Orion resumed his place on earth in the city of Jacksonville, Florida millions of years later. He has almost no clue about his past since his memory had been erased of that time frame; his only memories were encased in his dreams.
He felt comfortable in his current location. There was hardly any humidity and almost no snow, so the climate was perfect for him. He was hardly lonely either. Luckily, just as he had been reincarnated in this present, so was Penelope. He had known Penelope for almost his whole life. It all started at the first day of school when they bumped into each other in the hallway. Since then, they have been as close as can be.
As a person, Orion was just like his former self. He was very pleasurable to have around, he’s had good grades most of the time and he often wrote poetry for the school’s literary magazine. Of course, his poems were always about Penelope. He only had to look at her and ideas would come into his head and he’d write them down one by one. He always kept a notebook nearby in case there were any ideas that would come to mind. Up to date, he’s written about 50 poems in his life and he’s gotten awards for many of them.
For that reason, he was generally good with girls, as they absorbed every poem he’s ever written as if the poetry was about them. Only Penelope and he knew who they were always about.
Currently, Orion and Penelope were enjoying their summer together. They spent most of the time at the beach, soaking up the sun and feeling the ocean breeze. When Orion was near Penelope, he couldn’t help feeling extremely happy and comfortable. There were some times that he felt closer to her than just being her best friend. He started to realize it when his dreams were completely occupied on Penelope, her luxurious red hair and her bright green eyes. He sighed at the thought of her, as if she were an angel from heaven.
Orion got up the next morning and stretched out his arms. As he got dressed and into his wheelchair, he took a moment to sigh, wishing so badly that he could walk. He really hated feeling different because of his handicap, especially since most of the people at school seemed a little nervous around him. He’d always say, ‘I just can’t use my legs. I’m not like this because of a disease or anything. I was paralyzed in a car accident.’ For that reason, he usually stuck with his usual group of friends, including Penelope among others, mostly girls.
He received a call on his cell phone about an hour after breakfast. “Hello?”
“Hi Orion, its Penelope. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Same as always, I guess.”
“You sound a little distracted, is everything all right?”
“I guess so.” He sighed. “All right. I’m just feeling a little sad this morning for some reason. I really don’t know what it is.”
“Look, I’ll come over and we can talk about it, okay? I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
After he turned his phone off, he sighed. “I know I feel like the same person and all, but I feel like there’s just something missing.”
When Penelope came over, he automatically wheeled over so she could give him one of her loving hugs. However, this morning was different. He felt that this hug wasn’t the same as the others. ‘No,’ he thought, ‘it’s the same hug, but I don’t feel right about it.’ As he wheeled into his living room, he thought that the sadness of the hug came from the fact that Penelope had to ‘bend down’ to give it to him. It made him feel somewhat insignificant.
It came to his attention only a few days into summer vacation that a reason why those girls usually sat with him at school was because they felt sorry for him. He hated that feeling whenever he thought about it. He almost wondered right now if Penelope was going out with him because she felt sorry for him too.
When Penelope sat on the sofa, it triggered something else inside of Orion. For once, he wanted to be able to sit on the sofa to be at Penelope’s level so they could have a true hug. He decided to try it out. He wheeled his chair to the side and tried to lift himself onto the sofa as he would on his bed. It took him about a minute, but he was finally able to get onto the sofa.
Penelope wondered, “Orion, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I really don’t know.”
“First of all, why’d you want to sit on the sofa? You’re usually so fine just sitting in your chair next to me.”
“I know. I just wanted to, um, sit with you at the same level.” He took her hand, “so I can hug you without you having to bend down for me to reach you.”
She got his point and brought him into her arms. “Orion, why are you saying all this now?”
“I don’t know. I mean, every morning when I get up and I keep wishing that I could walk, that I wouldn’t have to sit in my chair at a level lower than you.”
Penelope hadn’t heard Orion talk about such things since the time they first met. There had to be something going on his head to make him go back to that way. “Haven’t I told you before that it doesn’t matter to me?”
“I know, but it matters to me. I want to be treated like a normal person, not a diseased person who’s confined to a wheelchair. I haven’t even been sick in my life and yet people judge me before they get to know me.”
“Yes, I know that, but what has triggered this in your mind?”
“It might have something to do with that dream I had last night.”
Penelope gasped, knowing that Orion’s dreams weren’t usually very kind. “What happened in the dream? Was it about you?”
“Yes, in fact it was. It wasn’t very clear. I just remember being out of my wheelchair and being able to walk on my own two feet. All of a sudden, something happened. I can’t explain what it was, but there was a flash and I was on my back. I was in pain and I heard an evil laugh, as if an evil being took away my freedom to walk.
Then, I was in my wheelchair and people at the hospital were staring at me, feeling sorry for me. Then I was in school and people were either shying away from me or laughing at me, saying how different I looked. I couldn’t find any comfort and it got so dark that I couldn’t find the light. The darkness nearly swallowed me before I woke up.” He then clamped a hand to the side of his head, “and it’s giving me a headache!” He hissed, “Ow, it hurts so badly.”
“Maybe you should...”
“No! Don’t say it! I’m not getting back in that chair. Ah!” The headache was growing worse and his vision was starting to get blurry.
When he woke up, he found himself in his chair. He growled, “Er, no, not again!” He lifted himself up, “I want to be free of this chair.” Before he could take a step, he fell over. “Ouch...” He tried to find his way to his feet and for once he was actually standing on his own two feet. “Whoa, I’m up.” He tried to take a step, but he couldn’t get one foot off the ground before falling again. “So close...”
He struggled to get up again when a voice was calling to him, “Orion, stop this, please.”
“Huh?” He froze completely.
Penelope helped him up, “You can’t walk, Orion, you have to get back in your chair before you end up killing yourself or something.”
“I don’t care… Ah!” He started feeling some pain in his back, “My back pain is returning.” He twisted in different directions, trying to handle the pain, but it only got worse. “Help me...” He nearly whined. Just as the pain came, it stopped completely since Orion heard a voice in his head.
It spoke to him, “I’m sorry, Orion, if it were up to me, you would be able to walk. Believe me, I would have done anything to get you to be a normal human, but for you, I just couldn’t do it. I gravely apologize for causing you such anguish. However, there is a way for you to use your legs, but they will take another form.”
As Orion heard that mighty voice in his head, he couldn’t hear Penelope asking for his attention. Soon enough, the voice disappeared and he felt dizzy again as he tried to lift his head off of the ground. As a result, his head fell to the ground and this time, he didn’t rise again.
<< Back
Return to Home Page
Next>>
