Flight
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Artie Abrams prided himself on being strong. He had been living with being in a wheelchair for a long time now, and he had learned to deal with it. He had given up trying to ever walk again since that day in his sophomore year when he had tried dancing with Tina. But accepting the fact that he couldn’t walk didn’t mean he never dreamt about it.
There were so many times when he dreamt about it, countless nights where he was always dreaming of running, jumping, dancing, walking. There were so many nights where he could practically feel the use of his legs coming back, where he stood up from the wheelchair in front of all his friends and family, his shock and amazement reflected in their faces. But most of all, Artie dreamed about flying.
He knew that flying was even more unrealistic than walking, but that didn’t stop him. One of his favorite recurring dreams starred his girlfriend, Tina, taking his hand and leaping into the sky, flying through the air. There was no worry about being slushied, no worry about never being able to dance with her at prom, no worry about not being able to walk with her to their honeymoon car, no worry about him never being able to chase his kids around the yard or walk his daughter down the aisles. There was just him, Tina and the night air.
The only downside to the dreams was waking up. It was like a painful jolt of reality, a punch to the gut or a slap to the face. He would sit up in bed and look down at his useless legs and feel his absolute worst. As many times as Artie had dreamt of flying, he had cried after waking up.
But she always knew how to make him feel better. She could cure his sadness with just a smile or a squeeze of the hand, something to let him know that she loved him just as much as he loved her. There were moments where she would just turn to him out of the blue and say ‘I love you, Artie’ and that was almost as good as flight.
There were so many times when he dreamt about it, countless nights where he was always dreaming of running, jumping, dancing, walking. There were so many nights where he could practically feel the use of his legs coming back, where he stood up from the wheelchair in front of all his friends and family, his shock and amazement reflected in their faces. But most of all, Artie dreamed about flying.
He knew that flying was even more unrealistic than walking, but that didn’t stop him. One of his favorite recurring dreams starred his girlfriend, Tina, taking his hand and leaping into the sky, flying through the air. There was no worry about being slushied, no worry about never being able to dance with her at prom, no worry about not being able to walk with her to their honeymoon car, no worry about him never being able to chase his kids around the yard or walk his daughter down the aisles. There was just him, Tina and the night air.
The only downside to the dreams was waking up. It was like a painful jolt of reality, a punch to the gut or a slap to the face. He would sit up in bed and look down at his useless legs and feel his absolute worst. As many times as Artie had dreamt of flying, he had cried after waking up.
But she always knew how to make him feel better. She could cure his sadness with just a smile or a squeeze of the hand, something to let him know that she loved him just as much as he loved her. There were moments where she would just turn to him out of the blue and say ‘I love you, Artie’ and that was almost as good as flight.