she understood what I was trying to say so she stayed put by my side.
After relieving myself, we headed to her office and I lay down trying to rest. “Hello? Is this Ms.Holton?” I heard. “Your daughter isn’t feeling well today and is with me right now.” There was a slight pause and I figured mom was telling her what has been happening to me lately. Then I heard her voice speaking again, “Okay. I’m going to keep her here to rest and we’ll wait for you to pick her up whenever you’re ready.” I really didn’t want my parents to know…I HATE this.

The next day I went to school again. I was pretty sure I was well rested and I refilled my medicine just in case something happened. Getting dressed then heading downstairs, I only saw mom reading her book at the dining room table.
“Where’s everybody else?” I asked.
She saw me with my bag and said, “They went out already but what’s with your bag? Are you going somewhere?”
While walking to the kitchen, I told her that I was planning to go to school. Looking at her watch she asked if I knew what time it is right now. Looking at the clock on the stove, it was 10:11am. I felt disappointed but mom said I could go tomorrow. That brightened my mood a little bit but I guessed I’d just text my friends to learn what work they did in class.

Opening my eyes, I realized the room looked different then what I remembered it to be. Just by taking a glance I knew where I was. The tight space, IV in my arm, the sound of the patient monitor. No place would have this in a room except the hospital. Hearing the doors open I saw Dr. Williams enter. He entered with a smile when he saw that I was awake. I asked what happened and he questioned what I last remembered.
I said, “What I remember was when I was with my mom downstairs and texting my friends and then…” but I felt like something else happened. Then it came back to me when something didn’t feel right. While I had it in my head, I thought to tell the doctor too. “Wait,” I called to him. He looked up and listened. “When I got out of bed there was a numb feeling in my legs and I couldn’t keep my balance while moving around.”
With a little thinking, he said, “I would expect that to happen to your body because your brain would start to not do what you order it to do. How about right now? Can you try walk around?”
Slowly, I got out of the bed and placed my foot on the ground. I couldn’t feel anything but I tried using my arms to push my whole body up. For a second I thought my legs were gone but looking at them, they wobbled and lost strength. Dr.Williams caught me and helped me back on the bed.
When the check-up was finished, he said he’d call in my parents to discuss what I’ll be doing. Nobody was in the room except me and there was nothing to do but watch TV. I just wish I was back in school with my friends and could forget everything else.

One of the nurses came with a wheelchair and told me that I needed to go to Dr.Williams’ office. I already figured out what the wheelchair was for. While getting up, she helped me to the chair then rolled me over to the office. When the door opened I saw mom and dad chatting with the doctor already. Both of them looked over my direction and saw me in a wheelchair. They were surprised but didn’t point out anything.
After the nurse left, Dr.Williams began to speak, “Your parents already know what’s going on and also, we think it’s best if you’d stayed here for a while. Just in case anything gets worse.”  My parents understood and agreed but I didn’t want to stay. There was no choice but to listen to the “adults” and stay here. Before our meeting was over, he asked if there were any further questions. Nobody had any questions and then they thanked the doctor for what he’d done for me so far. Heading back with both my parents behind me, felt like they were making a disappointed or sad expression on their face. I hate to see them that way but I guess it would be best for me to fight and try get myself back to normal.

During the next few days, my symptoms felt like they had gotten worse. I was starting to have nausea, not feeling hungry, slept a lot, and sometimes I couldn’t lift the things that I wanted to lift. That day I already threw up in the morning and the nurse gave me some medicine to help. Mom or Dad called to check in on me every so often to make sure I was okay. I didn’t really know what to do. There was nothing much for me to do in my room except watch TV or look over some books that my friends brought over from school. I wanted to go back and be with my friends but my parents told me not to worry about school. There was a knock on the door and one of the patients I met a few days ago came with a nurse. She looks like she is feeling the same way I’m feeling right now. Bored.
“Hey Crystal,” I said waving to her. She’s 7 years old and has lung cancer. Kind of the same like me but in her lungs. She didn’t talk a lot but she loved to draw. Every time I saw her, she was with a nurse coloring or drawing in her sketchbook that she carried around. I took the chance to greet her myself since she looked kind of lonely with just her and different nurses everyday. Afterwards, I guess she started wanting to hang with me everyday when she could. She walked over waving to me and the nurse helped roll over her IV pole. Plopping down next to me, she showed me her creations. I loved seeing her drawings. It showed what she saw outside her window or what she dreamed about. Sometimes we drew together and she let me keep one. For safe keeping, I kept it with my books in a drawer. There were times we let the nurse join in too because we didn’t want them to feel left out. Even though Crystal wasn’t that talkative, we have fun together every time we met up.

