Read: I’m No Ordinary Girl, Chapter One, Part One

Read: I’m No Ordinary Girl, Chapter One, Part Two

Chapter 2: Where am I?

There is darkness all around me. I feel nothing. It’s like I am levitating in the air. Far away, I see something floating, and there is a bright white light glowing from an object or is someone there.

There’s a mysterious voice saying, “I know your Destiny.”

I stand in an empty box surrounded by dark shadows. I awake in my bedroom with chills going down my spine. Everyone dreams at night because it means you had a good night’s sleep.  I don’t think people should have dark, scary dreams like mine.

I reach for the glass of water on my nightstand and gulp it down. I place my feet into my fuzzy pink slippers and walk like a zombie towards the picture window. The beaming of the sun and the crystal blue sky are helping me wake up. A black bird with a red belly chirp while rummaging in the grass for worms. It looks so beautiful out. I think I will wear a hoodie to school today instead of a coat. I go into the closet to grab my clothes and a pink hoodie.  Out of the blue, my head feels heavy, and my legs are unsteady. I fall to my knees onto the floor of my bedroom.

Mrs. Taylor hears a loud thump and runs upstairs to her daughter’s bedroom. Samantha’s mother opens her daughter’s bedroom door without delay. She looks all around the room until her eyes see her daughter’s slippers peeking out from the foot of the bed. Tears dribble down her face while crying out for her husband. Mr. Taylor runs down the hallway and up the stairs into his daughter’s bedroom. He froze when his eyes fell upon his daughter lying on the floor. He doesn’t cry nor scream or says anything at all. His only reaction is to pick up his daughter and carry her into the car and rush her to Children’s Hospital.

Mrs. Taylor goes into Samantha’s closet, grabs a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She throws the clothes in an overnight bag with Samantha’s medicine and insurance cards. She runs down the stairs like lightning and reaches for her purse, hanging on the coat rack by the front door.  Samantha’s father speeds down a transit road.

Twenty minutes later, they arrive at the Children’s Hospital. Mr. Taylor lifts his daughter out of the backseat of the car. A nurse rushes out the double doors with a wheelchair. I see myself lying in a hospital bed despite being unembodied. Dark matter surrounds my mind and body alike my dream last night. Underneath the box I’m captured in, I see my parents pacing back and forth waiting for a doctor inside a gray bubble.

How is this possible? I lay in the hospital bed while I float within the dark matter in my mind hoping to awake soon. The white light appears, and then my eyes open. I awake in the hospital choking and gasping for air. I’m at ease knowing my mom is holding my hand.

Mrs. Taylor runs to the nurse’s station. “Can someone check my daughter’s breathing?”

“What’s happening, Mrs. Taylor?”

“She keeps coughing and feels like she needs air.”

A dirty blonde hair nurse rushes into the room and places a pulse oximeter on my index finger.

“Her oxygen level is low. I will get an oxygen tank and tubing for her.”

“Okay, thank you, Nurse Kim.”

I can tell my dad is worrying. He’s looking down at the floor, rubbing his forehead. Knowing my dad, he’s a worry that something is severely wrong with me. Six years ago, when I got diagnosed with diabetes was the last time, they rushed me to the hospital.  I stay overnight at the hospital every other weekend because my blood sugars always fluctuated. The doctors try different insulins and oral medications to keep me stable. I hope they don’t have to take several tubes of blood out of me. With my luck they probably will, you think I will be used to it by now. 

“I wish there’s something I can do for you,” says Dad.

“I’m okay. I want to close my eyes and take a nap. I had trouble sleeping last night.”

“You rest honey. Mom and I are going to step out for coffee.”

“Okay, dad.”

“Nurse Kim, my husband and I are going to the cafeteria.”

“Okay, I’ll write your cell phone number in case I need to reach you,” says Nurse Kim.

Mr. Taylor kissed his daughter’s forehead and left the room to go to the cafeteria on the first floor of the hospital. The hospital is busy this morning, Mrs. Taylor thought. It’s the time of year where children get sick because of the change of weather.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor enters the cafeteria and smells the fresh coffee brewing. A smile rose on Mr. Taylor’s face because he is a coffee addict. Mrs. Taylor goes into the refrigerator and picks up two turkey sandwiches. Before heading to the cash register, she looks around the café.

Mrs. Taylor walks up to the cash register and places her food down.

“Hi. How are you today?” Lady at the register asked.

