I'M INLOVE WITH CAMREN SAME AS MY LOVE FOR TAENGSIC . . . .

HUHUHUHU  . . . .

                        When Jessica woke again, the room was filled with sunlight. She noticed two people sitting beside her bed---an older couple in conservative, Midwestern—style clothing. Plaid short-sleeved shirt and khaki pants on the man, white blouse and tailored skirt on the woman. They definitely weren’t Hawaiians. The woman had short, gray blond hair and delicate features; the man had a weatherworn face and straight brown hair with gray sideburns. Most important, they looked familiar to her.

                        “Mom? Dad?”

                         The woman jumped up and rushed to her. “Jessica, oh, sweetheart, you’re awake! And you remember us!”

                         They took turns hugging and kissing her. She wanted to respond with the same enthusiasm, but her thoughts were still jumbled and confused. Almost instinctively, she had acknowledge them as her parents, and yet her mind fed her no information, no memories or details to confirm such an assumption. She couldn’t remember their names or anything about them, except that she knew she shared and enormous emotional bond with them.

                          The woman sat down beside her and chatted excitedly, speaking so fast Jessica couldn’t comprehend what she was saying. “Your dad and I flew in last night from Detroit, jess. Long, tiring flight, but at least we made it okay. We were here right after the accident, of course, just as Taeyeon’s parents were here for him. We sat by your bedside for days. Some wonderful people from your church looked after us and made sure we had a place to stay and were well fed. Well forever be indebted to them. And it was so sweet and touching---some of your girlfriends sat with you and read the bible and even sang to you. But when over the week went by and you showed no response, we felt we needed to go home and get back to work. You know how your dads boss is---doesn’t want to give him any extra time off. Then, when Taeyeon phoned yesterday and said you were awake and talking, we were beside ourselves with joy. We immediately made plane reservations, and here we are dear.”

                            The man stood at the end of the bed, smiling at her with tear-filled eyes. “Jessica sweetheart, you are a sight for sore eyes. We wondered if you’d ever come back to us. I guess the good Lord was watching over you.”

                            “How are you filling sweetheart?” asked the woman. “The doctors says you’ll need several weeks of treatment----physical therapy and who knows what all---but everyone’s optimistic, honey. You’ll be up and walking in no time. Your old self, good as new!”

                            Jessica laid her head back and close her eyes. Her mind was shutting down, blocking out the noise, the voices, and the chatter that she couldn’t quite grasp. “I’m tired,” she murmured.

                            “Of course you are dear,” the woman said. “You’ve been a terrible ordeal. Well go now and let you get some rest.”

                            “If you need anything, honey, let us know,” the man said.

                            “We are here for you.”

                            Jessica looked over at the glass of water on her tray. “I want. . . . Lightbulb.”

                           “What dear? A lightbulb? What are you saying?”

                           “Lightbulb,” Jessica said again. What was wrong with them? Didn’t they understand that she wanted a drink of water? She nodded toward the glass.

                           “Water? Is that it, dear? Her mother said. “Why didn’t you say so?” she took the glass and put the straw to Jessica’s lips. Jessica swallowed the tepid water, but an unsettling feeling gripped her. She hadn’t said what she had meant to say. The words somehow scrambled in her brain. Frustration welled up inside her, but there was nothing she could do to alleviate it.

                            The shuttering truth stunned her. She could no longer speak well enough to express her fillings, her arms and legs had become useless appendages, and she couldn’t even trust her mind to feed her the right information. Whoever she was, she was better off dead.

                            She began to weep.