Her mother read her a couple of chapters from the Chronicles of Narnia before they both heard a shuffling sound as Grandfather Lorenzo opened the front door.

"Hello! I am home!" He said as they heard his keys being placed inside the clay bowl by the front door.

"We are in here dad," Jenna's mother called as she bookmarked her place in the book and set it aside.

"Ah, so here are my lovely girls," he said as he came into the bedroom holding two sacks of fruits.

"I thought for sure you two girls would be out and about at this time of day."

Jenna rolled her eyes and twitched her lips a little to the side in mock annoyance at him. When her eyes recentered on the two of them she was surprised to find that both of their eyes were wide in wonder.

The strange machine that Doctor George had messed with while he was visiting suddenly began to hum and beep rapidly before a female voice could be heard.

"Damaged pathways completely mapped…"

"What on earth?"

"I don't know dad, the machine just started talking."

"Is it supposed to do that?"

"Um… we could try calling Doctor George?"

"Please hold Jenna's hands while alignment and removal of scar tissue commences."

"What? How does it know that we are in the room?" Grandfather asked as he immediately shuffled over to the far side of the bed to take Jenna's hand.

"I don't know but whatever it is saying sounds a bit ominous. Shouldn't medical professionals be here for this?" Her mother asked as she set down the book and reached out to take Jenna's hand.

Jenna's eyes were wide with surprise, anticipation, and worry. Doctor George hadn't said anything about this.

The machine started to play a dial tone, as though it was calling someone.

"It can call people?" Grandfather asked as, in the next moment, they could all hear Doctor George's line pick up and the phone be lifted to his ear.

"Ah! Yes… it is ready. Hello Mr. Lorenzo and Mrs. Tabitha. The machine says that it is ready to begin its first round of cell alignments and purging of blocked and damaged tissues."

"Yes, but Doctor…"

"I know your concerns Mrs. Tabitha but let me assure you that your daughter is in the best of hands, or rather machine hands, that this planet has. The only reason that I am calling, besides with respect to you and your father, is because I needed to tell something to Jenna before the procedure begins."

"What? But I…" Jenna's mother started to say as she looked back and forth between her father and her prone daughter. It was one thing to put your faith in the hands of doctors at the hospital and another thing entirely to simply trust a beeping box.

"Jenna. Remember the clear liquid that I showed you earlier? It will deaden the pain and promote healing… but the machine can only use it after it has removed the scar tissue first. It must be done this way so that only the healthy needed cells are stimulated to grow again. I am saying this to warn you. The machine says that it will take twelve and a half minutes. Yes, it can work in bursts, but I believe that it will be best for you if we get it all done in one go rather than fighting your body's defenses. The choice is yours."

"What do you mean the choice is hers? She can't speak." Jenna's mother said with a slight tone of anger.

Jenna blinked twice while looking directly into her mother's eyes.

"No? What do you mean no? Oh, yes… I see. I was wrong. You can decide."

One blink.

"Are you sure baby?"

One blink.

"Ok. I will be right here for you."

"Me too, little princess." Grandfather said as he adjusted his hand and pulled a chair up next to the bed.

"Now, if you are ready Jenna. I know you are strong enough to get through this. Maya will try to be as fast as she can. She is ready whenever you are."

"Maya? You mean like the Bee from the story?" Grandpa asked as they heard Doctor George chuckle.

"Yes, Mr. Lorenzo, I named the machine that is healing your daughter after the children's story that you would often read to her at night in the hospital. It seemed fitting."

"Well, thank you, I suppose." Grandfather said as he spied the corner of the book resting at the bottom of the pile next to the bed. The book was worn from use and age.

"Jenna are you ready?" Doctor George asked through the speaker.

"Yes." Jenna thought as she blinked once.

"Then I suggest that you close your eyes. You might want to see this." Doctor George said before he hung up. The sound of the dial tone could be heard briefly before the machine cut off the noise.

"What was he saying? Do you think he meant that she might not want to see something?" Grandfather started to ask before Jenna began to feel a buzzing sensation spreading down from the top of her head all the way to her feet.

Something was starting to happen.

"Procedure commencing." The machine called Maya said as Jenna quickly closed her eyes tightly. She wasn't sure how the doctor seemed to know about the sparkling hand that she had encountered earlier.

“At least… I think that was what he was talking about.” Jenna thought right before she mentally gasped in pain.

Behind her eyelids she could see a faint white outline of what appeared to be her body. There were splotches of black and green colors that were clustered all throughout her body, from the back of her head down to her tailbone. The black seemed to be densest around her spine while the green splotches seemed to be scattered at random. It looked like damage and atrophy.

A pinprick of red appeared at the top of her spine followed by a raging burning sensation just like she had gotten burned by the stove and continued to keep her hand in the flames.

Her breathing hissed in pain as she clenched her eyes even tighter shut.

