If You See This Boy

See Me, Hear Me, Miss Me

"Oliver?" Misses came to my side. "Oliver, are you alright? Oliver Gregs are you..."

I didn't hear what else she said as my breaths took me from my consciousness.

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Blinding lights flooded my vision as I woke up in a bed I didn't recognize. White walls surrounded me as I tried to blink away the brightness.

"Olly...! Olly love you're awake...!"

"Mummy...!" I cried out to my mum as she enveloped me in her warm arms.

She cuddled me close as I began to realize where I was. I was in the hospital. "Don't scare me like that again... Do you understand me?" she murmured against my blonde tufts.

I nodded my head quickly, "Mummy, am I stupid?"

Her hazel eyes met mine, "Of course not!"

A smile crept onto my lips as I cuddled into her.

Daddy ruffled my hair as a doctor entered the room, "Mr. and Mrs. Gregs, if I could, could I pull you into the hall for a moment? I have the results from the MRI we did while he was still asleep."

"Of course..." daddy and mummy followed the doctor out the door leaving me alone in the foreign room.

I stared at the tiles above my head, mentally tracing the lines that separated them as I listened to what I could hear of their conversation.

"Congenital Heart Defect..." was all I heard before gasps reached my ears.

Congenital... Heart... Defect. I didn't know what the first word and the third word meant, but I knew what heart was. Maybe, they were talking about what a big heart I had! Maybe, it was just so big that I could save people because of it! That would be so cool! The other kids would like me if I told them that, right?

I found myself smiling as my mum and dad came in through the door again. Tears littered my mum's face as my dad simply stared at the floor. "Mummy...? Daddy?" I titled my head gingerly.

"Everything's okay, baby boy..." my mum smiled through the tears that glistened on her cheeks as she sat on the bed beside me. "You're just a little sick is all..." she softly voiced as her fingers pushed some of the blonde tufts out of my face.

Sick? I grinned widely at her, "Nah! I just have a big heart mummy!"

A few more tears dripped down her face as she smile and my dad followed suit. Why did they look so upset? "Yeah... You do have a big heart, baby boy... A big, strong heart..."

I cuddled into her arms and breathed her warm scent. My mum always smelled of vanilla.

The stars and night sky filled my room window as mum and dad rushed about talking on their phones. I paid no mind though. All of my attention was focused on the bear in my arms. Daddy bought it for me from the gift shop down in the lobby. It was fluffy, brown, and it even had a blue ribbon tied delicately around it's neck. I twirled it around in my grasp, "Henry, the fluffy bear. What a lovely bear was he!"

I curled up with the bear cuddled to my chest as sleep began to demand it's takeover. 

"Open heart surgery..." I heard my mum and dad say over and over again into their phones as sleep dragged me into dreamland.

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It wasn't until a week later that I really began to understand the circumstances of my predicament. It was September, 15th. 

The doctor came in while I munched on a bowl of Lucky Charms, "Hi Olly, how are we feeling today?" She had such a warm smile as she sat on the edge of my bed with her clipboard.