There once was a girl who was bored by everything and everyone she met. She was so bored that she invented her own world to live in. Her world was unique, so unique that it could be compared to none other. She had her own wonderland, and it was glorious. Her real name was repeated so often to her that she forgot it by the time she was 5. In her own world though, she was known as Clover. When, in the real world, she turned 7 her Grandmother was taken to the hospital. She was part of a homeschooling program, so she went to the hospital everyday with her mother to sit by her Grandmother's side and to do her schoolwork. Every day it was the same thing. Get up. Eat breakfast. Gather schoolwork. Go to the hospital. Sit by her Grandmother's side. And go home. This schedule did not matter to her though. She was stuck in her own wonderland. Her wonderland was filled with ideals and creatures that only a child would dream of. She always had friends this way. She never got lonely or sad. Although she wasn't exactly happy either. Everything outside of her wonderland became a game to her. She always learned first though, and then dreamed. Never the other way around. She learned so many things that she was at a college level at 6. One day at the hospital a nurse came in the room and told them that her grandmother had cancer. Clover knew what this meant and was sorry, but did not show it. She instead looked on with her eyes that only saw her own magnificent wonderland. Her mother broke out into tears. She turned to see her daughter unaffected, and was annoyed with this behavior. She lashed out and hit poor Clover.
"You heathen child, can you not feel any remorse?" She screamed as she hit Clover.
At once Clover was yanked out of her world by the pain. Her hand went immediately to her cheek where, she had been slapped. She saw the anger in her mother's eyes and did not know what to do, so she ran. She ran out of the hospital room and kept running till her feet wouldn't carry her anymore. She ignored all the calls from the nurses, who urged her to come back and talk about it. She stopped, tired of running, and sat down on the floor against a wall. She then returned to her wonderland.
"What's wrong Clover?" one of her friends asked.
"She hit me." Clover cried.
"She won't-"
"Excuse me" a boy with green skin burst into her wonderland.
"Y-yes?" Clover asked astonished, for no one had ever interrupted her trips to wonderland.
"I was wondering if you could help me find my way to radiology, I'm kind of lost." He said embarrassed.
Clover looked at him and noticed that he was about her age. She determined that she was safe as long as she stayed within yelling range of a nurse.
"Sure." she said and noticed that she had been crying.
She wiped her eyes and motioned for the boy to follow her, as she silently walked to radiology. Radiology happened to be another floor altogether. When they got to radiology the boy thanked her.
"Thank you. I hope we meet again. By the way what's your name? My name is Querl." he said.
"My name is-"
"Tora, your mother left. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay the night." a nurse interrupted.
"So your name is Tora? That's a beautiful name." Querl said.
Clover didn't hear him. She was too busy thinking.
"Mommy left me here? Why? What did I do wrong?" She thought.
"I'm sorry I have to go see my Grandmother" she said and walked away.
"Don't worry, you'll see her again. See practically lives here." Clover heard the nurse say to Querl.
She went to her Grandmother's room and dutifully studied as she should.
"I thought you and your mother left." her grandmother said to Clover.
"She left me here. The nurse told me so." Clover said.
"I'm sorry Tora." her grandmother said.
She was lost in her own world though, and this time she had a new friend.
The next morning she woke up and wandered to the cafeteria. She got herself a small breakfast and sat down and ate. Then, very much to her surprise, someone sat down next to her. It was Querl.
"I hope you don't mind if I sit here next to you. You just looked lonely." Querl said.
"It's okay, but please don't call me Tora. It means almost nothing to me. Call me Clover." Clover said.
"Okay." Querl said confused.
Clover then continued to eat in silence.
"So, why are you here so early?" Querl asked, breaking the silence.
"Didn't you hear? My mother left me. Why are you here?" Clover countered.
"I have a job. I'm still new though. I fix things when they go haywire." Querl defended.
"You, a job? You're not very much older than me." Clover asked.
"So? I have 12th level intelligence for your information."
"Fair enough, I have a diploma anyway."
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
"I do" Clover said and pulled up her diploma on her wristwatch.
"Sorry, just don't see many other geniuses around" Querl said.
Clover noticed the time and saw that her mother would be arriving soon.
"What's wrong?"
"I have to go to my grandmother's room"
"What room. I'll walk you there."
"819"
"Great, I have to fix something there anyway." Querl said smiling.
Clover smiled back at him, for the first time in her life she had smiled.
They walked up to her grandmother's room and as soon as they got there Querl went to fix the broken object. Clover's mother then walked into the room.
"Where have you been?" her mother demanded. "Your father has been worried sick about you."
"You left me here" Clover said blandly.
"I did not" she yelled and hit Clover on the side of the head. "And don't you ever disrespect me again. I give you food and the clothes on your back. And don't you ever run away from me again." She yelled at Clover as she dropped to the floor.
"Yes mommy" Clover said as she wondered what she had done wrong.
Querl looked up from what he was doing and gaped at Clover's mother. He rushed to Clover's side.
"Veronica stop mistreating your daughter." Clover's grandmother yelled at Clover's mother.
