Anna

I was 7 the first time I found my first bruise. Not the age I am now, 10.

At my age, I knew children were always getting bruises and cuts so I didn't think anything of it.

Kate was 10, the twins were 11 and Evan was 15. Kate had been taken to the hospital again and Mom and Dad were talking with one of the nurses. The twins were coloring in the waiting room. Evan and I had wandered off, in different directions.

I was sitting in a comfortable blue chair, bored. It was raining outside.

I looked down at my arm and noticed a small light blue circle on it. Out of curiosity I pressed it. It didn't hurt.

-XXXX-

The first time I got sick also happened to be the day I found the bruise. It was after dinner and I was starting to feel a little nauseous. I went upstairs to the cold white bathroom, where I left both the white toilet lids open and waited. Mom and Dad were downstairs, talking. Everyone else was in their rooms. After awhile, nauseou crept up from my stomach, into my chest and out of me when I leaned over the toilet. At my age, I knw children often got colds and the flu. I started feeling more tired than usual. Several days later I got more bruises. The weird thing was, when I went to school I wasn't contagious, which is how I knew it wasn't just a cold or the flu.