"I'm back!" Smiled Laura, walking into the room carrying two huge shopping bags, just as I pushed my lunch away. It showed how slowly I ate. "What are you watching?"
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"Peppa pig!" Laura exclaimed.
"Yes, I think that's it."
"Oh you loved that show when you were little!"
"Really?" I asked, giving her my full attention. It was strange to think that there was someone else who knew all these things about me that I'd never known.
"Yeah, you even spoke with a similar accent to hers. Everyone thought it was adorable."
I let out a little giggle as she pulled the chair back to my bed from where Nurse Charlotte had moved it to.
"I went and bought you a few things that I think you should have and some things that you need."
"You didn't have to do that." I refused.
"Ashlyn, I'm going to tell you this now. Best to just clear it up and get it out of the way." She said, smiling but serious. I was slightly frightened. "I've missed fourteen years of your life, including some of the most precious ones of all. I didn't see you grow up, but I can guarantee you one thing. From now on, you are going to be the most spoilt fifteen-year-old girl out there and I promise you that. I don't care how much you protest, that's just the way it is." I understood from then that Laura wasn't one to mess with. She would get her way, which is why I didn't argue anymore.
"So, first thing." She smiled, pulling up a white hoodie. "I thought you could do with some good clothes, and Austin loves this brand, since it's apparently very 'on trend' these days." She handed it to me, and I checked the tag. It said Champion with the price underneath. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I read that it was $60 but when I felt the inside, it felt like heaven. It was the softest thing I had ever known you were able to wear. "I would let you wear it now but since the drip is there, I won't." She took it off me and put it back in the bag before pulling out some long pants that were also really soft. There was a pink pair, a navy-blue pair and one was white with little flowers all over it. They were all very pretty.
"Thankyou." I smiled, resting the pants on my lap. I would ask Nurse Charlotte if I could change into them later.
"Now, this is something a bit bigger, but I don't want any refusing. It is necessary for you to have it and all the boys have one, so this is yours. She pulled out a rectangular white box and I gasped when I saw it. "It is the latest model and I just guessed with the colour. I liked the teal, so I hope you do too."
"I love it." I let out, not being able to take my eyes off of it. I knew that this was the latest iPhone since a boy in my maths class hadn't stopped raving about it since he bought one with the money he'd saved working at the post office over the summer.
"Go on, open it."
I flipped it around to pull the plastic tab when I saw the price sticker. I looked up at Laura with wide eyes, but a pointed look was enough for me to go back to unwrapping it.
"It's so pretty." I admired, feeling the smooth screen.
"I know. And I got this to go with it." She pulled out what I knew was a phone case. It was clear and fitted perfectly when I put it on. "That way you can see the colour of the phone."
I got her help to turn it on and gasped when I saw how clear it was, compared to any other devices I'd ever had access to.
We logged in to an account of my own, with a new email address for just me. She showed me how to set a wallpaper, how to use google, the camera, iMessage and an app called Spotify which allowed me to play any music I wanted whenever I wanted. I thought that was the most impressive app of them all.
"We can keep setting this up in a minute, but for now, I have one more thing for you." She had already bought so much; I didn't know what else I could ever want.
She pulled out a box and my eyes began to water. When I shut my eyes, it was the first time I didn't see anything of the past, I just felt pure joy.
Opening up my eyes again, I took the box from her.
"Thank you so much." I whispered, unwrapped the plastic. In my hands, I held my own copy of 'Little Women' along with 'Little Men', 'Good Wives' and 'Jo's Boys'.
"You're welcome, my love." She kissed my head. I was getting used to that, and it was comforting. My love was so gentle too. "Oh, and I bought these too but they're not very exciting."
She pulled out a hairbrush and some hair ties, two things I had never owned.
"May I?" She asked permission, and of course I nodded, whilst continuing to admire the books. The covers were different to the cover of copy from the library, which would show how new they were. The library copy was printed in 2005. I checked, and these were printed in 2019.
Whilst Laura did my hair, I thought about how much my life had changed in the past few weeks. I was too joyful right now to even think about anything that had happened previously.
Laura did my hair into what she called Dutch braids. They felt really nice to touch, and when I used the front camera on my new phone to have a look, they looked incredible.
"How'd you do that?" I asked in awe.
"Many years of practice on Elyse." She laughed.