LEILA
He didn't tell me my name. So I just asked him. "Why do you want to adopt me?"
There it was again. The look.
"You wanted us to adopt you," he sounded exasperated.
"I did?"
"Yes." He sounded like I was so dumb.
Still I persisted. "Why would I want you to adopt me?"
He didn't answer right away. "You had a crush on me."
"Oh." I blushed.
Mr Nice guy seems more appropriate than Jason.
I watched Mr Nice Guy change his facial expressions. At first he was shocked with all my questions. Then suspicious, Then upset. I could read his mind.
He was thinking; Oh no, amnesia! How will she fix Emzitech's systems? Are we still going to adopt her? What if she won't be able to fix Emzitech's systems? What if she stopped being gifted? What if she becomes paralyzed? Or becomes a retard? Oops! Wrong word, mentally challenged. No….They call these people gifted children…
Do I have to be the one to take care of her?
"You don't have to adopt me," I told him softly.
"I don't think your Grandma is capable of taking care of you."
So I was able to read his thoughts. And I could read the varying expressions on his face. Disgust? Wow! As if he's Mr Perfect! I just looked at Mr Nice Guy as if I couldn't read his thoughts, giving him a deadpan look.
Maybe I should change his nickname to Mr Snobby Pants. Or just Smart Aleck. Well, he was nice, for a time, like calling the ambulance.
So Mr Whatever was staring at me. I don't feel like calling him Jason.
I continued sipping at the straw, looking at him under my lashes. He continued staring at me. Maybe I look like a zombie. Then he said, "just a sec. I need to call my Dad."
He quickly went out of the room. Even though he closed the door, I still could read his thoughts.
He said something like this; "Dad, she's brain-damaged! How can we adopt her? I don't think she can fix Emziteck's systems."
Pause.
"You think that's a good idea?"
Pause.
"Okay. When will you arrive? Great! Will you bring Mom? Fine. I'll just wait for both of you."
Brain-damaged? He's really making me angry. When he came back to the room, I closed my eyes and pretended I was trying to sleep.
So he just sat there and observed me. We stopped talking.
That gave me time to be alone with my thoughts. Weird. I remember Emzitech. I remember all their programs. I remember how I hacked their systems, how I made their programs crash. I remember the tons of viruses I placed in there. No wonder, they had a difficult time restoring the system! But after crashing their system, I couldn't remember anything.
I frowned. My head is starting to hurt. I felt good a while ago. I suddenly felt so tired. Then all of a sudden, I started shaking. I couldn't control myself. I looked at Jason, frightened. "Jason!"
He was dozing off.
My seizure became more intense so I screamed. My head was hurting so much. I couldn't take it. I screamed again.
Jason woke up but didn't know what to do.
"What happened?" He was panicking.
Of course, I couldn't answer him. My seizure continued. He rushed out of the door to call a nurse. My pupils were going up uncontrollably.
Then I felt someone inject me with a stabilizer. My seizure slowly stopped. I fell asleep.
JASON
I don't know what to think. She told me we didn't have to adopt her. So who's going to take care of her?
The next day, I picked up my parents from the airport using the car that I had been renting for more than a week. We went to the hotel where I was staying. While we were eating a late breakfast, I told them everything that occurred since I got here.
My Mom felt bad for Leila. "Poor little thing! It's good she survived the fall." She shuddered. "I really hope she's going to get well."
"We need to talk to the the doctor," my Dad said. Then he turned to me. "I have something for you. It's in my room."
Mom had this mischievous smile on her face.
"What is it?" I asked suspiciously, intrigued by her smile.
"I don't know," Dad said. "You need to open it to know what's in there. The package arrived yesterday."
Dad showed me the box after we had eaten. It was quite big, around three feet wide. It had fedex tape all over it. My parents brought an extra traveling bag just to be able to bring it.
"Why did you bring it with you?" I knelted and looked at the name on the box. It came from Leila!
"She must have sent it before the accident," Mom said.
I placed it on the bed and borrowed my Dad's pocket knife. I cut the tape and opened the box.
There were a few clothes. Two pair of jeans, a few underwear and blouses. A pair of shoes. Three small trophies of science contests. What caught my attention were the pictures. They were pictures of Leila and her father. There was a photo of her trying to walk with her father helping her. Then another with her arms around her Dad. There was a picture of her and Stephanie. Another one when she was still a baby.
She looked so happy. I didn't see any pictures with her mother. She was happy with him. She looked like a normal little girl with a doting father. Her father was attractive and was well-dressed in all the pictures. He was in formal wear in some of the pictures giving me the impression that he had a good high -paying job, well enough to buy good clothes for himself and Leila. There were pictures of him hugging her. I was glad she was happy when he was alive. Just sad he passed away too soon.
I found an envelope under the clothes. It contained her diploma, birth certificate, and her transcript of records. They were all original copies. I looked at her transcript of records. I was impressed. All A+ except PE, which had a B+. She was accelerated four times. She's really a genius. She will have her birthday next month.
I wish I met her then. She reminded me of my neighbors who I grew up with. Perhaps there is still hope that she'll be a happy girl again. I hope so.
"Oh look!" Mom pulled out a small worn out teddy bear."Let's bring this to her. It might comfort her." Mom decided not to show her the pictures until she's better.
Dad and Mom wanted to meet Leila right away. We bought her some grapes and bananas, and a small piece of cake, food that would be easy for her to eat.
"Oh, she liked the milk shake I gave her." I bought the milkshake just a block away from the hospital. Since it was near the hospital, I just walked there to buy it. For today, I bought her cookies and cream flavour. I also bought one for myself. I chose the strawberry flavour.
When we arrived, we were informed that the nurse was giving her a bath and changing her bandages. So we decided to go to the doctor, Doctor David Johnson and ask him about her condition and what caused the seizure. Doctor David Johnson was one of the top neurologists in Los Angeles. He had an extensive experience in handling sports celebrities who encountered brain injuries during sports events. We felt he was the best doctor to handle Leila's case.
"It's really quite normal, after all she went through, and with the small fracture on her skull."Dr David assured us. "We can give her a few tests in a few days to assess her mental capacities. Right now, she is able to talk normally, without any slurring. That's a good sign. Her seizure might have been caused by her trying to remember her past. She has amnesia."
Mom asked, "Doctor, what do you think caused the amnesia."
"The amnesia was her way to protect herself from the trauma she experienced before the accident. It was too much for her to remember the event. Just give her time. Her grandmother told me she was a genius." Dr David looked at us smiling assuringly. "I was informed you're planning to adopt her."
"What do you recommend we do now, Doctor?" Dad asked.
"Just take things easy. Make things easy for her. She has to be relaxed, comfortable, to heal properly and avoid future seizures. For now, avoid anything that would give her any anxiety."
I said, "Dad already started the adoption proceedings. Do you think it's a good idea for us to adopt her?"
"I don't see why not!" Dr David told us."Just show her the love she needs in a healthy family environment. Given time, she will grow up into an intelligent, lovely lady you will all be proud of"
Upon hearing his words, we were all relieved and filled with hope. So far, there doesn't seem any reason why we shouldn't continue with the adoption. Leila needs us. We decided to give all the help she needs to recover and have a loving family that she lost when her father died.