Clover started to get, but then her mother kicked her swiftly in the ribs.
"Why Mother? What did I do to you?" Clover begged as she once again attempted to get up.
Her mother harshly grabbed Clover's arm and yanked her up.
"Because I hate you" she told Clover, squeezing her arm tighter and tighter with each word.
"Let her go" Querl yelled.
She let go of Clover and told her words that Clover would never ever forget.
"I never want to see you again, understand? Get out of my sight." were her very words.
Clover understood very clearly. She ran and burst into tears. She wanted to get away from that place badly and nothing was going to stop her. She stopped running and realized that her heart condition was acting up. She went to a nurse, who knew her very well, and told about her heart condition and how to stop it. The nurse gave her the medicine that she requested and let her ride out the effects. Clover meanwhile went to her wonderland and discussed what she should do with her friends.
"You should tell the nurse" one of them said.
"We'll get your father to do something" another said.
As soon as the nurse said that Clover was good to go, Clover walked down the hall wondering what she should do. She then saw an emergency patient get wheeled into a room. She also saw that the nurses were giving him all the wrong medicines. She went into the room and told the nurses what they were doing wrong and soon got the patient stabilized again.
"This was a total misdiagnosis" Clover said and walked out of the room.
She walked into the hallway and walked up to a mirror. She peered into it. She had a black eye and she tasted blood in her mouth.
"Clover" Querl yelled.
Clover kept on staring into the mirror.
"Clover, I'm sorry" he came up to her.
"It's not your fault" Clover turned to face him.
He looked at her with pity.
"I would like to help you with your job since I cannot go home or to sit by my grandmother's side." she said.
He thought about it for a moment and then said "Okay, I guess."
"Thank you" Clover said.
And so it came to be that Clover would assist Querl with his job until her mother left, and then she would sit next to her grandmother for the rest of the night until the next morning. She also learned more about everything that one could not learn from a computer. She learned that Querl did not like physical contact or to be wrong. She learned how to help people. She learned how to hide the fact that her wonderland existed. She also learned that life wasn't as boring as she thought it would be.
Her grandmother did not get better with time though, in fact she worsened. On the last night she lived, Clover stayed up with her until she died at 12:13 AM. Clover was crushed. The next morning when Querl arrived, she was not waiting in the cafeteria like normal. She was deep in wonderland. He came up to the room and tried to snap her out of it, but it was no use. He finally picked her up and carried her out of the room. Clover didn't come out of wonderland. Querl pinched her and she came out of wonderland at once.
"She died. What am I going to do now?" Clover asked.
"I don't know." he responded.
Just then a patient went critical. Clover got up out of Querl's arms and ran to the room and knew exactly what to do. She pulled gloves on and administered a pain medicine that brought the patient back to stability. She walked out of the room and washed her hands. She went over to Querl and leaned against the wall.
"What? I technically am a doctor." Clover defended her actions.
"Y-You have wings." he stuttered.
Clover looked around, and found that she did indeed have wings.
"Am I still in wonderland?" she pondered aloud, while lightly flapping her newly found wings.
"Where?"
"Wonderland. I have always disliked this world, so I made my own."
"A few minutes ago, did I bring you out of wonderland?"
"Yes. I had some things to think about..." Clover said
"Why don't you like this world?" Querl asked.
"It's just always been a little bit boring for my tastes I guess." Clover shrugged. "In my world I can see so much more. I have friends there. It doesn't have as many problems as this world has."
"But, you do have friends other than me right?" Querl asked worriedly.
Clover shook her head. "I have never had any other real friends than you." She confessed.
Querl thought for a few minutes after that. "What made you think that I would be a good friend?" He asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I sensed an intellect that I could compare with." Clover said after a while.
Bit by bit tears forced themselves out of her eyes till she couldn't resist breaking into tears. She sat down on the floor quietly and cried. She cried as she had not for the longest time. Querl wrapped his arms around her and tried desperately to comfort her.
"I want to go back. I want her to still be alive." She said quietly.
"I'm sorry, but no one has found a way to go back in time yet." Querl replied wishing that for once he was wrong, so that he could grant this one girl her wish.
Clover continued to cry until a cold empty voice called her name.
"Clover it's time to go home now. You've had your fun, now it's time to come back to the real world." Clover's mother said as she trotted down the corridor.
Clover was filled with fear instantly.
"No! I don't want to go with you, I have a real family now. One which actually cares about me." She said.
"Get away from that scum. He is not your flesh and blood, so why do you care about him?" Clover's mother demanded.
"Because he cares about me, that's why!" she screamed.
"Why you little-"Clover's mother said and in a rush of fury pushed Clover out of the window, breaking the glass of the window into little pieces in the process.
Clover realized what was happening and tried to fly with her newfound wings, but couldn't, for they had been too badly damaged by the glass. She fell eight stories down from the window, and crashed onto the ground. She was trying to gasp for air when she saw Querl's frantic face appear. She knew that she wouldn't live through this, so she grasped for his hand desperately and whispered to him good bye as she slowly disappeared into her magnificent wonderland full of all her dreams and a boy who would guide her every step of the way.