AN AWAKENING by Aimee Vaniglia

"Aim, hurry!  Get up!  We've gotta go."  At first I was startled and rather confused.  Why is my father getting me up at four in the morning?  As soon as my bare feet touched the floor, I knew.  My mind drifted to the hospital while I quickly pulled my clothes on.  Is she going to make it?


Sitting in the car watching the familiar houses and offices go by, to me the short trip seemed like an eternity.  I reflected on all the times I should have gone to visit her but had stubbornly refused.  Feeling of regret instantly filled my heart.  I didn't want to believe the despairing thoughts that were rushing to my mind, but I felt overwhelmed by the cold realization that they could be true.

My father was silent as the heavy metal doors of the elevator slowly closed out the bustling hospital lobby.  During the endless ride to her floor, the stillness led me to feel more and more nervous.  Mom met us with an exhausted, downcast look on her face.

          "Is she going to be all right?"  I asked her.

          After a long pause, my mother slowly replied, "Honestly....I don't know this time."

I walked down a long hallway and carefully opened her door.  The room was small and dimly lit, and as I approached her bed, I noticed how pale and weak she looked.

I will never forget standing beside her thinking how, more than anything, I wanted to see her get up and come home with us.  I looked away, trying to collect some optimism, and then turned back and studied the intrusive machines that surrounded her.  I held her soft, fail hand in mine and told her that she was going to get better.  My eyes welled with tears, which suddenly turned into sobs.  "You can't leave me now!  Please, you have to get better!  I pleaded.  As I stood there watching her with tears streaming down my face, my heart knew that what I had been fearing was true.  My time with her had come to an end, for she was now read to pass from this world to the next,,,a world where she would suffer no longer.

                     In loving memory of my sister, Candice     10/23/1994