blessé || Maddy Snaps

[Adelaide Parfait]

Summer 1945
A small, private hospital in France
A private room.

Adelaide Parfait had been having a rough year.

It was almost exactly a year ago that the incident had happened. Her mother had said that she wasn't allowed to talk about it, and only call it the incident, or the accident. But it wasn't an accident! Justine had dared Addy to fly really really really high, and since Addy wasn't afraid of anything, she chose to accept the dare, and flew up high. Then her mother was yelling at her to get down, and Addy looked down, and the ground was so far away and then...

Darkness. That's all that Addy remembered of the accident. And then, she woke up in a white room. The white was too bright for the small girl, too much, but that wasn't the worst of her problems. As soon as she'd woken up, Addy had felt extreme pain, in her arm. She didn't understand what was going on in her arm, but she'd just known that it had hurt, and then the nurses had come in.

The next time Addy had woken up, her arm was in a sling, and she was allowed to sit up and stand up, and walk around and eat. She didn't black out. But she couldn't feel her arm at all, either. The blonde had no feeling in her arm at all.

Her father came and visited her. Justine didn't. Her father had told her that she had a thing called a Brachial Plexus Injury, and that her arm wouldn't be the same. It was weird. Her life had changed. He said that it'd improve over time, but she wouldn't be allowed to do as many sporty activities.

Three months after that, was the first time that Addy made a friend in the hospital. Addy was wandering the halls, feeling bored, and she met Mia.

And now, Adelaide was sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the record player. She was debating something, her arm in its usual sling.

"Mia, you do le Charleston? Ma mère teaching me, ze other night. I teach you?" Asked the blonde, although her English wasn't very good, she jumped off the bed, grinning brightly, as she grabbed a record, and placed it on the side- picking up the record with her one hand, as she couldn't feel her arm. The blonde grinned as she turned the player on, and placed the record on the player. She smiled as she moved the needle, and lowered it, so the music started to play around the room.

The seven year old grinned as she looked at the other girl, using her free hand to invite Mia towards her, with her fingers. She let out a slight giggle, before she straightened her face. 

"Mia Green, want to dance?" She asked, before she started to dance, moving her legs to the rhythm, still giggling. She grinned as she started to do the Charleston, as properly as she could, hoping that Mia would dance with her, because dancing was fun!

[Mia Green]

Mummy, they'd told her, wasn't doing well. Mia couldn't imagine why. They were having the best time! Mummy and Daddy had been taking her all over the world to see all sorts of cool, pretty things. They'd seen giant temples and caves and even an incredible place where the streets were made of water! But then they'd come to France, which had been wonderful at first. There was a pretty building called the Eiffel Tower, which Mia couldn't spell but her dad could, and it was very nice to look at, especially at night when it lit up. The young girl had no clue why her mother wouldn't like that...but it appeared she had not, for one night after they had returned to their temporary home after looking at the tower...well, her mum had not at all seemed like her mum, and it had been really scary.

Now, Mum was temporarily (which meant, the seven-year-old had learned, not forever, just a short time, but it didn't seem all that short) living in a little hospital in the foreign country while she recovered from what Dad called an 'episode'. Mia wasn't entirely sure what that meant. But no one would explain any more to her, so she had learned to grow content with what little information she had. She didn't like the hospital all that much--it was too white and there were too many nurses and it smelled kind of weird--but she did like her new friend Addy, which made it okay! Addy was stuck in the hospital and couldn't look at all the pretty sights, just like Mia, and they'd become fast friends.

"Mia, you do le Charleston? Ma mère teaching me, ze other night. I teach you?"

She couldn't always understand exactly what Addy said--the other girl lived in this country, after all, and her voice sounded much different than Mia's, it was strange but a nice kind of strange--but she understood enough. "What's that?" the brunette girl asked curiously, bouncing absentmindedly on one of the three rather uncomfortable chairs in the room, "Is it a game? Can I play?"

Suddenly, music was spreading through the room, and Mia grinned because music was always nice! It made the hospital seem not-so-white and not-so-unfriendly. She'd have to tell Daddy to ask Mum to listen to more music, maybe it would help her feel more happy and she wouldn't have another 'episode'.

"Mia Green, want to dance?"

"Ohhhh, I see. A dance!" She watched Addy dance for a moment, almost spellbound at the rhythm and pattern of the steps, before bouncing to her feet, eager to try it out for herself. "Can I do it too, Addy? How do I start?"

[Adelaide Parfait]

How did Mia not know that the Charleston was a dance? Wasn't it something that everyone knew?

Addy was raised on words like Charleston, and waltz, and ballet. She'd liked ballet, but couldn't really do that anymore, not with her arm always in a stupid sling. This room was white, and dull, but the music and Mia always brightened it up. Addy liked her friend with the brown hair, and no sling, and no siblings, and mum and dad who visited her every day. Maybe Addy was slightly jealous, but Mia seemed to have it all.

Mia had been sat on one of the chairs, watching Addy dance, as Addy was twisting her ankles, lifting her legs up, and kicking to the music. She was grinning brightly, and giggling, as she twirled, and then stopped. She stopped when she noticed Mia had jumped up, and seemed to be bouncing.

"Yes, eet is a dance!" Exclaimed Addy, "And yes! We're going to do eet together! I will teach you!"

Addy grinned, as she grabbed one of Mia's hands, with her free hand.

"You need to 'old my 'and, and twist your ankles like zis." Said Addy, grinning as she twisted her ankles, whilst stepping forwards and backwards, a grin still on her face. She was looking like a Cheshire Cat.

