Chapter One
My mom and dad raised me and my younger brother Shane to be optimists, "things always work out", they'd say, and things almost always did. When I was six and my two front teeth fell out I freaked out and wouldn't go to school for three days. A girl in my class, Laura McReynold's, front two teeth had fallen out and grew back in crooked and I was so sure that was going to happen to me. "Jewels, don't worry, it'll work out. Your mom and I have great teeth and so will you" dad teasingly reassured me. And he was right, just like them I have fantastic teeth. And when I was 14 and Ryan Lee Jamison, the second most popular guy in school, asked me out but then a week later I saw him making out with Missy Schneller at the mall, I had a nervous breakdown and I swear there was an honest moment where I truly believed my life was over. But mom was there for me. She gently cleared my long golden brown hair away from my face, collecting it to one side and draping it over my shoulder. She wiped my tears and smiled at me as if she were happy for me.
"What?" I sniffled, confused by her expression.
"It's your first heart break honey. Mother's dream of the day they get to console their daughter's first broken heart. I just can't believe we're here. You've grown up so beautifully. That Ryan guy doesn't know what he's missing." A twisted way to view the situation, I admit that, but that's my mom, able to find the bright side of anything.
"Don't worry sweetheart, it'll work out, I promise." Her words echoed through my ears, into my head and down to rest on my heart until I believed them. And sure enough, just two weeks later I met Leo Heckley and I was like, "Ryan Lee Jamison who?"
Beep…beep…beep…beep… Opening my eyes, the sounds of my hospital room are the first things I sense, followed by the pain. I hadn't felt the pain until now. The pressure behind my eyes is debilitating forcing me to squint and close my eyes frequently. I feel week in my torso and when I try to sit up a little I'm halted by a shriek of pain across my abdomen and on the right side of my rib cage. The rest of the aches all merge into one general pain. I can't tell what hurts, but I'm uncomfortable.
"Jewels, you're awake!"
"Leo?" My unused voice is low and slightly raspy. By the time I finish saying his name he's already gone yelling down the hall for a nurse. I close my eyes again. I'm so happy he's here. I'm so happy I'm here. But my moment of relief and happiness is bluntly stunted when I remember they are gone. My mom, my dad, my little brother Shane; they are all gone. The life I had just days earlier is gone and I can never have it back. Tears flood my eyes and poor over the banks of my eyelids down my temples and into my hair. I haven't the energy or the care to wipe them, so I just let them keep streaming.
Three nurses rush into my room and begin checking on me, making notes on their charts and phoning my doctor. They ask me questions and I answer, but all the while the tears continue to flow. Concerned by my tears the nurse checking my I.V. prescriptions sweetly asks me in a thin Jamaican accent, "Why the tears beautiful. You're gonna be just fine now." I look at her, deep into her eyes, and she looks back at me into my telling eyes. "Of course," she responds humbly. And I know she knows where I've just been and what I've just experienced. I turned my cheek and close my eyes and weep until the nurses are gone, the room is quiet, and I can't cry anymore.