The Running Dream

Having worked through the withdrawal symptoms from the medications, Jessica beings to feel better physically but continues to suffer from depression. Only Fiona calls and stops by to visit. Kaylee and her friends don’t hang out at the house anymore. Despite her mother’s repeated efforts to get Jessica outside the house, she refuses every single time. However, she admits that her room has become stifling: she’s sick of watching television, and she can’t get interested in any of her mother’s true crime novels. Above all, she has no motivation to do any homework. It all seems pointless in the face of what she has endured.

When her mother again asks her what she can do to help, Jessica reacts angrily and says there’s nothing to be done. Her mother reassures her that things will get better, but Jessica doubts it. She apologizes to her mother, who remains positive, telling Jessica to “Remember […] every day is another day closer to getting your new leg” (63).

That night, Jessica wakes up to go to the bathroom. As she moves toward the door, she hears an unfamiliar sound coming from the kitchen. It’s her mother, sitting at the table, crying. Jessica startles her mother by sitting down next to her. She notices that her mother has been looking at a family photo album. Jessica takes the album from her mother’s hands and looks at a picture of her from after a track meet. It’s the first time she has seen a photo of herself before the accident, with two whole, healthy legs. Medals hang around her neck. Her mother tries to take the album away, but Jessica firmly holds onto it, staring at the picture. Then she closes the album, shoves it aside, and hugs her mother tight.