Six Months Later . . .

Second chances.

How many people in the world are given such a blessing? It's hard to believe that I was once a prisoner to that old chair. In a weird way, I almost miss it. A life without legs. That had become my life for just over a year, a year that—in one sense—flew by, and in another, it crawled. At one point, I had given up on the fantasy of ever walking again, but thanks to the help of some very special people, that fantasy has become a reality. No matter what some people say, dreams do come true. I'm living proof.

I hear a small gasp to my right; I turn my head. Aurora is standing there with her fingers cupped over her mouth in awe, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of me standing on my own two feet. "Bestie, you've done it! Oh, I always knew you would. I just knew it!" She practically leaps on top of me in a hug. I quickly dig my wooden cane into the dirt, stabilizing myself so as not to topple over the edge of The Bluff.

"All of it still feels so new," I say. "I have to learn how to walk all over again." I try wiggling my toes from within my Converse All-Stars, grinning as I feel them move. "But it feels wonderful!"

After I took my first steps, almost six months ago now, it was a gradual process of me regaining my ability to walk. Every now and then, I find myself briefly losing sensation in my legs which causes me to stumble, sometimes even collapse altogether, but I can walk. That's something I truly never thought I'd say again.

"I'm gonna miss this place," I breathe.

Aurora shoots a curious glance at me. "Whaddya mean, Bestie?"

"I've made the decision to go to college. Spring classes start next week."

She claps her hands together excitedly. "That's great! Photography?"

"No. I want to do something more fulfilling than photography, so I chose to major in Rehabilitation and Caretaking, much like Desiree. I want to help others get a second chance like the one I have been given. Who knows, maybe I'll even get a job working at White Guard. If I do, then I'll be able to see Calix and Maverick every day."

Aurora's bottom lip quivers. "But . . . what about me—us? What about all the things we've done, the memories we've created? We were going to be each other's Maid of Honor one day. I can't live without my Bestie!"

I shift uneasily, dodging her heartbroken gaze. I've played with this illusion for far too long. I can already see it's going to be difficult breaking things off.

How do I tell her?

Aurora's eyes slowly widen, as if she's already realized what I'm thinking. "I'm not really here . . . am I?"

My whole body tightens, and I slowly shake my head from side to side.

She wipes away tears. "Was I . . ." Her voice cracks. "Was I ever real?"

"You were real to me, every second of you."

She turns away. "I guess . . . I guess this is goodbye then?"

I try not to cry, knowing it will only make things harder, but after a few moments of battling the welling emotions, a warm tear slides down my cheek. I loop a hand inside my best friend's. "You're my favorite hello and my hardest goodbye, you know that?" Her green eyes meet mine, and I can't help but feel responsible for the sorrow that's written on her young face. I suck back a deep breath. "It feels like I'm losing you all over again."

"No, you're not, Bestie. I'll always be with you." She points at my heart. "In here." Then tightly wraps her arms around me. I don't want to let go. I can feel us parting, her arms sliding away from me. She turns toward the canyon once again and begins to walk towards the edge. My hands are shaking, heart thumping in my ears. I desperately want to scream for her to stop, to lunge forward and pull her in close. But I know that I can't. This is goodbye.

Aurora walks out over The Bluff and morphs into the golden sunrise, disappearing completely.

* * *

For the first time since the day of my accident, I get behind the wheel of a car. I place my cane in the seat next to me. Maybe I'll give it a nickname like Calix gave his. It will be a while before I can walk well enough without it; might as well make it a part of the family and give it a proper name.

Father had offered to buy me another sports car like the one I had before; he said it would be a congratulatory present for earning my legs back, but I told him I didn't need something that ostentatious. I wanted to earn my own way. So he loaned me the money and we went used car shopping thereafter. I made a promise to myself to not even glance at my phone when behind the wheel. A text message can wait. It took spending a year as a paraplegic for me to realize that.

My stomach twists with excitement. The representatives of the hospital and the rehabilitation center had called me two weeks ago saying they'd recently cleared fifty acres of forest. Today, we're going to break ground on the new facility.

The drive is peaceful. The feeling of my feet pivoting from the brake to accelerator pedals is amazing. Not being chained to a chair every waking moment is indescribable.

I think about the many people that I met while in rehab, and the many more that I'll hopefully be able to help in the future. There's always someone out there less fortunate than I, someone who is in need of a second chance. Maybe they're a plegic, maybe they're blind, or maybe they're a cancer surviving, mentally crazy, alien believing person. Whoever or wherever they may be, I'm going to find them and help them because everyone deserves a second chance at life.

As I arrive, a large crowd has already gathered across the open field. There must be a hundred people here. Benjamin Trout's Bentley is parked on the grass up ahead. My pulse jumps as I scan the rest of the parked vehicles and see James and Parker's station wagon. I'm rather surprised. I would have thought that they had left Camden by now.

