Part Two: "It's weird...you know the end of
something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more
second...just so it can hurt a little more."
"Mommy, mommy look!" Lexis said as she showed
her mother a picture of a small sparrow. Lexis had always been fascinated with
small creatures like birds and lizards. This one happened to be smaller than an
average sparrow, but it still made the same sounds as the others.
"It is lovely, Lexis. Why don't you go and find
a frog and take a picture of it? Then we can put it up in your room!" Lexis'
mother was always warm and caring, even when someone did something wrong. Lexis
ran and hugged her mom and nodded in appreciation. Lexis had reddish brown hair
and her eyes were bright green with hints of metallic gold and blue. She was
very tall for her age, almost 5 now. She is almost 5! She is getting so old!
Lexis' mother, Shelby, gasped as lexis almost fell on a rock as she tried to
catch a toad.
"Mommy I got the picture! Do you want to look at
it?"Lexis ran over and sort of shoved the camera in her face.
"Hold on honey, I need my glasses," she grabbed
her glasses and looked at the camera, "it is a beautiful picture, sweetie!"
"Thank you, momma."
"Honey, what do you want to do for your
birthday?"
Lexis debated in her head, but then said, "can I
have a nature party?"
"Like go outside and play games? Like that
sweetie?"
Lexis knew her mom did not understand that she
wanted to walk around and look at all the different animals outside, but she
let her think that, that is what she wanted, "yeah, mommy. It will be so much
fun!" Shelby sighed with relief and led Lexis back into the house.
"Three more days, Lexis, and you will be a year
older."
"And wiser, mommy, remember that too!" Shelby
smiled and laughed at the thought of her little girl growing up. When she
looked up she saw that her husband was finally here. Mark, Lexis' father was a
computer analyst for the Department of Defense in their hometown of Cheyenne,
Wyoming.
"Daddy! You're home!" Lexis ran up to her father
as he scooped her up and swung her around.
"How is my little angel!?" Mark was a very
muscular man, who was also a giant at six foot, five inches, but he was a
friendly giant, as his wife called him. Lexis looked like a midget in his arms
as he held her for what seemed like eternity.
"How was work, honey," Shelby asked. This was
the same question she asked every day after Mark got home. The response was
always the same; even Lexis had catched onto the answer.
"Classified," both Lexis and Mark said at the
same time. They looked at each other in shock, but then started laughing,
hysterically. Even Shelby laughed, and even snorted a few times, which made
everything seem ten times funnier.
When they finished laughing, they eat dinner,
Lexis' favorite, veggie pizza and garden salad with pickled beets. After dinner,
they always took a short hike to the lake by their house and dipped their feet
in. By the time they got back, everyone was extremely tired and wanted to go to
bed.
The next couple of days were boring to Lexis.
Waking up, planning for the party, eating, sleeping, and repeating as
necessary, with the occasional play time with her G.I. Joe doll. The day of her
birthday was the most exciting thing she had ever done; it was her first and
she hoped not her last. That day, Lexis had been feeling a little strange but
she did not think anything of it, she thought, It must just be a cold,
and she thought nothing of it again...
Everyone came at three in the afternoon with
presents and even some food. Lexis was ecstatic about this party! They went on
a small walk before having cake and opening presents. They played games and hit
a piñata with a big branch. By six p.m. everyone had left and Lexis was feeling
even worse.
"Sweetie, what is wrong," Shelby looked
concerned?
"It hurts to breathe, momma." Suddenly in her brain
she yelled stop and everything went black...
What is going on? Why did it go black? She thought of taking a step forward, but forced herself not to. What
was going on? Unsure of what to do she took a short scoot forward and
waited. What do I do now? She started panicking and oddly thought of a
DVD player. What do you push after pause or stop? That was it! She said
play out loud and there everything was. At first her mother did not notice
anything, but then she saw that Lexis was right in her face, which is not where
she was before.
"When did you walk closer, Lexis," now her
mother was very concerned and yelled for Mark.
"Everything went black...just black..."
Now Shelby was screaming for Mark and she
stepped back a foot or two. Is she afraid of me because of this? Mark
ran up to her.
"What is wrong," he looked anxious, but not
concerned.
"It happened...it...it...it happened."
"Honey, what happened?" He said this quietly
because he did not really know what she meant nor did he really understand why
she was freaking out so much.
She whispered in his ear, The thing the
doctor told us. That she would be different; something was different about her.
She said everything went black...what caused that? Mark just looked at her
after she stopped talking. Mark was sort of stunned that something had ACTUALLY
happened. The doctor had only said that the real mother was suspicious, but all
test came up negative. The baby seemed fine, but in reality she had something
wrong with her. But what, was the question he was asking in his head.
"Lexis did it hurt when everything went black?"
"No daddy. It did not hurt. It was...just
black. And when I moved my right foot forward, I said play, like on the DVD
player, and I can back." Lexis was still really confused by all of the confusion
and clear fear. They feared her and she did not know why. Lexis only curled up
in a ball on the ground and fell asleep.