Filled With Hope

Bekka was a tiny girl. She was seven but she looked like she was four.  She knew her parents wondered if she’d ever get bigger. She’d heard them talking, but she knew she would.  Right now, she was short and skinny, but that never stopped her.  She loved to do anything, except needles.  She hated those things.  The biggest thing about her that people noticed most was that she was filled with hope. No matter what life threw at her, she met it with a smile. She loved deeply and she knew no strangers. She didn’t know how to do anything but meet everything head on.  At least, that’s what they said.

She had big dreams. She wanted to be a runner and watched anything about it. “The Flash” was her favorite, but she loved to watch real runners, too. She loved how free it made her feel. The wind in her hair and the sunshine on her face as she went faster and faster were the best.

She’d love to be in the Olympics someday. To be at the top of the medal podium was her dream. When she could, running was always her first choice. She knew it was what she was born to do.

At the moment, Bekka looked at her parents and saw they were scared. The doctor came into the office, but she couldn’t read his face. He sat behind the desk and started to speak. She couldn’t pay attention to his words, so she watched her parents’ faces.

At first, they just looked at him, nodding their heads. They looked at each other with a strange look. And then it happened…the one thing she wanted to see more than anything else…they smiled. They cried, too, but they didn’t stop smiling. They hugged each other and then Daddy picked her up and they both squeezed her tight.

“You’re all better, Bekka! The cancer is gone!” Mommy said. Bekka threw her arms around both of their necks and squealed.

They thanked the doctor, made an appointment for the same month as her birthday. That was a long time! She’d never gone that long without going to the doctor.

When her daddy carried her outside, she asked him to put her down.   She stood for a minute and looked at the sidewalk they’d walked on many times to the small park that was real close.

And then…she ran, as fast and hard as she could, down the sidewalk. She was finally free from the pain and hospitals and all she’d ever known for as long as she could remember. Her life was now filled with hope of a future full of running.

~ Joanna Lynn

(Flash Fiction – Write a complete fictional story in 500 words or less.)

Daily Post prompt “tiny”.