Short story

ANGEL OF THEIR HEARTS

Lilly leaned from her bed and drew back the curtains. She had heard her sisters, Jillian and Gemma, whooping with joy earlier that morning and now she could hear them squealing outside her window. Thump, thump, thump. Three patches of white appeared on her window, and then Jillians’s face appeared beside one of them.

“Hey Lil, This is fantastic! Its sooooooo cold out here. Me and Gem are making snow angels now, tell Mary to bring you out to see!”

Lilly rolled over and pulled the covers over her head. It wasn’t fair; Gemma and Jillian always got to do outside things! Why did it have to be her that couldn’t walk and run it the snow? Stupid legs, stupid lungs, stupid spine! She was always the one who had to miss out on the things all the other kids took for granted. Her one wish was to take her sisters hands and walk down to the river in the bright sunshine and have picnic. But because of her condition she would never be allowed to do that, never mind be able to.

Mary came in just then and gently pulled the cover away from Lilly’s face.

“Come on Hun, let’s get you up. The other girls want to show you something in the yard”

“No! I’m not going out there to watch them run around and have fun! I don’t want them to show me what I can’t do, I already know.” Lilly sourly replied.

Mary coxed her out of bed despite Lillys repeated protests, she got her into her chair and wheeled her down the corridor to the mud room where she helped lily into on her warm water proof snow suit.

Outside her sisters were running around throwing balls of snow at each other and the dog. Lilly could see the prints in the snow where they had lay down and made images of flying angels in the soft powder. Gemma saw Lilly and Mary and called them over.

“Hey Lil, we made some thing for you”

“Uh huh” Lilly replied “bet you had fun doing it too…without me.”

Mary wheeled her around the corner of the house to where there was an almost untouched patch of snow, the only thing marking the snow was a big love heart made of stones.

“We saved this bit for you Lil” said Jillian

“Yeah” said Gemma “we wanted you to make a snow angel to! Come on we’ll help you get over there”

The girls helped Lilly out of her chair and over to the centre of then heart, they helped her lie down in the soft snow and moved her arms and legs to make and angel shape. When Lilly was safely back in the wheel chair Gemma and jillian stood next to her while Mary took a photo of the three of them next to their angel.

“The girls did this on that snowy day because they knew that their sister, Lilly, wouldn’t be around for ever, and they wanted to remember the angel of their hearts.  They wanted Lilly to know that they loved her and they always would remember the first  day they took her out to do the things she thought she couldn’t do. From that day on they took Lilly everywhere with them, even down to the river that summer for her first, and last, picnic. Even though Lilly is now gone they will still always take the angel of their hearts everywhere they go.”