7:00 AM. I get up, The room is still dark apart from the hall light seeping into my room. Today is monday, a school day. I get out of bed and run out of my room to greet my mother downstairs. But she isn't downstairs. Across the hall, my parents door is closed, which always meant that both parents are in the room. I hear talking. I timidly knock on the door and ask to come in. My dad opened the door. Through the door I see my mother sitting on her side of the bed, her back to me. Dad tells me to go downstairs, He says mummy isn't feeling well.
I do as I'm told and go downstairs to find my sister pouring herself cereal. As she is 14 and five years older, she pours me a bowl and slides it across the table. By 8 o'clock my sister has left for school. I sit in the living room, watching cartoons, oblvious to whats happening upstairs.
8:35 and my father prompts me to leave for school. Its a two minute walk from where I live. As I get ready, getting my bag and coat, my father seems anxious to get me out of the house. As he opens the door and hugs me, I see my father look across the street. I turn to see what he's looking at. An Ambulance. I start to panic pleading with my dad, asking him whats going on.I worry about the worst. By now he's telling me just to go and mum will be okay. Now on my way to school, I sulk and yet panic about my mother.
As a 9 year old, you always think the worst. Shes going to die. I was no different. At school the day goes slowly.
When the bell rings and 3:30 PM, I run from my primary school straight to my house and I run inside. Only my sister is there. She explains my mother has gone to hospital, and that we can visit her soon. So she isn't dead, I think. Relieved now, I wait for my dad to arrive home to take us to see my mother.
My father finally arrives home. My sister and I give him a few minutes, to tell us if she was dead. He beckons us to the car and I am happy once again that death hasn't taken my mother.
When I get to the hospital, I am eager to find her. I am always rushing, now was no different. My father tells me the ward she is on. As I run up the stairs, I finally find the ward. I then slow down, realising I'm in a place where people need peace and quiet. Her ward is a small room, with only six or so other women in there. I adjust my eyes. There is a large window opposite the door, and parted on either side are 4 beds each side, some open spaced, some closed in by light blue railed curtains.
I step in, different noises in the room. I've never seen a ward before so this is all new to me. There are bleeps and clangs, and hushed talking from some of the closed off beds. I walk along the room, hoping to find my mother. As I pass a closed off bed, I find an open bed, containing my mother.
Quite over excited, I shout to my mum, even though she is only a few metres from me. I startle some of the residents but as I said sorry, they nodded with small grins on their faces, as an acception of my apology. I start to talk to my mum about my day and hers. I am happy I could finally hear her soft voice, and smell that motherly smell she has. Soon after my dad and sister greet her.
My mum and dad soon want some time alone, so they send us to the café downstairs.
Many weeks pass. Mother is taken from ward to ward, and has many tests. Still they have no idea what is wrong.
My birthday is coming and I want my mother with me. Luckily for that day and they allow her home.
After a few days, she deteriorates. She has a yellowish skin and her eyes are grey. I know she was very ill. Our family gather by her bedside.
A few more days pass and my mother is slowly getting better. She has been moved from bed to bed, futher up along the ward. I finally ask when she is coming home. My mother laughs, and tells me that it would be really soon, and when she did we would have a tea party. I grin and imagine of that day.
A few more days later, my mother falls into a coma. My grandad comes to see her with us. Now she is in the isolation room. This room is dark, with a fan in the corner and some baby daffodils on the side. While my mother is in this room, you can speak to her, and she will mumble in reply. I speak to her and then she suddenly jolts screaming mummy in a high pitch voice. This makes my very scared. My sister has stopped coming to see my mother everyday. Myself on the other hand, feel I need to come everyday. My mum is in a coma for two weeks.
I now feel truely blessed. My mother had been spared twice. She is now back in a previous bed. One day, my grandad comes to visit my mum with me and my dad. We spend the evening with her, but that day she has become unrepsonsive again. Still on a main ward, my mother looks as if she is sleeping. I stroke her hand and hair. At 8:30 PM, my father asks my grandad to drive me home. I ask the nurse to put the bar down for me to kiss her forehead, but it isn't my mother's usual nurse, and she refuses. I can't reach my mother's head without the bar down so I have to kiss my fingers and then her head. I sulk on the way home.
We get home and I go to bed. My sister is in bed when I arrive. We lie in bed and speak for awhile until she goes downstairs. As I start to drift off, she doesn't return. Our bedroom door opens, I think it is my sister. It is my grandad.
"Grandad?" I say, sitting up in my bed.
"She's gone." He says.
My heart stops. I take a moment to think about what he has just said. I look at my grandad, his eyes are glazed over. I realise he is serious.
I start screaming and crying, holding onto him. My mum is gone. My grandad leads me downstairs. Standing in the lounge, is my sister and dad. I run to them and we cry together.

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