Lily, the Brave - By Katherine Hodges Page 0,16

school all over again and choose different friends to begin with, he would in a heartbeat. He was a bit of a prankster, but to him the best pranks were when everyone was laughing in the end. He really only kept up the jerk act to spare himself the ridicule of the guys. He might not have ever met them if it hadn’t been for his father. At the end of middle school, Slade’s father decided to quit the police force so he could pursue his dream of becoming a government agent. Slade never really knew what that meant exactly, but in his teenage mind it meant spy. His father was a black-suit wearing, bombs exploding in the background, top secret spy. It was probably the coolest job ever, at least to a teenage boy. His father moved the family from San Francisco, California to small town Allendale as soon as school let out, and then left two weeks later for training. He didn’t return for an entire year. No letters or phone calls. There were checks in the mail for the bills and other expenses, but no contact from him whatsoever. The next summer he showed up and spent a week at home, but left very abruptly after an odd call on his cell phone. This pattern went on for a couple years, but then he never showed up last summer. Slade tried not to worry about it, but when the house was dark and silent at night he did. He worried about his mother the most. She seemed very lonely. She kept busy with various projects and also worked at a craft store in the city just south of Allendale, but he could tell she missed him and was worried about him as well. The checks were still coming, so they knew he was alive, but for some reason he was unable to come home. Their home was small, but perfect for the two of them. Home was not somewhere Slade had spent much time lately. Not since the accident. He was haunted by it every night in his dreams. Every time he closed his eyes he could see her long, rich brown hair swish to the side as she turned to look at him. Fear filled her beautiful round face. The fear turned to agony because she knew what was to come. Her head would turn back to face her doom. He was running, always running trying to keep up with her. Out of the corner of his eye he would see sticky, blackened hands grabbing him, pulling him back further away from her. The hands stuck to him like super glue, unwilling to release him. He watched helplessly as she flew from her wheelchair into the air. For a brief moment she seemed like an angel, and he always hoped she would grow wings and fly to safety. Every time he had this dream, they never came, but he always hoped. This dream girl was falling. Falling possibly to her death, and there was nothing he could do. He was trying to stop her. He always did, but he always failed. He wished every day that this dream were only that, a dream; but it wasn’t, it was real. This really happened. That girl fell down the stairs, and it was all his fault. He was so sure he had her wheel chair under control. Now she is in a coma.

“I put her in a coma,” Slade thought to himself miserably. “No one knows if she will ever come out of it. What if she never wakes up? What if she dies? That can’t happen. She can’t die; she just can’t. I want her to live. I never even got to know her. She didn’t seem to like me much, but who could blame her? Maybe if she gave me the chance, if she would just talk with me for an hour or two, she might like me. Probably not. How could she possibly like me? I’m a cruel, unfeeling person to her. I could tell by the look on her face when she first saw me pushing her. She was terrified of me. She didn’t even want to be in the hall with me. It doesn’t really matter if she likes me or not. I still want her to get better. If she would just wake up, that would be enough for me. I just want to know she will be okay. Please wake up,