It was time to head to physical therapy and the nurse came to pick me up. I got out of bed to get ready but there were little problems. My arms shook while pulling myself up and when I tried standing, my legs felt like jello making me fall. The nurse quickly helped me up and asked if I was okay.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I said. While pulling myself up with some help from the nurse, my legs shook and I fell again.
Instead of struggling, she said, “Wait right here,” and quickly returned with a wheelchair. Helping me onto the chair, we were off. Before starting my session with my therapy, the nurse told the therapist what happened on the way here. Now some stretches and conditioning exercises have changed. Throughout the whole session, everything was starting to get hard for me.

With check-ups and physical therapy finished, I was called to Dr.Williams office. I got in the wheelchair and the nurse pushed me to his office. Every time I insisted on wheeling myself there, she told me to rest. When we got there, my whole family was sitting down.
The doctor said, “Come in, Amanda”. He asked the nurse to leave once she put me by my brother. After the nurse left the room everything around me was quiet while Dr.Williams was checking his clipboard. Looking back, he explained, “Amanda, after a few examinations it seems like there are some problems in your brain. If you look at these MRI’s, you can see some white spots on the right. I think it’s time we undergo a surgery to remove a tumor but I need your parents to give their permission first.”
I turned my head toward them and they just looked at each other. They could’ve been talking to each other telepathically but that wasn’t possible. John stayed quiet looking down to his hands. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking but he seemed nervous, rubbing his hands together for a while. Thinking how the surgery might turn out, there were two possible things that I thought would happen. If I did the surgery, I would be able to go back home to see my friends and stay with my family again. No more laying in bed with IV and medicine on me. The bad thing was, if the process doesn’t go well, I might be in a coma or worse…dead. That meant no more seeing the people I love again and staying in the hospital for who knows how long. After a long time thinking, no one said anything or even moved.
“I’ll do the surgery,” I said out loud.
He leaned forward and with a serious look said, “What about you, Mr. and Mrs. Holton? Are you okay with doing the surgery?”
Huddling together, I heard whispers of them discussing. Once their discussion had settled, my mom cleared her voice. “If Amanda is okay with doing it, I don’t see us disagreeing with her.”
“Great,” Dr. Williams said. “I’ll find an opening for your surgery and tell you the date of the surgery”. Then he went on about what’s going to happen before, during, and after.

After the meeting, no one had much to say but we talked about a new reality game show that all of us saw on TV. Once we settled everything in my room, John asked if I really wanted to do the surgery. He wanted to confirm and make sure Dr.Williams wasn’t forcing anything on me.
I nodded. “I’m sure I want to do this.”
He felt relieved and said, “I’ll come back again.” Then he left, heading to the car.
It was time for the rest of my family to leave so we said our farewells with a smile. When I thought they had left, mom popped her head in surprising me.
“Amanda?” she said.
I answered with a sound of a “yes”.
She said, “Tomorrow, I got something planned for you so leave lunch time open for me.”
With a big smile, I told her, “Will do,” while giving her a thumbs up. Saying another farewell, I heard the door shut. Now trying to go to sleep was hard after hearing that there is going to be a surprise tomorrow.

The next day was pretty much the same. First, the nurse brought me breakfast with medicine. Next, I went to my physical therapy. Then, finally, the excitement of lunch came. Crystal was with me watching TV and drawing. I heard a knock on the door and mom came in saying, “Hello,” to both of us. While she was getting the wheelchair ready, I asked if Crystal could come along.
Turning to the nurse in charge, Mom asked, “Is it fine if Crystal accompanies us?”
Turning to look behind, the nurse said, “Let me make a phone call to the mom. She’s very protective about her,” and she went out the door to make the phone call.

