The Girl in a Wheelchair: A Short Story

She gazed longingly out of the attic window at the children playing below. Only from here could she have an all-encompassing view of the playing field in her wheelchair. A sleepy cat sneaked past her and curled up on the window sill, purring loudly as it enjoyed the warm sun on this sunny winter afternoon.

From the way the children were laughing, screaming and running here and there, she could tell that they were playing another exciting game of hide-and-seek. What’s more, she could recognize many of these beaming faces even from a distance. The tallest of them, with ginger hair and lovely freckles, was a girl named Aileen, who was two years older than her and had been her best friend since birth, something she would be more than proud to announce to anyone.

In fact, she used to be one of these carefree children just a year ago, when her legs had been strong enough to support her body. It was not that a fatal disease or a brutal car crash had cost her two legs, but the truth was no less devastating. She had always wanted to have a younger brother or sister to care for, and her mother had been too loving to turn her down, though a second pregnancy could be highly risky. No one ever blamed her for the misfortune of the family. But when news came that her mother died during childbirth and that the baby was stillborn, she was drowning in guilt and sorrow, and the next thing she knew was that her legs were failing her.

Whenever the children gathered together in the playing field below, she would push herself all the way up to the attic and watch them play. She had once managed to persuade her father to let her join the crowd again, and her playmates had been kind enough to take turns looking after her, especially Aileen, who had volunteered to be her care giver several times. Yet children were more playful than responsible by nature. More often than not she had been left all to herself, which had made her feel even more lonely than ever before. When this had been found out, her father decided that it would be better for her to stay in the house rather than being left somewhere without proper care. And there she was in the attic, gazing out of the window at her cheerful fellows.

"How I wish I could have a talk with my legs and ask them to become strong again!" she whispered to herself as she absent-mindedly watched the children play, "It has been so long since Aileen last dropped by. She must have come up with many funny stories to tell by now. How I wish I could visit her instead!" Then all of a sudden she began to hum the tune her mother used to sing for her when putting her to bed. Everyone else seemed to have moved on, for better or for worse, but her legs served as a reminder of what this household had gone through, and most importantly, of her role in the death of her mother. Home is no doubt a sweet place, but when you are confined to its darkest memories most of the time, it could be a cage without walls, a prison without bars.

Soon it was late in the afternoon, and the children playing below all waved goodbye to each other and headed home. She was about to push herself away from the attic window and go back to her own room when she saw from the corner of her eye that someone was coming in her direction and waving to her. It was Aileen! She hurried back to the window and waved back, and was thrilled when Aileen made several gestures they had designed together which translated into "Can I come over to your house for dinner tonight?" She nodded almost frantically and couldn't help giggling. This was the moment she had long been waiting for!

Just then, a woman in black, with a big leather hat covering her face, walked up to Aileen and said a few words to her. She couldn't tell what was going on from a distance, but apparently Aileen seemed to get frightened by the strange woman and was about to run away when she was suddenly caught by the arm, slapped in the face, and was half-carried and half-dragged towards a van not too far away from the playing field.

Something was VERY wrong, she thought to herself. This was nothing usual in this peaceful little town, and for an instant she had no idea what to do. But when Aileen tried hard to look back and gestured "Help!" towards her, she felt a sudden rush of adrenaline through her body and, before she could even notice, she was heading downstairs to her father, RUNNING as fast as she could.