Chapter Two: Five Years Ago

Five Years Ago
-------------
If you could have one wish,

Any wish in the world

What would it be?

What if, some random person told you it could be granted?

Yes, right there and then.

Would you be the one that is beyond happy?

Or

Would you be the skeptical one, knowing that it was probably a scam?

If you choose skeptical, you have a sense of how I feel.

I would tell the person that what he just told me is a big fat lie.

Why?

Because,

WISHES.

AREN'T.

REAL.

Sorry, but they aren’t.

I had to learn that the hard way.

**************************************************

I still remember the day I woke up in the hospital,

The beginning of my life.

I opened my eyes like any other day waking up to find myself laying in a soft bed in a white room with tubes and wires connected to me.

What the heck?

I tried to move but I was numb, so to un-numb, little by little I tested out my body parts.

I blinked a few times, flexed my hand, and so on.

Then I decided to sit up.

Where am I?

How did I get here?

A nurse walked into my room, looking down at her clipboard.

I didn’t say anything.

It was only a moment later that she looked up and noticed me.

She stared at me as though she had just seen a miracle, and ecstatically ran out the room calling for a doctor.

Soon enough the room was filled with people asking me endless questions.

They seemed to always start with

Do you remember?

My answer was always

No.

After I woke up, I spent another week at the hospital.

They said it was best if I did.

Nurses and doctors came in and out of my room all week.

Some would sit down, play, and talk with me,

But whenever I asked a serious question like

Why am I in a hospital?

Or

Why can’t I remember?

They would always dodge it with a smile on their face, and then they would get up and leave me with some toys.

They didn’t fool me though,

I knew those smiles were fake.

Those people were keeping something from me.

All I could think about was how unfair it was,

I would always answer their questions.

Why couldn’t they answer mine?

I kept asking and pushing until finally, on my last day, I was given some of the answers I so desperately wanted.

It turned out that they didn’t know who I was or even if I had any relatives,

I was suffering from permanent amnesia, and I would not get my memories before the day I woke up back, the chances are pretty slim that I would, and

I was going to be admitted into foster care.

Oh and did I forget?

They told me

I had been in a COMA for about a YEAR.

I had no brain activity (Brain-Dead), which meant I was basically a vegetable.

If I hadn’t awakened when I did,

They would have pulled the plug on me.

No wonder that nurse looked at me like that,

I really was a miracle.

I think I was just lucky.

Before I left, I was given new clothes, shoes, and other essentials.

A woman came to pick me up; I barely remember what she looked like now.

Maybe tall I think, blue eyes and short cut blonde, no, black hair.

She told me she was going to take me to the foster home then she handed me a book of names.

She said I could pick any name I liked.

Until then I didn’t realize I had no name, nobody brought it up.

I decided to choose my new name in the car.

The woman held my hand as we walked out of the automated doors of the hospital.

She led me towards a shiny blue car and opened the door for me.

As I stepped in, one of the nurses ran out the door, telling me to wait.

‘You, you forgot this.” she panted, handing me a necklace.

It had a smooth, light blue, circular stone attached to it.

‘What’s this?’ I asked confused. I don’t remember wearing this.

But, of course, I don’t remember a lot of things.

‘It’s a pendant. You were found with it in your pocket. We’ve been keeping it for you, you almost left it.’ She said.

The woman took it from me.

‘Oh, What a nice pendant!’ The foster care woman exclaimed while examining it.

‘Don’t you think you should put it on?’

It wouldn’t have mattered if I said no because she was already slipping it onto my neck.

‘There! Oh, it’s so gorgeous! It matches you completely!’

I said nothing, she did not notice.

‘Well, we will be going now. Thank you for giving her such a wonderful pendant, I think she really likes it.’ She told the nurse as I climbed into the back and put on my seatbelt.

‘No problem.’ The nurse said, turning around to go back inside the hospital.

‘Bye.’ I squeaked out in my little six year old voice, looking at her through the window.

I do not think she heard me because she didn’t say bye back.

I shrugged and took the pendant off so I could look at it myself.

It really is nice. I thought.

I don’t know why but it made me feel better too.

I felt as though I should keep it with me at all times, and never let it go.

That is exactly what I’ll do.

The sun hit the stone,

I gasped underneath my breath.

It made a sparkly little rainbow.

I was defiantly going to keep this pendant.

It's special.

I gazed at it until the woman started to speak.

‘Have you found a name you liked yet?’ she asked.

Oh, I forgot all about that.

‘No.’ I said, opening the book she gave to me.

I get to choose any name I want…..

I skimmed the pages until one caught my eye.

‘I think I like this one!’ I said pointing to it.

‘Spell it out for me.’ She asked while driving.

‘A-L-I-N-A.’ I spelled out.

‘Alina? I’ve never heard that name before. There’s a lot more names you can choose from you know. Are you sure that’s the one you want?’

I nodded then said

‘Alina, Ali for short.’

She smiled.

‘Ok, if that’s what you want. That is a really pretty name.'

She turned her attention back to driving.

I lay back in my seat, staring out of my window I thought

I’m…….Alina. My name is Alina.

I sighed happily.

***************************************************

And now here I am,

Two years later,

Rotting away at the Ezperanza Children’s Shelter,

AKA The local orphanage.

Ever since the day that lady picked me up from the hospital,

I’ve been repeatedly thrown back into this place.

I even have a room I stay in every time I come back.

I call it THE room, not my room, the room.

Cracks on the walls, a flimsy old mirror, a small table with a cup of water on it, a small window, my book bag where I keep all my belongings, and finally the mat-bed in the middle of it all.

I hate it, I really do.

Sure, it has a nice playground, we get normal amount of food each day, etc.
It’s not like Oliver Twist or anything,
but I still hate it with all my heart.
Who wouldn't?
Since that day I have always been sent to foster home to foster home.

It’s like nobody wants me, no matter how hard I try.

After the first year I basically said screw it all.

If they don’t care for me,

Why should I care for them?

This is why I usually spend 2 to 3 weeks in each before I decide to get myself kicked out.
'We just don't think this is the best place for Ali.' they say.
What a bunch of crap.
Somehow I always end up back at Ezperanza.

One big fat circle.

It’s actually kind of ironic.

Ezperanza is supposed to mean

‘Hope.’

I’m not sure if I have hope anymore.

I used to wish, hope, and dream almost everyday,

But it all went away.

So I guess, if I still believed in wishes,

The one thing I would wish for is that

………

I never woke up that day,

I wish they would have pulled the plug on me instead.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note

Please review! Tell me what you think.