A few minutes later, she came back and said, “She said it’s fine but she can only stay out for an hour.”
With a smile on Crystal’s face, we let mom lead the way. Heading outside the building, I saw some familiar faces. Once I got a clear view of them, they waved calling my name, “Amanda!”. It was my friends! I wasn’t expecting them to come visit. We all moved to a big picnic table and I introduced Crystal to all of them so she could feel comfortable. Mom brought out the food that she brought and talked about how she had to get permission for me, the patient, to eat the food she made. Some people laughed at how she was trying to reenact it. We all talked about each other and what’s been going on. There were times I saw Crystal not talking so I tried to come up with something to talk about that she likes.
Her drawings came to mind and I told them, “Have any of you guys seen Crystal’s drawings? They’re beautiful.” Shaking their heads, they asked to see some. Crystal took out her sketchbook and handed it to me. I flipped through the pages to show them the best one. Finally I found one of a squirrel in a tree. I’m guessing she got that idea from looking out her window.
Facing the drawing towards them, they all said, “Whoa. I see a squirrel. That looks awesome.”
Crystal smiled back and thanked them. For the rest of the hour, we decided to draw one artwork together on an empty page.
The nurse called us saying,”It’s time to go,” so we all signed the drawing and said our byes. On the way back, I saw Crystal smiling and staring at the drawing that we all drew together. I felt relieved that she enjoyed her time with everybody. I think it was better than leaving her alone.

On the day of the surgery, I didn’t feel ready yet. The nurse came in early and asked, “I’m going to help you change into a new set of clothes for your surgery today. Is that okay with you?”
Nodding my head and telling her it was okay, I got changed with a scrub cap covering my hair. Slowly moving to the wheelchair, we marched to the operation room. On the way, I saw my family waiting for me. Once they saw me, they all stood up rushing towards me. Looking at my mom first, I could tell that she cried before coming over.
Looking eye to eye, she rubbed my cheeks and said, “You’ll be fine. You’re strong.”
Touching her arm, I told her, “Mom, I’ll be fine.”
Feeling a pat on my back, I knew dad was waiting for me to face him. I looked over and he gave a face that says, “It’s too early for her to go.” He began to speak saying, “How are you feeling? Are you prepared to go to war?”
Laughing when I heard “war”, I knew he got that phrase from his video game that he’s been addicted to. I nodded my head and said, “The war isn’t going to be that heavy. I’ll be back in a few days or so.”
Suddenly I heard sobbing on the opposite side of my dad and it was John. He turned his face away and didn’t say a word. I felt disappointed that he didn’t want to say any encouraging words but if he wants to stay silent, I’ll let him do so. A smile was hard to keep while seeing everybody force a smile. I knew surgery was a hard thing to handle but mostly everybody had to deal with it. Sadly. When the doors opened, I heard a familiar voice, “Wait!”.
Turning my head to look behind, John was speed walking towards me. “What? I thought you didn’t want to say anything to me.” I said.
With a serious look, he said, “Good luck” squeezing my arm while giving me a thumbs up. The nurse pulled him off saying that I have to go now. A smile and wave to them won’t be the last. I will make sure to wake up and see their smiling faces again.

Looking at my surroundings, I saw Dr.Williams waving. He was dressed in a blue gown with a scrub cap and rubber gloves. When we got to the operating table and the nurses helped me up. Laying on the table where people either die or survive, I heard a nurse say, “We’re going to put you to sleep using this mask.” Nodding my head, he placed it over my mouth and I started feeling a little drowsy. He asked me to count to ten and I did, “1, 2, 3, 4…” Before getting to ten I was knocked out, not knowing what was going on.