“What? Jenna? What is happening?” She heard her mother ask as her world seemed to be pulled under water.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I don’t know honey, just hold tightly to her hand.” Her grandfather said as she lost her ability to hear.

The top of Jenna’s spine, just between her ears at the back of her head, was on fire and all Jenna could do was to try to count down the seconds as the pain seared her mind and the connection to her body.

The fire seemed to be moving downwards slowly, as though a tiny army was marching down her spine with flamethrowers.

When the pain had moved a little Jenna gasped as she felt a sudden coolness where the fire had wrought the most pain. It was like stepping into a cooling waterfall after walking up a hot and humid trail. Or rather, in this case, like jumping into an ocean of soothing aloe after standing too close to the sun.

Sweet relief at the top part of her spine.

“Good, it doesn’t mean that I will need to endure the pain over the entirety of my body all at once. I can do this!” Jenna shouted to herself inside her mind.

She was partly correct.

Her neck was just the start and the smallest area that needed to be worked. Soon the fire branched out, needing to cover a large area between her shoulder blades.

---

“What should we do?” Tabitha asked her father. Her daughter’s body was sweating heavily, and she was shaking weakly.

Jenna’s eyes were closed tightly, and she didn’t seem to be aware of her mother or grandfather anymore.

“She is burning up papa!” Tabitha said as she gingerly touched her daughter’s forehead just for a brief second before flinching and yanking her hand away. Her daughter’s head was so hot! She had never felt such heat from anyone before.

“We hold on and wait for the twelve minutes to pass honey. It will pass!” Her father said as he held onto Jenna’s hand, trying to will his strength into the child’s body.

“We hold on and support her as much as we can.”

---

The fire spread, inch by slow inch, and was flooded with sweet relief as it passed. Jenna watched the red line as it made its way down her body, gritting her teeth and clenching her hands as she endured the pain. A low groan escaped her lips as she shuddered, willing the line to fix everything as it passed. She didn’t want to be broken anymore and she didn’t care about the pain. She was on the side of the fire, painful as it was. She wanted to live her life and to be able to hug her family again.

If this pain was payment for her life back, she would gladly pay it.

—

“Did… did you hear something?” Her mother gasped as she clenched Jenna’s hand to her lips.

“Yes, she is fighting my daughter. She is pushing through the pain.”

They both couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched Jenna’s body move. It had all started with her head and neck, a slight movement that quickly turned into a continual shudder as though Jenna was discovering the use of her muscles again. The tremor traveled down her small body and to her chest, bringing with it more pronounced sounds of her breathing.

Low and behold, her face changed too. No longer was it a passive porcelain mask of slumber. Now it was the face of a little girl who was fighting through the pain. A face of determination and strength to continue.

And her hands! They were holding on rather than simply lying lifelessly in their grip.

“Fight Jenna! It is almost over!”

—

“I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!” Jenna chanted to herself as the fire reached the level of her belly button. This was a place that was the thickest with darkness and green spread.

She thought she understood pain, but she was wrong.

While her back and upper spine was now recovering in the soothing coolness of the relief of pain, she was not ready for the intensity of the signals that rushed up and around her body as Maya worked at clearing out the most damaged place on Jenna’s body. The doctors had tried to fix this area several times, but all attempts had only resulted in failure.

It almost had seemed as though Jenna’s body had fought against reconnecting her mind to her legs and the reason became apparent as Maya realigned and reconnected the cells. There was nerve damage that the doctors couldn’t see that was released like a dam breaking.

Maya was unconcerned, her host was a strong girl and soon would grow to understand just how strong she could become by having her own swarm in her service.

A weak scream escaped Jenna’s lips as she walked through fire to see the line move ever downwards past her tail bone and into her legs.

Soon, or rather almost an eternity of suffering later, the coolness bathed her toes in soothing peace at last.

The softest of sighs could be heard leaving her lips as she lay there, simply lost in the feeling of all-encompassing relief.

Her body needed to sleep, demanded it even, but her will fought it tooth and nail.

She needed to do something first before she fell into oblivion.

—

“Is it over?” Tabitha asked as they both watched Jenna’s body suddenly stop its weak thrashing.

Her daughter had screamed, and it had caused so much pain for her heart. It was the scream of her child suffering, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it or to help her.

One glance at the clock near the bed proved that the timing had been perfect.

Twelve and a half minutes had passed.

“So, what now? Her head isn’t hot anymore. Do you think that she passed out?” She asked as she suddenly felt a weak tug on her hand.

Jenna’s eyes were finally open, and she was intently looking into her mother’s eyes as she strained heroically to try to pull herself toward her mother’s embrace. Her daughter was so weak that her movements felt like a soft breeze tugging at her.

“Oh, my sweet girl!” Tabitha cried as she helped her daughter to sit up.

Slowly, Jenna’s other arm struggled across the bed to weakly clasp her mother in a hug.

“I love you.” Was all that Jenna managed to utter before oblivion took her into its tender embrace.