Chapter 3

• "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it." - Haruki Murakami.
• Rita was riding in the car with her parents again, they laughed, talked, she could feel the softness of Milagros in her hands... And suddenly that skid again, then the scream of the mother, soon also of the father... The car begins to slide down that damned chasm, toppling over onto the roof... Rita heard the scraping of the roof against the surface, then suddenly felt a hard blow. The father's voice stopped, all she could hear now was mother calling out to her in a gradually waning voice. Rita was unable to answer, everything hurt so much and she couldn't feel Milagros in her hands anymore, but spotted the doll in the corner of the car. She tried to reach out for the doll, but found that couldn't move her hand and, worse, had no feel in it, the same as in the other, and in both legs. At the same time, the headache and chest pain intensified, tears ran down her head, to the forehead, in the end Rita hung upside down, strapped to the seat. She smelled gasoline and her mother's voice faded completely. Suddenly Rita thought she heard something like footsteps, but couldn't see anymore because slowly drifted away into nothingness. What a deja vu...
• Rita woke up screaming. She was in the hospital now, but this time there was no one in the room beside her. Rita's heart started beating like crazy, her head and ribs hurt so much... Suddenly cardiogram first quickened, then slowed down more and more. Rita was drifting away again, just like in her nightmare not so long ago. All she could do was pressing the nurse's summoning button before completely passing out.
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• It was like a dream. Rita hung over the ceiling as doctors tried to rescue her, and later a beautiful angel with golden hair took her hand, leading through the luminous tunnel.
• So that's what death was like. All in all, she read about it. This is how most people surviving clinical death described it - an angel, a dark tunnel and a light at its end. However, when Rita reached the end of the tunnel, the angel gave her a smile.
• - Rita, your time on Earth is not over yet. Come back for now.- said a mysterious voice, however, it did not seem to belong to an angel because the creature did not move it's mouth. After a while the tunnel, the light and the angel disappeared and she returned to her body.
• Rita woke up gasping for lost breath. She felt so much better, as if some unknown force had entered her.
• - We brought her back!- exclaimed the doctor with the dark blond hair cheerfully.
• - It was so beautiful...- said Rita when they were carrying her the next day from ICU to the normal ward.
• - Certainly, it has to be.- answered the nurse who drove her bed into the room with the help of the blonde-haired doctor. She was a head shorter than him, a bit chubby Latin, just like Rita, and was certainly over 30 years old, with long brown hair tied up high and black eyes. She looked like a very nice person, and the name tag on her uniform showed the nurse's name was Milagros, just like Rita's beloved doll. When she looked at the woman like that, found that if it weren't for the white nursing uniform, this woman would have been even more similar.
• - Do you believe me? That I saw an angel, a tunnel...- Rita turned to her.
• - I don't know if I believe, but I've heard the same stories from many people who have came through the clinical death.- the woman replied, giving her a slight smile while adjusting the duvet a bit to cover Rita more thoroughly.- Now rest, you need to regain strength and recover.- she added, then left the room with the doctor.
• After this event, Rita's condition immediately improved, she even regained feeling in her legs. Dr Miles Trevor, because that was the blonde man name, said it was a miracle. Before, nobody gave Rita a chance to regain the feeling in her legs, but it somehow happened. Also, all the broken bones - ribs, right arm, skull - healed at an express pace. None of the doctors could explain it, so they didn't even try. The documents simply stated that suddenly there was a strong improvement in the patient's condition. Not even a week had passed since Rita's clinical death and she was discharged from the hospital, completely recovered.
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• Unfortunately, after leaving the hospital, Rita was taken to the emergency care for children first, then to the orphanage in Los Angeles, California. Of course, she was taken to her parents' funeral, where did not shed a single tear, but when Rita returned to the orphanage, she spent the whole night in her bed crying.
• Rita's family from Mexico showed up at the funeral, but they couldn't spend too much time with her. A bit later, both Juan's and Rosario's parents came forward and wanted to take Rita with them, applying for adoption, but social services decided they did not have the conditions. In fact, both couples lived in the same poor neighborhood and their apartments looked the same - they were cramped, dirty studios, where they themselves did not have much space, let alone for a girl Rita's age. Their pensions were also not satisfying with it's amount. No wonder that in the end it was decided that neither of them could support the extra person. Juan also had a brother, Miguel, Rita's uncle, but he was serving a sentence in a Mexican prison for drug trafficking and gang activity, so he was out completely. Rosario had no siblings. The rest, more distant family, either had children of their own or lacked good conditions, just like the grandparents.
• In the end, Rita had to stay in the orphanage, waiting for someone to adopt her. Of course, she was not satisfied with her stay in this place, among foreign children and adults, but after some time got used to new surroundings, even made friends with some of the children. Unfortunately, many of them had been adopted in the meantime, so Rita felt the suffering of the loss again and again. Fortunately, because of her experiences, Rita was under the constant care of a psychologist who helped her deal with the trauma. But even so, sometimes the memories came back and hurt her all over again. Rita wondered more often if she will ever experience some happiness again, but despite the little hope in her heart, she prayed for it fervently every night. Of course, what Rita wanted most was to go back in time to prevent the accident, but knew it was impossible. Therefore, she also wanted a good family to adopt her. However, with each year Rita spent at the orphanage, she gradually lost hope that her fate would change.