suddenly, I could no longer feel the bottom. I started to panic, but then I remembered the lessons all children were required to take when they were four years of age. I began to kick and move my arms and found myself going towards the beach again. It was a rush to be gliding through the water the way that a bird soars in the air. After that, I was in the water every day, as often as my parents would allow. They supposed that it couldn’t hurt, as long as I didn’t go too far.
************
I was so excited to be finally going home again, my grandparents’ house was fun, but they freaked out when we did anything they didn’t like. Which meant that I couldn’t swim at all while we were there. I couldn’t contain my excitement, I had never been on a plane before, but the roads were blocked due to a tube train collapse a week previous. Grandpa said we would take a plane home and that he would take care of our tickets. He knew a pilot who got us first class but warned us that if it got too full, we would be moved to coach. Mom readily agreed and faster than we could blink all the seats were full, and we were in coach. But I didn’t care. It was the most amazing thing in the whole world.
I stood and quietly told mom I was going to the bathroom. When I got there, the line was seven people long, and I really had to go. Just then the speaker crackled, “Folks, please return to your seats and buckle up, we will be experiencing some minor turbulence. Thank you” we were waiting for almost a full ten minutes, and then the speaker screeched, “You may now return to your business.” I sighed and rushed to the bathroom; it was empty. I had just grabbed the handle to exit when the floor fell out from beneath me, and I was plummeting through the air.
Pain, everywhere, I couldn't think straight, it radiated through my whole body making me violently ill. Then it faded, and I drifted out of consciousness.
I woke up, and there was numbness from my hips down, but everything else hurt like a million little pieces of glass were being ground into my skin. This time, when darkness swallowed me in its murky depths, I welcomed it warmly.
After that I had a strange dream, there was an old man, and he did something to my arm; it felt sort of like a pinching, but more, numbing somehow.
The next time I woke, I thought I heard voices, calling to each other. “This is a bad one; I don’t think anybody is alive.”
“No kidding, I've never seen such a violent attack.”
Then a pause, a quick intake of breath and the words, “Hey, are you awake? Can you hear me?”
I tried to say “yes over here!” but it came out a garbled moan.
“I think we found someone!”
“Yeah, and they might be alive.”
Then a female voice saying, “It’s going to be alright honey; we’ll get you out of there.”
“Bring the stretcher, the hard one; I think she’s broken.”
Broken? That didn't make sense. How could I be broken? I was obviously all here. All I remember after that is a gentle rocking, and someone crooning gently to me that everything was going to be okay. But after that day, nothing was ever the same.
Chapter 2
I woke in a strange building, being rushed down a hallway. People were shouting, and when we passed by a room I saw a girl about my age, sitting next to an old man on a weird-looking bed thing, he looked pale. Then we were pushing through a doorway with big swinging doors. Blinding white lights were above my head, and then they were moving me to a different surface. I didn't feel my legs move at all, but when someone gently lifted my shoulders and another person my hips, it hurt so much that I almost blacked out again. When the slid me over onto whatever it was they put me on, my vision went black and everything sounded funny. One kind elderly lady kept asking me what my name was, but I couldn't talk. They put a mask over my mouth and nose and everything went black again, but this time, it was different, silky, and soft.
************
I woke in a small, brightly lit room; machines were surrounding me, most of them with blinking lights and an annoying beeping sound. I tried to sit up, but I couldn't. I felt numb all over, and my mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. I heard footsteps, and then the elderly woman from before walked in.
“How are you feeling sweetie?” she asked.
I just looked at her, my face blank. She walked over and started fiddling with something attached to my arm. I didn't even notice, but they had tubes all over them, leading to clear bags hanging on poles by my bed.
Then she said, “Are you hungry?” I nodded, I didn't trust myself to speak.
“I’ll be right back with some food for you.”
I nodded again, and then croaked out, “Where am I?”
She turned around and replied, “You’re in the Agate Hospital, do you know where that is?”
I shook my head. I had never been in a hospital, only seen them from the outside. She left the room, and I tried to sit up again, the effort was exhausting. Still nothing, I wanted to sit up so badly, I couldn't understand why I was stuck like this. She came back into the room carrying a tray. She put the tray down on the side of my bed and asked me if I knew how to work one of “these things.” My thoughts were tangled, what was she talking about? She smiled kindly at my confused expression and walked over. Then she picked up a small remote and told me that it would move the bed to help me sit up. She pushed a button with an arrow pointing to the top of the remote and the top half of the bed moved, pushing me into a sitting position.
I ate the food she had brought over, and she took the tray and walked out, a lady in a uniform came in and injected something into one of the transparent bags. My eyes started to droop, and I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
************
It went on like this for some time. In fact, all I ever did was eat, sleep, and think. There wasn't much else to do. Almost three weeks later, a tall lady with brown hair and a pretty smile walked in behind the doctor. The strange lady smiled and told me she would be my social worker. I was confused, what did she mean? I didn't need a social worker, whatever that was. She explained that a social worker took care of the kids in the foster care program and that I was now in the program since I didn't have any family left.
But that wasn't right, my mom and brother couldn't be gone, and even if they were, I had my cousins and my grandparents. What was going on? I tried to tell her that she was wrong, that there was no way all of my family was gone, but she cut me off. The lady explained that my aunt had died from the Millant disease, and my uncle didn’t want a reminder of his pain. He had sent his two children Clara and Mathu to boarding schools. On top of that, he lost his job and was drinking himself unconscious every night. When I asked about my grandparents she said they had been driving, but when they had gone under a tube tunnel, it had collapsed, and they died.
How could this be happening to me? There were no words to describe how I felt at that moment. I was the only living Jacquell left. Both women left, apparently seeing my distress, or maybe it was the stupid machines. Anger and bitterness filled me, and I ripped the tubes out. As soon as I saw what was on the ends of the tubes I freaked out. I hated needles, ever since I had stepped on a sea urchin. I couldn't stand them. Somewhere to my left an alarm sounded, and nurses came rushing in, trying to get the needles back in my arms, but I was hysterical, there was no way I was letting those sharp
