The Shared Vision

• Erin Cureton, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

Eleanor laid in the darkness of her hospital room, listening to the screams coming from the other rooms and the soft beeping of her heart rate machine. Suddenly, a blue orb of light appeared beside her. She observed the bright sphere as it got bigger and bigger. Her eyes searched for more of these strange objects, but the orb seemed to follow her eyes’ every movement. Eleanor gasped. She shut her eyes as if none of this had happened and thought of one of her make-believe characters to distract her mind. He was an appealing lad…. thin, with an untidy brown thatch of hair and viridescent eyes. He wore a soot-stained button up and an old flat cap. A dark shadow cast over Eleanor’s body, sending chills up her spine; goosebumps formed on her skin.
She slowly opened one eye. Standing over her was the figure she had been thinking of. She sprang into a seated position.
“WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
She wiped her eyes expecting the strange gent to disappear but still he stood his ground. He simply nodded twice before exploding into tiny pieces of grey ash. Eleanor shivered watching every tiny segment of ash fall to the ground's surface.
Every night one of her make-believe characters came to life. Her
favourite a young girl with golden curly locks and a pink pinafore. She was about five but kept Eleanor company during the night. Every time the lass told someone they would never believe. They would only say, “They’re a figment of your imagination.”
Eleanor tried showing the nurses but every time someone else entered the room the unusual characters turned into diminutive pieces of ash. Eleanor became used of the characters and decided to keep them confidential.
Until, one day a nurse showed a new girl into her room. The girl was suffering from cancer, like Eleanor, and had lost her hair due to Chemotherapy. That night Eleanor heard whispers and turned her head to face the sound.
“Who are you talking to?”
“Nobody, just talking to myself,” the girl said guiltily.
Eleanor didn’t believe the girl. So, over the next few nights she continued to listen to the adolescent’s murmurs, until a couple of particular words caught her attention.
“Why can’t anyone else see you?”
Eleanor’s eyes widened. She could see one of the characters again but this time it was seated next to the other cancer patient and was calmly talking to her. It all became clear this girl could see the mythical characters too.
Eleanor turned to the girl and whispered, “I know you can see them… the make-believe characters.”
”H-how do you know,” the girl answered.
“Because I see them too.” Eleanor had finally found somebody who had the same talent, somebody that could understand her, somebody she could trust. She knew that her newfound friend would be by her side during the toughest times and together they would beat cancer. She was no longer afraid.