Lily, the Brave - By Katherine Hodges Page 0,20

out a card game they all happened to like, and they gathered around the hospital bed to collect the cards Jackson dealt them. Lily had felt ready for a nap before they had even arrived, so by the end of the game she was yawning uncontrollably.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” she said as her family left after their visit. Her cousins wanted to stay longer, but Ruthie had a project for a science fair that she had procrastinated long enough, and Jackson had homework to finish. So Lily was alone with her thoughts once more. She curled up under the stiff, cool hospital sheets, and reached for the book she had been reading, but it didn’t keep her attention. She had so much swimming through her mind that it was hard to focus on anything. Lily was so relieved that she would be going home so soon. One more night and she would be out of the hospital. She looked forward to snuggling in her soft, warm, sheets with her fuzzy green blanket. Her aunt’s scalloped potatoes where calling her name. She really felt that she would recover better at home anyway. She was so much more comfortable at home surrounded by her own things. Besides, she was over the worst of it. She was awake now, so in her mind things could only get better from here on out.

Chapter 9

Lily stretched as she gazed at the hazy, purple wall in her room. She was so glad to be home snuggled under her warm sheets. Her room was simple and wasn’t much to look at, but it was comfortable and homey to her. She had never been much of a decorator, so the walls were bare except for a few framed black and white family photos. The antique, dark grey frames she had found at a flea market encircled her treasured images. Her favorite was the one of her mother’s spring garden. The flowers bloomed around Lily and her mother as they smiled joyfully, arms around each other. That was the picture she kept over her dresser. In that particular spot, she could see it from anywhere in the room. It was visible when she was lying on her four poster bed, and also from the other side of the room sitting in the cozy chair in the corner. It didn’t matter where she sat, she could look over and see it clearly. The other pictures scattered around the room each had a story attached to it. The one near her door was of her cousins and herself lying in the grass, their heads forming a circle. It had been Memorial Day and they had just finished eating the most delicious homemade grilled chicken, creamy potato salad and the juiciest watermelon of the season. Jackson’s toothless smile and Ruthie’s freckled, smiling, apple cheeks popped out at Lily every time she passed by it. That had been the year Uncle Max had left, and everyone could tell just by their faces that her aunt and cousins were better off without him. The photo that hung by the chair in the corner of her room was of her father. He was holding her when she was a baby. He gazed at her like she was the world’s largest diamond. A picture of Lily’s fifteenth birthday party hung over her nightstand. She was smiling from ear to ear. Malaya’s arm was wrapped around Lily’s shoulders, grinning wildly. These photos, and the others around the room, where memorable, but not near as special as the garden picture with her mother. Lily stared again at a bare spot on the colored wall by her bed. She loved the greyish purple surrounding her. Her mother had never really liked purple. She liked blue and green best. Their entire house had been in shades of green, grey and blue. Lily’s thoughts drifted to her coma, and her conversations with her mother. She was grateful that she was able to talk to her at all. How many people are able to talk to a loved one after they die? Lily knew it couldn’t be very many. It was a complete mystery to her why she was allowed that opportunity. “I’m not all that special. I’m just a normal teenager trying to get through high school,” Lily thought to herself. Her mother certainly seemed to think she was special. Lily had never been normal. That was what her mother had said. Lily had felt mostly normal up until