I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

“I hate puzzles.”
“You adore puzzles. And it’d be great if we actually finished one.”
“Fine. But only because you’re disabled.”
Sony snorts. “Your back’s screwed. Soon you’ll be disabled like me.”
“Yeah, yeah. You got any corner pieces?”
—
“Sam.” Someone whispers my name. I wake to Sony’s head in my
lap.
“Look, Sam,” she says, holding up Lord of the Flies with the giddiest
grin. “I read
a whole book. See? I can’t wait to tell mom.”
The wild children in it, the ones who held onto their humanity past
their hardships, remind me of her. My devil searching for her wings. I
fix the breathing tube over her lip and tell her I’m proud while she
flips through the page she’s conquered.
Sony gets discharged in February. Every check-up she has, she
practically rams into Neo and me with hugs and thousands of kisses.
She even starts coming to the hospital for visits. We have puzzle
nights once a week.
—
One day, Sony comes to the hospital without calling first. Neo and I
watch movies in an empty waiting room, Eric’s shift allowing us to
sprawl out on the chairs past our bedtime.
Sony walks through the door like a lost soul. She wears nothing but
pajamas and those dirty white sneakers. Her eyes stray, from the
ground to us to the hand squeezing her arm.