“I’m okay. Can I have two large coffees please?”

“Yes. Would you like cream and sugar?”

“Yes, three sugars and cream for both coffees.” The red hair lady making the coffee looked like she didn’t want to do her job today. She slams the creamer on the counter.

“Your total will be $14.85.”

Mrs. Taylor takes out her debit card from her purse and swipes her card.

The lady at the cash register smiles and says, “Thank you very much. Your coffees will be ready at the next counter.”

Mr. Taylor grabs the coffees and joins his wife at the bistro table. Before they left, they took each other’s hand. Their eyes meet before bowing their heads to pray to God that their daughter will be all right. They take the elevator up to the third floor and walk back to their daughter’s hospital room.

“Honey, Samantha’s awake,” says Mrs. Taylor. She pushes the blue chair sitting under the television next to her daughter’s bed.

“Hi, Mom and Dad. Nurse Kim is checking my vitals.” Nurse Kim removes the blood pressure cuff off of my left forearm. She puts the cuff in the cart and reads my oxygen level off of the monitor screen.

Nurse Kim turns around to look at my parents and says, “Her blood pressure is normal, and the oxygen is helping with the shortness of breath.”

“That’s good news,” says Dad with a silent sigh.

“Doctor Reed should be able to tell you what’s going on soon. He is reading the lab results.”

Mom says, “Okay, thank you, nurse.”

Nurse Kim pushes the blood pressure cart back to the nurse’s station. I look at the clock on the wall on the right side of the television. “I can’t believe it’s the afternoon already. The last time I gaze at the clock, it said seven in the morning.”

“We have been at the hospital since about eight-thirty this morning. What happened to you?” Mom said, crossing her arms.

“Mom, I woke up from a scary dream. I drank some water. Then I looked out the window. I started to walk toward the closet to grab my clothes. Then, I felt lightheaded.”

Mom says, “Oh, sweetie,” and then she kisses my forehead.

Mom sits back down in the chair and reaches for the television remote from the wooden table. She turns on the television to look for our soap opera. I have been watching The Young and Restless with my mom since I was in my mother’s belly. I giggle when I hear Victor Newman call his daughter’s husband Billy boy.

Doctor Reed breezes into the room and says, “Glad to see you in good spirits, Samantha.”

I smile and say, “Thank you.”

“How are you feeling, Samantha?”

“I am feeling better. I don’t feel lightheaded no more.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, it seems to me your daughter had a hypoglycemic episode.”

“I’m surprised she had low blood sugar. She ate her favorite ice cream as a bedtime snack,” says Dad.

I put my hand over my mouth and laugh because I love mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.”

Doctor Reed says, “It looks like Samantha blood sugar dropped very low during the night. When she woke up her body, felt the effects.”

Mom says with her arms cross, “It was frightening to see her lying on the floor.”

“I would like to monitor Samantha overnight to see if we need to adjust her medication.”

“Okay, we understand, says Dad.

Nurse Kim pops into the room, holding the glucose kit. “Time to check your blood sugar.”

I hold my hand outward, and she pricks and squeezes my finger until there is enough blood on the test strip. I swear the hospital needle pointer hurts more than the one I have at home. Nurse Kim hands me a menu to order lunch.

“Ooh, lunchtime. I’m starving!”

“Did her blood sugar go up?” Mom asks.

“Samantha’s blood sugar went up to one hundred and sixty after all the sugar water we gave her in the IV.”

Mom circles what I want to eat on the menu and gives it back to Nurse Kim. Within a few minutes, a tall gentleman with snoopy on his scrubs brings me my food. I ordered a ham sandwich, fruit cup, and chocolate pudding.

“Yeah, food is here!” I ate the food so fast, I almost choked. Nurse Kim takes my blood pressure and takes the food tray away.

“Mom and Dad, my eyes feel heavy. I’m taking another nap.”

“Rest, I will be right by her bedside,” Dad said.

Mr. Taylor watches his daughter sleep while his wife reads on her nook to calm herself down. Samantha lays asleep in the hospital, but her body goes back into her mind, and the dark matter appears again.

I scream bloody murder. Why is this happening to me? There has to be some reason, right?

There is darkness all around me. The white light appears and reveals an image. There is a young girl who looks sick. She is fastened to a metal table. A woman wearing a long black lace dress floats into the room. She fills a syringe with electric green substance and injects the girl bind to the table. The image disappears, and I’m breathless again.