I started having a dream. A dream of when I was inside my house practicing the piano with everybody there. They had their instruments in their hands and we played like an orchestra. My family was sitting on the couch listening to all of us play. Once the song ended, they clapped their hands. Suddenly the clapping turned into thunder flickering in the dark skies. Searching my surroundings, I saw everybody was there but dressed in black. There was no happiness anywhere. Nobody could see me when I waved or made a sound. It could be from the loud lightning that they couldn’t hear me but when my eyes looked down, I found a gravestone. Reading the words on there, I saw my name and date from birth to death. My eyes widened from reading and, looking at their faces back and forth, I moved away from the depressing area and noticed something in the distance. A door in a plain open grass. I thought of taking the chance to go through but I felt that something worse was going to happen.
“Go for it,” a voice said. It sounded so familiar but I couldn’t tell where I heard it from. More voices were telling me to go so I gathered up my courage and went through. It was bright for a moment and my body felt a mixture of warmth and coldness. Turning my head to the window, I saw the rays of the sun beaming at my eyes. I figured it was morning already. Hearing the door open, I heard a little gasp. Before I could look who it was, they were gone. Before long, I felt tired again and went to sleep.

Standing where I was, there was nobody around except the door again. Hearing something dropping on the ground, I searched the grassy area. I felt something hit my hand and it was a bottle with paper inside. Unscrewing the bottle there was a picture of me with other people. Examining their faces, I felt like I’ve seen them somewhere but I couldn’t tell where. While I was thinking, the ground shook. There was nowhere for me to take cover so I ran straight to the door that was almost digging itself to the ground. Opening my eyes once again, I saw a women and tears were dropping on my face.

“Who are you?” I asked. “Why are you in this room?”
Her smiling face dropped then the door opened and I saw a man in a lab coat rushing in with a woman holding a clipboard. The man headed straight to me and squatted.
He asked, “Amanda…how are you feeling?”
I told him, “I’m fine but may I ask who you are first?”
He reached his hand out and the lady in the back handed him a clipboard that she was holding. While he was looking through some papers, I turned my head to the women who cried over me.
Her mouth was trembling and suddenly she stood up saying, “Dr.Williams, I think something must have gone wrong during the operation.”
With a sigh, he said, “Don’t worry. It seems like she has some memory loss. It’s not permanent, it will just take time for all of it to return.”
With a sigh of relief, the woman sat back down in a calm manner. My stomach grumbled suddenly and all the eyes were facing me.
The lady in the back asked if I was hungry and I nodded in an embarrassed way. “I’ll get you food,” she said and left.
It was silent and the doctor, named Williams, asked the woman, named Mrs. Holton, to step outside with him for a while.
Once the door shut, I stretched my arm and found the drawer near by. I thought of writing down his name, just in case. Feeling around inside, I found a piece of paper and took it out. I was questioning what I was seeing... a drawing that had my name with another person named Crystal.

While studying the pictures from reality and my dreams, I thought I was getting closer to my missing memories. I figured out who Crystal is in just a few days. During those times, I spent time drawing and doing activities that she wanted me to do. When she figured out that I lost my memory, she was surprised and started crying over my shoulder. Even though I forgot, she never gave up, and now I remember her. We’re back to drawing and doing all the fun activities that we have always been doing without any forgotten memories. Dr.Williams heard about me remembering Crystal and was happy to hear that I was slowly progressing. It was up to me to remember the woman that everybody says is my “mom” with the rest of her family that is considered my family also. The thing is...that family resembles the photo I’ve been staring at in my dream.

A few days later my family came in with a photo album.
“Want to see some pictures?” the lady asked.
Nodding my head, I thought this would give me hints about the strange picture in my dreams. Starting from baby pictures, I saw my hair sticking up along with the different expressions I had in each photo. While we move forth from elementary, middle, until where I am today, nothing really gave me an idea of the picture in my mind. I enjoyed looking over all the photos including my so called “brother’s” one. There were some embarrassing photos that I know no girls would like to see. When the day ended, I said, “Good night” to everybody and went back to sleep trying to figure out the mysterious photo.

Focusing, squinting, and anything that would help me think didn’t help me at all. I know there were four people along with what I thought was a dog but I couldn’t make out any of their names. Figuring this out felt like I was in my own drama trying to find clues to an answer but not like Sherlock Holmes. I thought the only way to get more clues was to hang with the people who know me like the doctor and my family. They might be the key to filling my memories back up.

