The first one was leukemia. The second
was… no clue; there were way too many conditions,
treatments, and procedures for me to keep track of.
After all, I practically lived in the hospital.
In all my time there, the rooms always seemed too
bright, the beeping too loud. My parents were always
busy, working to pay my medical bills. I mean,
I am very pricey. Very expensive, but worth it! I
had no one with me, so I was constantly in a bad
mood. I couldn’t go to school so I couldn’t make
any friends, and I was the only one who ever spent
months in the hospital; the other kids left in a few
weeks, whether it was alive and well or in a casket.
The hospital doctors and nurses kept me
company; Dr. Theodore (Theo) Chase, a surgical
resident, was my favorite. His mom baked me cookies
and cinnamon rolls almost every day, and he
would bring them in and eat lunch with me. Other
times, he would surprise me with pancakes and
bacon that he and his wife, Evelyn–an
assistant DA–made for breakfast. They
would each bring me a present on Christmas and
my birthday, and Evelyn would bake a delicious
chocolate cake.
One of my favorite gifts, which was more
like a memory, wasn’t bought for me. It was for my
tenth birthday, which is smack dab in the middle
of winter, January 17. There was a bad snowstorm,
and Theo was stuck in the hospital ER. It was not
the way I wanted to spend my birthday, especially
since I hadn’t even gotten a call from my parents
yet. But once the ER started slowing down, Theo
and Evelyn appeared in my room carrying a mound
of small paper squares in many colors, wearing
matching conspiratorial expressions.
“It’s time to teach you to make dragons!”
“Dragons? Out of what?”
“Paper! We’re going to make origami dragons!”
The next few hours consisted of Evelyn
showing us how to fold different types of dragons.
I didn’t like it at first; I didn’t like anything that I
wasn’t good at, but it quickly became fun. The
occasional “Slow down!” from Theo, and a very kind
reminder from Evelyn to check to make sure I was
doing it correctly only made it more enjoyable.
We made piles, or, as Evelyn said they were
called, thunders, of dragons, until I got too tired to
make any more. After that, whenever I got bored,
I would make dragons until I felt tired. Evelyn and
Theo occasionally taught me how to make new
ones. My treatments continued to remain unhelp-
ful and my parents were still gone half the time.
One day, instead of Theo and Eveleyn’s usual visit,
a nurse came in holding an envelope. In it was a
letter:

Dear Jasmine,
We are so sorry for leaving you like this,
Jasmine. A family emergency has come up in
Boston, and we had to go right away, probably
for good. We are so sorry we couldn’t stop by
and say goodbye.
Love, Theo and Evelyn
P.S. You will always have the
dragons with you.

Devastated, I pulled my blanket over my
head, and with tears streaming down my face, I
pinched my arm, praying to God I could wake up
from this horrific nightmare.
I don’t remember if I fell asleep, but the
next thing I remember was someone pulling my
blanket away from my head. Cold air brushed
against my skin. I groaned, slapped the hand away,
and pulled the blanket over my head again.
I paused. That…wasn’t a hand. And it
hadn’t made a single noise besides a soft, fluttering
Tsch. A noise humans don’t make.
Cautiously, I poked my head out from under the
covers. I quickly scanned the room; nothing.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
Tsch! Tsch! Tschhhh!
“What the heck was that noise?” I shuddered. Shaking,
I leaned over the side of the bed to
find a red origami dragon with little green presents
dotting it walking on the hospital floor.
I lifted my hand to rub my eyes, forgetting
how weak I was due to the chemo. My other hand
slipped, and the floor rushed to my face. Out of
instinct, I stuck an arm out to break my fall. The
moment my arm felt the impact of the fall, I felt my
shoulder pop. I cried out, as my eyes watered in pain.
The little Tsch! Tsch! noise had stopped. I turned to my
right, clutching my arm, and saw the little red dragon staring
at me bewildered, dragging an injured wing behind it.
Wait, what? It’s a piece of paper! I shook my head
violently, then stopped immediately when it started to hurt.
“I must be going insane,” I said out loud.
The room spun, and as my head was about to connect with
the ground again, I saw a light blue dragon flying
toward the button that would call for help. My world went
black.
I had dislocated my arm, which the doctors popped
back in right after I regained consciousness. They placed it
in a sling. The whole time, the two dragons watched these
proceedings. I felt guilty about the red one’s broken wing;
had I been the cause of that? I looked down at my sling and
decided to make one for the dragon.
It healed well. The dragons kept me company when
no one was there, and flew out of the box they hid in the
minute the nurses left. I would talk to the dragons while
watching movies, commenting on the characters, and they
would nod or shake their heads in reply.
I never noticed the concerned nurses who watched
me through the doorway, hesitantly passing it off as an
imaginary friend. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed like I got
better with every dragon that came to life.
***
I never saw Evelyn or Theo again. But now many
years later, I still do origami.
“Fold it here, like that, and crease. There! You got
it.” I smile at the young boy sitting next to me. He returned it
with a weak grin, a mouth full of missing teeth. The poor boy
has just been transferred from another hospital, and I know
he’s not going to get better anytime soon.
“Okay, I have to go to my rounds,” I say, standing up.
He groans, crossing his arms and pouting.
“I’m sorry, okay? But if you start feeling lonely, just take out
the dragons.”
I step out of the many rooms in the oncology ward,
my white coat trailing after me. Inside the room I’ve just left,
a boy has discovered what might relight his spark, just as I
did.