Benjamin greets me as I step out of my car—an old Ford Taurus that I found for a low price. "Are you ready for this moment, young lady?" His bushy beard twitches as a smile forms underneath. I haven't seen him since the day that we finalized the facility's contract six months ago.

"You're shorter than I remember," I say with a grin.

He laughs heartily. "Glad to see you on your feet."

There's a small stage topped with a podium in the midst of the field. Off to the side are three sets of blueprints set on easels displaying the layout for the new facility. I take to the stage; Benjamin stands behind me. I see mother and father standing towards the front of the crowd; they wave to me. August is standing in front of the two of them.

Crowds have never bothered me, but for some reason my stomach is a bundle of nerves. I take a deep breath before speaking. "I would like to thank you all for coming today. Almost one year ago today I was in a car accident, which took both my legs and my best friend. I was fortunate to earn back one of those things, but the other, my friend, Aurora, will always be in my heart."

Amid the crowd of people, I spot James and Parker, which causes me to falter from my speech unexpectedly. I haven't seen either of them since the day that we visited them at their house shortly after Aurora's death.

I quickly regain my composer. "Over the next few months, I turned inward, bitter, and unthankful for what I still had left. I even considered suicide. But a dear friend told me that being a little different wasn't such a bad thing. And he was right." I then spot the familiar dark sunglasses of Calix in the crowd, beaming with delight. Maverick is standing beside him wearing a tin foil hat on his head. I smile. Some things never change.

"With the help of White Guard Rehabilitation Center and my physical trainer, Desiree . . ." Her platinum blonde head sticks out in the crowd like a sore thumb. ". . . I learned to live with my disability as a paraplegic. Later on, I had the privilege of meeting someone who inspired me. Someone who made me realize that living with paralysis wasn't as bad as I once thought." Kalyope is down front with an unstoppable smile on her face, her family surrounding her. It's riveting to see her alive and well.

"All of this led to one major decision: I had a strong desire to give people a second chance at life. And thanks to Mr. Trout for his generous donations, that is now an achievable feat." I lift an open hand towards the blueprints of the new facility. "I present to you the Aurora Foundation. Its purpose is to reduce wait times on donor lists by up to eighty percent and increase successful transplants by over fifty percent. Instead of patients being put on a waiting list, where over one hundred and twenty thousand other patients across the country lie in wait for the same miracle, the Aurora Foundation works independently and on a separate donor list of its own, operating strictly within the state of Maine. Our goal is to bring hope to those in need and to give a second chance one life at a time." A round of applause fills my ears as I finish my speech.

I step away from the podium and Benjamin takes my place, saying a few words to the crowd. After he's finishes, two men wearing white hard hats grip the end of a shovel and press the metal tip into the earth. A rumble of applause ripples across the crowd once again. We've officially broken ground.

As I descend the stage, Parker makes her way over to me. Her eyes are puffy and her nose red on each side, as if she's been crying. She doesn't say anything for the first few seconds. She simply stares deep into my eyes, which makes me rather uncomfortable. What if me doing all of this has only made things worse? What if she didn't appreciate that I named the Foundation after her late daughter? Does she still hate me for what happened to Aurora? What is she thinking? Oh, I can't take much more of this silence!

"It'll be exactly one year tomorrow," she finally speaks. I nod, unsure of what else I should do. Parker then smiles weakly, but genuinely. "Aurora would be so proud of you." The next thing I know, Parker draws me in close to her. A whisper fills my ear, "I forgive you." There's a certain glow about her, one that gives me a sense of peace.

I forgive you. I never thought that I would hear Parker say those words to me.

"I would've expected you and James to be long gone by now," I say as we part from the embrace.

"We're leaving today," she sniffs. "We sold the house, and now that old station wagon is packed full with everything that we own."

"Where are you headed?"

She shrugs, looking over her shoulder at James, who is now leaning against the station wagon. "West, I think. We're not sure of anything as of this moment. Wherever the roads take us, I guess. But soon we won't be traveling alone." She rubs her stomach in a circle. "We found out last month."

I feel my mouth drop open. "You? You're . . .?" I'm unable to blurt out the right words, so I let them fade. Parker nods, grinning as widely as I am. "Congratulations!" I say.

"You take care of yourself, McKenzie. And thank you for being such a precious friend to Aurora." She turns away from me and walks over to James. They begin to drive away. I stand there in the open field, watching their station wagon become smaller and smaller with distance until vanishing altogether amidst the remaining forest.

"Aw, man. I love happy endings!" a familiar voice cries out from behind me. I spin around and see Maverick standing there, his tin foil hat now crooked on his head. "Don't you, Cal?" He looks to his left at Calix.

"Ending? Mate, who says this is the blimey ending?"

"He's right," I say, clicking my heels together. "This is merely the beginning. A new beginning."