Going back to reality, there was a note that came with my breakfast. It was from John, my brother. He told me to wait for him during lunch. I’m guessing we were going to have lunch together or with the family somewhere. Getting fired up, I only ate a little bit of food and pushed the rest away.
When the nurse came to pick up my food, she was surprised and asked, “You’re not hungry today?”
Nodding my head, I said, “I’m saving my appetite for lunch.” I saw her looking at the note I left on the side and smiled. After she left, I had a feeling she knew what my brothers plans were.

Looking at the time and focusing on my strength, I tried not to think of food but I was starving. My therapist, Mr.Terry, heard my stomach grumble two times and figured I was hungry already. He wanted me to walk back and forth with the poles once more before I left so I inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to focus. Resting on the ground with Mr.Terry, we saw John, my brother, knocking and waving at us. I asked if it’s okay for me to leave and he nodded while helping me onto the wheelchair.
“Make sure you eat a lot for that belly monster,” Mr.Terry said waving to us. John laughed and asked who the “belly monster” was.
With a little laughter, I said, “My stomach was grumbling during my session with him. I tried to stop thinking about food but it just made me think more of the food.” When we got to my room, both my parents were waiting patiently.

“We got permission to take you out for a while,” Mom said.

“Let’s eat. I’m hungry” Dad said.

“I couldn’t agree more. Amanda has a monster eating her stomach,” John said.

Both our parents were confused and we had to tell them the meaning behind the “monster”. They laughed after understanding and said that we should start heading out.

Getting into the car I saw a dog that looks the same as the photo I remember seeing in my dreams. “What’s his name again?” I asked.
Dad gasp and said, “How can you forget Casper?” while rubbing his head. Touching my dog’s head I apologized and Casper licked my cheek to telling me that it was okay.

Looking out the window while dad drove, I asked where we were going.
“A park nearby,” my parents responded. “We are going to have a picnic on this fine day.” Mom turned the radio on and started singing to her jams.
With a sigh, John said, “Here she goes again with her music.”
Mom and dad snapped their fingers and sang along, “Right now…” John and I laughed while Casper barked happily.

Everybody set down the blanket and placed the food out while I threw the frisbee around with Casper. When it was time to eat, I saw musubi, noodles, fruits, and a little more delicious food. Dad took out Casper’s food and water before making his plate and John went first in picking his food. Once everybody grabbed their food, we enjoyed our time and told stories of what went on during work and school. While enjoying the food and hearing the stories, I noticed something. Looking up at the family I don’t remember, the image of the picture came into mind. Mom, Dad, John, and Casper. After coming to a conclusion to the mysterious photo, memories of old times came back. Something wet dropped on my hand. Rubbing my face, I cleared off the tears.
“What’s wrong?” mom asked.
Shaking my head I said, “The food is just delicious.”
John interfered and said, “Of course, you haven’t tasted this food in forever.” I laughed and continued stuffing the food in my mouth.

After gaining all my memories back, Dr.Williams wanted to do another examination. The nurse came for my examination. I stood up thinking I would be fine walking on my own. After just a few steps, I fell down so the nurse helped me onto the wheelchair. Before she could lend her hand, I refused and said, “Let me try a few more times.” Every few steps, I fell to the ground but I got up and tried again.
The nurse felt bad for me so she pulled me up and said, “You should relax first before your examination. We can continue this afterwards.” I listened and let her help me into the wheelchair. Once we got through in the examination room, we headed back to my room. She asked, “Would you like to try walk again?”
Shaking my head I said, “It’s been a long day.” Returning to my room, I found a gift basket on top of the drawers. After the nurse helped me onto the bed, I reached my arm out to read the note from the basket.

Get Well!
~
To: Amanda
From: The Weirdos

Just reading the note, made me smile. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and see them again.

While the days slowly passed, my body felt like it came back to life. I could move by myself, eat well, and not take as much medicine everyday. Dr. Williams asked to have a meeting during lunch to tell me some exciting news. I kind of figured what it would be but I waited until I heard it from him.

