Leah Archer was just 12 years old when she hit her head on a rock and fell into a coma, one that doctors weren't sure she'd ever come back from. But when she wakes up four years later, she faces the struggle of recovery and fights to regain any hint...
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9 years ago
I GREW EXCITED as our car pulled into the McDonald's parking lot, our parents finally relenting and letting us get the junk food. I mean, it was only like, nine in the morning, but I'd never had McDonald's for breakfast.
Even though we flew into California yesterday, the moving truck wasn't getting there until the morning so we couldn't sleep in our house. Instead, we stayed in a hotel for the night, and Mom made me share a bed with Caleb and Lindsay.
"What do you want, Leah?" Dad said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked back over at the menu, even though I couldn't read most of the words. "I want pancakes."
Dad nodded, saying something to the girl behind the register. "Do you want a milk too?"
"Yes!"
"What's the word?"
"Yes, please."
I lost interest in the conversation fast, wandering over to the table Caleb was sitting at. He had some kind of magazine in front of him about sports but pulled it away from me when I sat down next to him.
"Let me see it, Caleb!" I whined, pulling the pouty face.
Caleb rolled his eyes. "You can't even read it, Leah."
I crossed my arms in front of my chest, giving him the angriest glare I could muster. "You're only a year older than me, you can't read either."
It was his turn to glare at me. "That's not true, I can read way more than you can."
"Oh yeah?" I challenged, looking at the magazine on the table, pointing to a random word. "What does this say?"
His eyes followed my finger to the page, inspecting the word. "It says 'training'."
I looked down at the word, realizing I couldn't read it myself. "You got lucky, I picked an easy one."
Caleb rolled his eyes, and I turned my attention to Lindsay as she made her way over to our table. I leaned down to pick her up, holding her only hip like Mom always does. She was a little heavy, but I was strong.
"Are you excited, Linds? Are you excited to see our new house?"
She cheered, raising he small fists in the air. "Yay!"
Before I could say anything more, Mom and Dad came back with the tray of food. Mom took Lindsay from my hands, sitting down at the table and placing her on her lap. Dad passed out the plates of food, placing my pancakes in front of me. "Eat up, Lee."
I grabbed the little boxes of syrup, pouring the sweet liquid all over my breakfast and getting my fingers all sticky in the process.
We were all quiet as we ate, and I was practically shaking from excitement. Even though I was upset when our parents first told me we were going to move to California, now I was just excited. I wanted to see the new house and where we were going to live, especially because Mom told me the new house had a pool.
