• It was late.
    She knew that.
    But sleep was driven away by the dull throb pulsing from her lower gum.
    She needed medicine.
    She knew that.
    But her legs were frozen to her warm bed.
    So she lay there, praying that the ache would disappear.
    It did not.
    Pleading with the invisible forces, she begged for mercy.
    But mercy did not come.
    A gentle blanket of darkness smothered her room. And no matter how hard she focused, light would not come. Fighting the night was a battle long lost before it had even began.

    Time had passed. Yet the gum still throbbed with a pain not strong enough for her to scream in agony, but just enough for a whimper to escape her lips.
    She stared up at the ceiling that she knew was there, but could not be seen. And as she muttered a silent prayer, a single tear slid down her cheek.
    This tear was followed by another.
    And another.
    And she was crying silent tears, for she knew there was no end to the suffering. Medicine came at a price, a price she did not have enough to pay.


    And the tears streaked down until a river flowed, and that river swept her away to a far off land. She roamed this land, and she basked in the golden sun.
    And all the while, her tooth ached.
    She ran across the fields of corn and jumped the gentle waves on an exotic beach.
    And all the while, her tooth ached.
    She danced until her eyes grew heavy and her legs felt sore. Tears that had carried her off to a land of hope, carried her into a land of darkness. And as she slept, she forgot about her troubles, and allowed herself to be dragged away by the gentle waves of her imagination.
    And all the while, her tooth ached.