There was a knock on the door and Dr. Williams appeared saying, “Hey, Amanda.” He seemed very happy today and sounded excited. “Your parents already know but I’m going to tell you right now what news I got for you,” he said. Nodding my head, I was waiting for him to say the four words, You can go home. Clearing his throat he continued, “Checking on all the following check-ups you did, you seem clear to go.” The room was silent. He thought he had to repeat himself and said with a warm smile, “You can go home, Amanda.”
Feeling my cheeks being pulled up, I smiled big. Leaning in for a hug, I thanked him for everything that he has done.
“Also...” he said and I heard a click go off. It was one of those instax cameras. He took out the photo and shook it. When it became clearer, he said, “Here’s my congratulations gift for you. I’ll also throw in my business card if you ever need me for emergency.” I loved the picture but I felt bad to have the photo when he doesn’t have a photo just like mine.
Asking, “Can I see the camera?” I took a picture.
He was surprised and said, “I wasn’t ready for that one.” Shaking the photo, the picture started to become clear. I laughed seeing his surprised face in this picture. Looking at both pictures, I gave him the first one because I thought my face looked horrible. So now both of us have a bad picture of each other. He asked to see the second photo and said, “Ahh! I look bad in that one.”
Replying back, I said, “Well so does the one you have too. Now we both have funny faces of us.” We both laughed and went to the cafeteria for lunch.

The next day, dad picked me up and gathered all my belongings. Walking out, we said goodbye to the nurses who took care of me and everybody else including Mr.Terry while he was with a patient. I saved Dr. Williams for last, but he wasn’t in, so I left a note. Looking for a place to place the note, I found the picture of both of us by his computer. I decided to put it right by the photo and left.
My dad asked, “Did we stop everywhere you needed to go?” I nodded my head and we headed home.

Staying home, I took a day or two to recover before going back to school. I thought there was no purpose to go back since school is almost over but my parents told the principal that I was keeping up with my studies with the help of all my friends that came in while I was in the hospital. When I walked all over the house, I started to remember things in and out of the house. Looking at the piano, I pressed on one of the keys and looked at my music sheets filled with some of the songs I’ve played before. I had one particular memory of one of my favorite songs. Just thinking about it made me start playing the song on the piano. I was a little rusty but it felt refreshing to be back. I heard a bark. Turning around, I saw Casper was laying down wagging his tail and barking. He seems to have enjoyed my song. I smiled and joined him on the ground watching TV.

The next day I was just lazy until I heard the doorbell ring. I told my parents that I would get it and when I answered it, it was my friends. It looks like they just came from school. Curious, I asked them why they came to visit. They said that they got a call from my parents for some help and to also look over some notes from school with me. My parents came over and said, “Amanda, your friends are here to give us a hand with a problem we have in the house.”
I told them that I could have helped but they just wanted me to rest. With a sigh, one of my friends said to split up in two group. One to help me study and look over notes and the other to help my parents with their problem. Everybody agreed with the plan and my half went up to my bedroom.

It has been an hour since I was looking over notes and studying. There were times I heard noise coming from downstairs but everybody said, “Don’t worry about the noise.” When I looked outside, the sun was gone already. Suddenly I heard someone walking upstairs, then the door opened. Mom appeared and asked for everybody to come down. We all headed down and followed her to the kitchen.
When we got there, I suddenly heard everybody yell, “SURPRISE!” For a second I thought I had a heart attack and I told them not to do that again. They laughed and I was amazed how they got everything ready in an hour. There was a handmade banner saying, “Congrats On Getting Well”, balloons, food, desserts, and presents on another table. The whole party was great. It was like I was having an early birthday party. I had a great time but it had to come to an end. We all helped clean up and when it was time for everybody to head home, we all said, “Bye”. Once everybody left, my parents told me to get some sleep. I was tired and headed to my room. Plopping onto the bed, I had a relaxing sleep.

Today, I got to go back to school. I woke up, got changed, ate breakfast, then left for school. My parents told me that I don’t need to rush but I told them, “It’s okay, I’m not early.” After I waved and said, “Bye” to my parents, I left for school. The whole day was weird at first. Everybody has questions about me being gone and some greet me back with a smile or hug. Everything is going smoothly, I understood the studies, and homework is gradually becoming easier to understand. Just being back and being with my family and friends feels like a dream and I hope this will last forever.