Kid, Sophia, I appreciate the thought but may I touch your legs? she asked, so innocently that Alexander couldn’t find the words to refuse. Something about this child was different. Maybe it was the way she looked at him without pity, or the way she spoke about miracles like they were as real as the snow outside.
Or maybe he was just so desperate for human connection that he’d lost his mind completely. Fine, he said, his voice barely above a whisper. But when nothing happens, I want you to eat something and then tell me where you live so I can get you home safely.
Sophia nodded solemnly and knelt beside his wheelchair. Her small hands looked impossibly tiny next to his useless legs. For 20 years, Alexander had felt nothing below his waist.
No pain, no sensation, nothing. The doctors had explained that his spinal cord was completely severed. The nerves were dead.
There was no hope. But when Sophia’s warm palms pressed against his kneecaps, something impossible happened. A jolt of electricity shot up Alexander’s spine like lightning.
Not pain, he remembered pain from before the accident. This was different. This was feeling.
Pure, undeniable sensation racing through nerves that had been silent for two decades. Alexander’s eyes went wide and his hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair so hard his knuckles turned white. What did you just… he started to say, but the words died in his throat.
Because for the first time in 20 years, he could feel his legs. Not completely. It was like a faint whisper of sensation, like blood slowly returning to a limb that had fallen asleep.
But it was there. It was real. And it was impossible.
Sophia looked up at him with those incredible blue eyes and smiled the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. I told you, she said simply. Miracles happen when people believe in each other.
Alexander stared down at his legs in shock. He tried to move his toes and felt the faintest twitch, so small that anyone else might have missed it. But to him, it was like witnessing the birth of a star.
How, he whispered, his voice shaking. How is this possible? Love, Sophia said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. My grandma said love can heal anything.
She taught me that before the cancer took her away. Tears, actual tears, began rolling down Alexander’s cheeks. He hadn’t cried since the day of his accident.
He’d built walls around his heart so thick that nothing could get through. But this child, this impossible little girl, had just done something that the greatest medical minds in the world had declared impossible. Who are you? He asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Sophia stood up and brushed the dust off her worn coat. I’m just Sophia, and I’m very, very hungry. Alexander couldn’t stop staring at his legs.
The sensation was getting stronger. Not much, but enough to make him believe that somehow, impossibly, this child had just changed his entire world. Take whatever you want from the kitchen, he said, his voice still shaky with emotion.
Take everything. I’ll call my driver to take you home, and I’ll make sure you and your mother never go hungry again. But Sophia shook her head.
I don’t want your money, Mr. Kane. I want to help you walk again, really walk, not just feel your legs. What do you mean? This was just the beginning, she said, her child’s voice carrying an impossible weight of wisdom.
But I’ll need to come back, every day, for as long as it takes. Alexander felt his heart racing, not with fear, but with something he hadn’t experienced in twenty years. Hope.
Your mother, she’ll be worried about you. My mom works three jobs to pay for our tiny apartment, Sophia said sadly. She won’t be home until very late.
She doesn’t know I sneak out sometimes to look for food. The thought of this tiny child wandering the dangerous streets alone at night made Alexander’s protective instincts kick in, instincts he’d forgotten he had. That’s not safe….
