Sincerely, Emily ✓

23 • Magic

THREE DAYS.

Three days before Jessie would leave for college.

Three days before I was out of this hospital.

Three days before Mom would come back.

Honestly, I wasn't not ready. I didn't want to see her. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see her ever again, because seeing her would deepen the wound that was already cutting through my heart. She left because she couldn't handle seeing me like this. She's selfish and she's a coward. Well, it was kind of hard for me to figure out. . . if I said that she left because she "loved" me, then I would be lying to myself. No matter how much she had said that it was because she needed some time and things about love and family, what she did was unforgivable.

Tom, Oliver and I were watching Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was Tom's favorite movie at the moment. Usually, Mrs. Grant stayed in the hospital with me, but the Grants took turns at a time. Right now, it was Tom, but Oliver being Oliver, tagged along.

I'd admit, I'd never read the books, but I could tell that it must've been pretty good. 

"IT JUST CAME OUT LAST MONTH RIGHT."

"Yeah," Tom replied, distracted. Hermione and Ron were at the Chamber of Secrets, trying to destroy one of the Horcruxes. "Why?"

"HOW IS IT ON DVD ALREADY."

Then, during Hermione and Ron's kiss, Oliver turned to me dramatically and whispered, "Magic."

Phew. For a second there, I thought he was going to —

"Miss Woods!"

Dr. Grey burst into the room with disheveled hair and a wild expression, his coat a bit disarranged and the papers almost flying from his hands. "Miss Woods."

Uh. "YES."

Tom had paused the movie and Oliver sat up, both looking just as confused and weirded out as I was about Dr. Grey's sudden appearance.

"I have — I have news. Do you mind if I tell you in front of them or do you want some alo —"

"Just spit it," Oliver interrupted.

"O-Okay," Dr. Grey stammered. He never did. "So, as you know, ever since you've admitted five days ago, we've been testing you. Seeing how the ALS is going. Looking for more signs, determining how many years you still have left. Before, we thought two. But now. . ."

I gulped. It's gonna be bad. It's gonna be really bad, I thought, clenching my hands into fists.

"Miss Woods, we recorded that the last time you've had any degenerative nerve cells was two months ago."

Two months?

"It was when you reported that you lost your ability to write but you were still capable of moving your hands and arms. Are you still capable of moving them now?"

I unclenched and clenched them. I raised both of them in front of me, and even though it felt a little stiff, I was still the one in control. "YES."

"Can you still digest food?"

"YES." I had to eat it slowly and carefully, though. I used to use the feeding tubes a lot, but I learned to eat the natural way, like, a month ago. I was usually fed even though it looked more like a baby-ish gesture.

"The only muscles that are paralysed are your legs, a small part of your hands, and some muscles in your throat, which lets you to talk. Your lungs were also affected, but that was just because of the situation — it isn't really in trouble."