Maverick rushes over with open arms, hugging me so tightly that I feel the oxygen being squeezed from my lungs. "I'm gonna miss you, Wheels."

"Mate, you can't call her Wheels anymore. She doesn't have 'em."

Maverick thinks this over. "I'm gonna miss you, Legs." Hugging me all over again. He then straightens his tin foil hat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go tune in with the mother ship." He dashes off, muttering to himself.

Calix sweeps Teddy in front of him until it hits my shoe. He smiles. "So this is it, eh? Got your legs back and off you go to explore the world?"

"Not yet. There's one last thing I need to do." I take a step closer to him. "Listen, Calix; a couple of weeks ago I had Jamal look into your medical records. I know such information is sealed to anyone other than the patient and doctor, but, ya know, I'm kind of awesome and all." Calix laughs. "Anyway, I told the Aurora Foundation to be on the lookout for a retinal organ donor in the area, and well . . ." I can hear his breath quicken. "They found a match just yesterday!"

Calix stumbles back in disbelief. "Milady . . ."

"Yeah, I know. Calix, you'll be able to see!" And in that same moment, I see a tear slide out from behind his sunglasses.

"That means I'll be able to see you? Really and truly see . . . you! No more envisioning what this magnificent world looks like, no more wondering?"

"That's right. All you have to do is say yes."

He doesn't hesitate for a second."Yes! Yes, yes, a million times yes! I look forward to seeing you, Milady."

"I look forward to that, too." I leave him standing in the field. Before I get inside my car, I turn around one last time. "Oh. Did you hear the good news? Pluto is a planet once again."

He smiles, that signature goofy smile I'll surely never forget. "It always was to me."

* * *

There comes a time in every person's life when they must right the wrongs that they've committed. I have plenty of those. But perhaps the biggest wrong I have ever committed is the one that I'm about to make right. At least I hope that's the outcome.

I safely come to a halt outside a small split-level house, checking my phone's GPS to ensure that I'm at the correct location. Rebar is fastened over the face of every window, and the gray exterior paint has peeled off in many places. It's difficult to spot the front door through the overgrown front lawn; a mixture of grass and weeds that easily reaches knee-high.

Am I at the right house?

I reach for the pink gift bag in the backseat, then wade through the tall grass. A ragged welcome mat is laying crookedly at the base of the front door. I press a sparkly fingernail against the doorbell button and hear a ding from the other side of the door. No one answers after a few seconds of waiting, so I ring it a second time. More waiting. Doubt starts to creep in. I check my GPS once more. I am at the right place.

After two minutes of no response, I'm just about to leave when I hear the doorknob jiggle. The door creaks open and a man sticks his head through the thin opening. "Can I help you?"

"Um. Yes. Is this the Emming residence?"

His shifty eyes look me over. "Yes."

"Dad, who's at the door?" a girl calls from inside. Her voice is distantly familiar. The girl then appears in the doorway, pushing the man aside. It's Rhea! "Oh. What are you doing here, McKenzie? It's been like, what, a year?"

I'm surprised that she even remembers me, but I guess I did leave a pretty harsh impression on her during our last encounter. "Rhea. Hi! Oh. Um . . . here." I thrust the gift bag towards here. "This is for you."

Rhea hesitates, glancing at the bag with suspicion. "What? No 'oaf girl' comment?" She takes it from my outstretched hand, then looks up at the man. "It's fine, dad. You can go back inside."

I feel sorry for them. This place isn't exactly a castle. Back when we were still in high school, I remember Rhea saying something about needing to get to her job, lest they face being kicked out of their home and tossed into the streets. I'm glad that didn't happen.

Rhea glances inside the gift bag cautiously before removing its contents. A navy blue hoodie unravels in her hand, and her face immediately changes expressions. I can tell she's completely surprised, almost shocked.

"I know it's not the same one that you had, being your mom's and all, but . . ." I slowly let my words fade.

Rhea's mouth opens, then closes, then opens again, like she's struggling to find words of her own. "This . . . this looks exactly like hers. How did you find this?"

I shrug. "Turns out, I can do some pretty amazing things when I set my mind to it." I glance down at my legs in reference.

"I heard what happen to you. I'm sorry. But it looks like you're okay now?"

"Yeah. I'm okay." I look over my shoulder at the empty road. "Anyway, I should probably be going. It was nice seeing again, Rhea." I turn for my car just as she calls me back.

"Wait, McKenzie! Um . . ." A pause. "We were just about to have breakfast. Pancakes. You can stay if you'd like."

I smile at her. "I'd like that very much."

After we move inside the house, her father calls out from the adjoining room."Who was that at the door, Rhea?"

Rhea glances at me, then at the hoodie in her hand. Her lips spread apart into a white grin. "Just a friend, dad. A really good friend."

~The End~

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