Chapter 7

• "The world is different than you think. It's full of mysteries which you won't be able to explain." - Rita.
• For the second time today, Rita had a feeling of deja-vu. She walked down that familiar dark tunnel again and a beautiful angel lead her to the blindingly bright white light at the end. Suddenly, however, something took her back, although Rita did not hear a voice saying that she had to come back, like the last time. Rita did not want to come back again, the light was so welcoming and she already felt the wonderful warmth coming from its direction. But unfortunately, Rita had no influence on the power that has drawn her back down. While moving away from the light and its warmth, she felt great sadness and even a slight pain in her heart. Of course, it wasn't nice to die, but Rita thought that will be able to finally met parents again. Despite having a relatively good life, she still missed them very much. Rita came back again, but this time she did not marvel at the images of the angel, tunnel and the warm light at its end, but felt a great longing instead. She wanted to go back there again, reach the end, feel the warmth of this wonderful light completely and to finally be on the other side. How many times will she be able to avoid death?
• Rita was awakened by excruciating pain that slowly spread throughout her whole body, from the feet up to the top of the head. She was unable to get up, so lied down completely motionless, looking up on the sky, which slowly darkened, therefore notifying everyone that the evening is coming.
• Feeling was slowly returning in all parts of her body, so Rita quickly realized that was no longer lying on the rocks she had fallen on. Rita felt the grass under her back, hands and legs very clearly, heard the rustle of leaves and other sounds coming from the forest, felt the scents of trees, which meant she must have been lying on a meadow near the forest, which was located at the top of the cliff. But by what miracle Rita was back here, since not so long ago she was lying down there, on the hard rocks, feeling the upcoming death? There was no way she could explain to herself how it might have happened.
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• Ruth was the first on the meadow near the forest. Seeing Rita lying down on the grass, motionless and clearly injured all over the body, she ran to her quickly, knelt gently on the grass nearby and began to extremely carefully examine her daughter from all sides. With horror on her face, Ruth saw the wound on Rita's head.
• George, being nearby his wife and seeing what she saw, immediately pulled out his phone and called the ambulance. Madeline was just standing still next to father like a statue, looking at her older sister terrified, pale as a corpse, with tears in her eyes and face in a total mess. Now she felt even more guilty that hadn't kept her sister in the room.
• - Rita, what the hell happened?- Ruth asked, barely holding back her tears and trying really hard to stay as calm as possible.
• - I fell...- she whispered.- I fell from the cliff, lost consciousness, and after waking up, I was lying down here.- Rita added, clearly holding back, so she would not scream because of the increasing pain.
• - The ambulance will be here soon.- interjected George, putting his phone back to the pants pocket.- Wait a minute... You fell from this cliff and survived it?- he asked in disbelief.
• - It's a miracle.- said Ruth.- Where does it hurt? And how much?- she turned to Rita with concern.
• - Everywhere... But head hurts... the most...- she answered with much difficulty.
• - It would be better to not touch or move her... Who knows how many broken bones she has.- Madeline finally spoke up.
• - You are absolutely right.- George supported her, putting his hand on Madeline's shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
• About ten minutes later the ambulance arrived. The paramedics immediately immobilized Rita from head to toe and put in an ambulance, taking her to the hospital as quickly as possible. Ruth was taken along with Rita, George and Madeline came back to the hotel and from there drove a rented car to the hospital.
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• When Rita was in the hospital, the doctors immediately ordered a CT skan and x-rays of the whole body, put stitches on the wound on the head, they performed several smaller and larger surgeries, also a blood transfusion, put cast all over Rita's body, especially on both arms, legs, shoulders, pelvis and ribs. Additionally, the doctors secured the spine, and also the neck by using an orthopedic collar. Rita was also given painkillers, but they only worked for a while, and the daily dose could not be exceeded, especially since Rita had a small figure, which influenced her low body weight, not to mention she was not yet an adult. Therefore, Madeline was sitting in the room, near the bed, trying to cheer her up so that she would forget about the pain. She still felt extremely guilty and because of it wanted even more to make her sister feel better. And it seemed that her effort was paying off, because Rita seemed to be more happy and pain on her face was slowly disappearing, which in turn made Madeline very happy. She hoped her big sis will get better soon and they will be able to come back to New York.
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• About two days after Rita's arrival to the hospital, her main doctor asked Ruth and George to come into his office to talk about their daughter's condition.
• - Your daughter is a really special case.- he started speaking, looking through the latest test results, which lied down on his desk.- Everything seems to show that Rita undergone clinical death while being on the cliffs, but since she is alive, that means someone had to save her. It would be impossible to survive it without any help.- the doctor continued.- Traces on the spine show clearly that it was seriously damaged recently. Of course, when it comes to falling from as great a height as that cliff, fracture of the spine is a certainty, not to mention other bones. Weird thing is that, when your daughter came to the hospital, those fractures were much smaller than they should be. What's even weirder, today, after just two days, we made another x-ray and there are no signs of any fractures.- he added.
• Mr. and Mrs. Spencer were sitting opposite him, in complete silence listening to the doctor's words, clearly shocked.
• - The head wound is also healing so quickly, that we will probably remove the stitches tomorrow.- the man kept on talking, sighing slightly.
• - But how is that possible?- George asked finally.
• - Well... Honestly, I have no idea. You might think I'm crazy, but I think that either it is simply some kind of miracle or Rita has some... gift. A gift of quick regeneration of body tissues or something like that.- answered the doctor, leaning more comfortably in his chair.- I have seen a similar case while still being a student. At that time, I was doing an internship in a hospital in Detroit. A 30-year-old man was brought to the emergency ward, he was hit by a car. All his wounds and fractures healed within 3-4 days, but just to be sure, doctors kept him in the hospital for a week. Therefore I will do the same with Rita.- he announced his decision.
• - It's unbelievable.- Ruth spoke up, completely shocked by such a turn of events.
• - I understand your reaction, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. During my internship in that hospital, after meeting that man, I also could not believe that such things exist.- the doctor answered with a smile.- Apparently, the world is different than we think.- he added mysteriously.