The French girl started to sing along with music, only her English wasn't very good, and since she didn't really know the words either, she often was singing "lalala" or, "doopdoopdedoo" in places where she didn't know the lyrics. But she was happy, and cheerful, and was already having fun with Mia.


"And then you cross over one leg and kick. I like Charleston, as it doesn't 'ave any arms." She said, grinning brightly, "eets easy!"

The seven year old grinned brightly, as she looked at her friend- her only friend, which was a rather sad fact. "Oh, and zen we can 'ave some ice cream. Raspberry Ripple is amazing! Ma mère gave me it, it is very good!"

Addy giggled as she looked at Mia, "You like ice-cream, right?"

[Mia Green]

Mia knew that she was a very lucky girl. Not everyone's parents took them to travel all over the world, after all! Her parents were truly special. She didn't like the hospital, and yes, she would rather be seeing the beautiful sights than being trapped inside the halls of white, but it was also sort of nice because she had a friend. Mia was a naturally friendly and cheerful girl, and so usually didn't have much trouble picking up friends--but the problem was keeping them. There were so many places to see on their grand one-to-two-depending-on-how-long-things-took tour that they moved on rather quickly, and she would soon lose contact with any friends she had made. Here, she was able to see Addy every day, and actually build a friendship with her so that they could be best friends for life!

"And yes! We're going to do eet together! I will teach you!"

She beamed at this, and took her friend's hand, eager for what was to come. Mia was an excellent learner, especially when she was interested in the topic. And if Addy liked this Charleston dance, then Mia did too.

"Twist ankles," Mia repeated, doing just that, trying to stay in the rhythm of the music like her blonde, sling-bearing friend. "And cross over one leg and kick!" She was so enthusiastic in her dance step that she had kicked far too high up and had nearly fallen over, but she had no way of knowing she had done it incorrectly. And really, it wasn't all that concerning if she had. They were having fun and that was what mattered, right? "You're so good, Addy!" she exclaimed, trying her best to watch her friend's moves then execute them herself, "At singing and dancing and so many things, how do you do it?"

"You like ice-cream, right?"

"Ice cream?!" Completely distracted from her dancing by the mention of a sweet treat, the seven-year-old actually did fall over this time. Thankfully, it wasn't too far of a fall, but why were these hospital floors so ridiculously hard? They really needed some carpet. Or at least a rug, Mia had a big fuzzy rug back in her bedroom at home and it was really pretty and soft and added loads of color to the room, she would have to tell a nurse to try that here!

She pulled herself into a sitting position, grinning up at her friend. "Ice cream is the best! I think that's Daddy's favorite flavor and I like it too! I didn't even know you could have ice cream in the hospital!" Mia was delighted by this revelation. She'd assumed that anything non-white would be banned forever from the French hospital, but apparently that was not so! Not so many improvements for Mia to suggest to the nurses, then, which they would be happy about. They never seemed to like stopping to talk to her for whatever reason--Mia didn't know why, she really tried to be friendly--but at least Addy had talked to her and that was more important because now she was getting ice cream with a friend!

[Adelaide Parfait]

The tiny blonde let out a loud collection of giggles, as she looked at her best friend- who’d just fallen onto the floor. Addy grinned brightly as she stared at her friend who’d somehow managed to fall to the floor at the mention of ice-cream. The blonde laughed as she jumped up and down again, and again, waiting for her friend to jump up and bounce around and have ice-cream with the French girl. 

“Yes! Ice-cream!” Yelled Addy, excitedly, a wide grin on her face. Her voice was loud, because she was so excited, and she started to jump because she was getting so excited at the prospect of sharing ice-cream with her best friend in the entire world! Especially raspberry ripple, raspberry ripple was delicious, and amazing!

And then Mia was sat up, but not stood up, so Addy grinned as she jumped, so that she landed with her legs crossed. She’d had ages to practice that, the hospital was just SO DULL whenever she wasn’t having an operation. She was due to have another one soon, another operation, which is why she was trying to have as much fun as possible.

“Of course you can have ice-cream in a hospital! Hospitals are places where people get better, and ice-cream makes you better!” Exclaimed the French girl, her English surprisingly good- it was a shame that in ten years time she’d’ve forgotten it, and would have to relearn the language. “And ice-cream is the best! And raspberry ripple is the best flavour in the world, so you’d better love it. Because it’s the only type of ice-cream I will eat.”


The small blonde girl was as stubborn and picky as a mule, but she was cute, and small, and had one arm in a sling, and she wanted Raspberry Ripple ice-cream, so she would get raspberry ripple ice-cream. God help anybody who got in her way.

“And I want my ice-cream now!” Exclaimed the blonde, pouting, as she looked over at Mia,

“Where’s the nurse? Or my Nanny?! They’re supposed to be here, looking after me, that’s their JOB. And we need ice-cream.” 

The small French girl pouted, looking grumpily around the room for any sign of someone to come and give her icecream. She was a little brat. 



“Or Justine, she’s supposed to be visiting me! But she’s not come, and she promised to bring me my teddies, or my dollies. I think she’s stolen them, Mia, I honestly do! It’s so dull when you’re not here, I’m just sat alone. Or I play with my teddies, but it’s not the same without you. Stay here with me! Don’t leave my room, please?”



She was afraid.

Adelaide Parfait was afraid of her next operation, and of Mia leaving, and of her sister hating her. She was afraid, and expressed that through her brattiness. She also really wanted to have some icecream. The hospital was cold and unforgiving on nights, and Adelaide had created a crude pillow and teddy fort to keep herself safe from the monsters in the corridors, or in the shadowy corners of her room. She didn’t like the hospital.

She never liked hospitals.