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dreaming of Conor and the next day, for the first time in weeks, she had no pain. She went off the morphine and the pills and began controlling everything with her mind.
    Every day after that was a little victory for her. She started to move her legs apart from nothing to several centimetres. She still kept them drawn up most of the time because it was more comfortable, but it was comforting to know that she was able to move them if she really wanted.
    Her wonderful sister took over the task of washing her every day and became her own private nurse. After many weeks, the day arrived when she was well enough to have her hair washed. It was sheer bliss! The nurses, helped by her sister, put a basin on her bed and washed her hair, which was thick with mud. It was her first shampoo since the tsunami and such a glorious feeling. Emer and Saoirse even took photos of her with her clean, wet hair!
    The speed of her recovery truly amazed the doctors and they called it a miracle. She was skin and bones after everything that she'd endured but she didn't care. It fascinated Saoirse to see the scars on her mother's face and body fading away so quickly .
    The day arrived when she was well enough to move on. She needed to be in a hospital where they could further assess her condition. Most importantly, she needed to start walking again. She couldn't wait to get back to Cork and see her beloved aunt and uncle again. Maura made all the arrangemen ts to fly her home . She couldn't change flights and because there were no direct flights from Japan to Cork, the insurance company provided a special plane for her.
    The flight left late at night and all the doctors and nurses, even those who were officially off duty, came to say goodbye and wave her off. A doctor and nurse rode in the ambulance with Kerry and he r family. The doctor reminded her not to drift into sadness. She felt odd about leaving Japan, happy and sad at the same time. Of course, she was happy to be returning home to Cork, at last, but she was also heartbroken to be leaving Conor behind. There was still no news of him, but she remained hopeful, the alternative was too unbearable.
     
     

 

     
    Chapter 4
     
     
     
    Kerry was relieved when the ambulance finally arrived at the airport and drove onto the tarmac. There was only one tiny plane standing there, the smallest plane that Kerry had ever seen!
    “Oh my God, mom!” Saoirse cried, unable to hide her nervousness. “I hope that's not our plane.”
    Of course, it was their plane.
    The little plane took off with a pilot, a doctor, Maura and the Darcys. It was very cramped on board with hardly enough room for all of them. Kerry was carefully positioned in a stretcher bed on one side of the plane and the others were squashed together opposite her.
    She felt strange; a peculiar mix of happiness to be returning home to Cork at last but also a deep sadness at leaving Conor behind. Her worries consumed her; worries about Conor, of course, worries that she hadn't thanked everyone who had been so good to her in the hospital, worries about all the victims of the devastating tsunami and worries about her own recovery. She was filled with determination to return to Japan as soon as was humanly possible and find Conor herself. This was her driving force now, and before the flight home even took off, she was making plans for her return. Thinking about it made her focus wholeheartedly on getting well and fit again.
    Kerry slept a lot on the flight. They made several stops along the way to re - fuel, after all, the little plane also had a little tank but thankfully the flight was quite smooth and uneventful, so she didn't suffer too much discomfort. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the other passengers who were cramped like sardines! The doctor made sure to move her legs regularly during the flight. Her medical team was very worried about her being in the air for so long. They gave her injections to thin her blood and her legs