\n\n\n\nA young woman at a nursing home | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n
I was only supposed to be here for a few months to get some volunteer hours under my belt and boost my university application. Straight after school, I wanted to work for a few years to make enough money to get into a university and fend for myself.\n\n\n\n
\u201cI understand that you need to work for a while, Vaughn,\u201d Dorothy, the school guidance counselor, told me. \u201cBut don\u2019t put off university for too long. The longer you wait, the more you\u2019ll just put it off.\u201d\n\n\n\n
I agreed. I\u2019d heard too many stories of people with big aspirations just letting life pass them by because they didn\u2019t have time anymore.\n\n\n\n A teenager sitting her guidance councilor | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n So, I worked as a personal assistant to a mom-influencer. It was stressful work, but she paid me well, and I could leave work at 3 p.m. every day.\n\n\n\n Which is how I ended up at the nursing home after those hours.\n\n\n\n That was three years ago. Now, I\u2019m 25 and still working here most days of the week. And the strange part?\n\n\n\n A smiling young woman in an office | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t regret it. With its creaky floors and echoing hallways, this place has become a refuge.\n\n\n\n But last week, something happened that made me question almost everything I knew.\n\n\n\n It was Tuesday, late afternoon, and I was making my usual rounds. Everyone had eaten their early dinners and retreated to their rooms, ready for some rest before they came together for bingo night.\n\n\n\n The hallway of a nursing home | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Room after room, I checked on the residents, adjusting pillows, offering smiles, listening to the same stories I\u2019d heard a hundred times. Then, I passed Mrs. Coleman\u2019s door. I\u2019d seen her before, a lovely woman. She was quiet and 90 years old, always sitting by the window, staring like she was waiting for something.\n\n\n\n Or someone.\n\n\n\n I had no plans to stop by Mrs. Coleman that day, mainly because she was on the side of the corridor which wasn\u2019t my responsibility. But as I walked past her door, she reached out and grabbed my arm with surprising strength.\n\n\n\n A close up of an older woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cI know you!\u201d she whispered, her eyes sharp.\n\n\n\n At first, I assumed it was the dementia. It\u2019s not uncommon here. Residents often think I\u2019m their granddaughter or a nurse from years ago.\n\n\n\n I smiled, gently removing Mrs. Coleman\u2019s hand from my arm as we shuffled to her chair.\n\n\n\n A close up of a smiling woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m sure you do, Mrs. Coleman,\u201d I said, trying to keep my tone soft with her. \u201cI\u2019m Vaughn, remember? I\u2019ve been working here for a while. I made you some ginger tea a few times.\u201d\n\n\n\n She smiled.\n\n\n\n \u201cI know,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not it. I know you. You used to live next door to me. You were just a little girl then. Five or six years old, maybe.\u201d\n\n\n\n I froze.\n\n\n\n An old woman drinking tea | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Next door? That couldn\u2019t be right. I barely remembered the names of my foster families, much less their neighbors.\n\n\n\n Still, something about her gaze held my attention.\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t remember?\u201d she asked, leaning forward in her chair. \u201cYou used to come over every year on my birthday. You\u2019d sing to me, sweet girl. You\u2019d sit with me and my grandson, Soren. I\u2019d never forget your name or those lovely eyes of yours.\u201d\n\n\n\n Two children playing together | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Suddenly, I felt lightheaded.\n\n\n\n I wanted to shake my head and tell her she must be mistaken. But something tugged at the edges of my memory. It was a series of faint, blurry images in my mind. A tiny kitchen. An older woman\u2019s laughter, the warmth of birthday candles. Chocolate cake. Mint sweets on a coffee table.\n\n\n\n I felt anxious.\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2026\u201d I started to say. \u201cI don\u2019t really remember, Mrs. Coleman.\u201d\n\n\n\n Her expression softened as if she expected that answer from me.\n\n\n\n A bowl of mint sweets | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cYou were so young,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cBut I\u2019ve never forgotten. You were the only one who came. Soren used to play with your siblings, and we used to invite them all. But only you came. Every year, it was just you.\u201d\n\n\n\n I could feel my throat tighten. The uncomfortable sting of tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.\n\n\n\n I knelt beside her, my hand still in hers. I was feeling things that I couldn\u2019t understand. Mrs. Coleman reminded me of a part of my life I had completely forgotten.\n\n\n\n A little girl and an old woman sitting at a table | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n How could I have forgotten her? How could I have forgotten something so simple yet so important?\n\n\n\n \u201cI was so lonely,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut then you started coming over, and Soren would get his father to drop him off more often. And before I knew it, the house was filled with your laughter as you two played outside.\u201d\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry I forgot.\u201d\n\n\n\n Mrs. Coleman\u2019s eyes filled with warmth as she looked into mine.\n\n\n\n A close up of an old woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t be sorry,\u201d she said gently as if it was the most natural thing in the world. \u201cYou were a child. And before I knew it, you were gone. I just assumed that you moved to another family. I asked your foster parents where you were, but they couldn\u2019t give me any details.\u201d\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know you cared that much\u2026\u201d I said.\n\n\n\n \u201cDarling girl, you were a child. But you saved me, in ways that sometimes I don\u2019t even understand.\u201d\n\n\n\n A close up of a woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n For a moment, I couldn\u2019t speak. My whole life, I\u2019d felt like I was moving through the world unnoticed. I went from family to family, changing rooms and beds just as they became comfortable to me.\n\n\n\n But here was this woman, this stranger, who remembered me.\n\n\n\n Me.\n\n\n\n And this was from a time when I barely remembered myself. And somehow, I had meant something to her.\n\n\n\n A close up of a woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you,\u201d I said. \u201cFor remembering me\u2026\u201d\n\n\n\n She smiled a soft smile.\n\n\n\n \u201cHow could I not?\u201d she asked. \u201cI mean, I did for a moment. But then I dreamt of you as a child last night. And then I knew for sure. It was you.\u201d\n\n\n\n I felt a hundred times better when I left for home that evening. I got to my little apartment and made myself a bowl of noodles.\n\n\n\n A bowl of noodles on a counter | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Everything was different now. Someone knew me. The me from before I grew up.\n\n\n\n The next morning, I was jolted awake by my phone buzzing on my nightstand. Groggy, I grabbed it, squinting at the screen. It was a notification from my bank.\n\n\n\n $700,000 had been deposited into my account.\n\n\n\n I shot up in bed, my heart racing. This had to be a mistake.\n\n\n\n A shocked woman sitting in her bed | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Who deposits that kind of money into a stranger\u2019s account? My mind was spinning as I stared at the screen, wondering who I should call.\n\n\n\n The bank? The police? Anyone?\n\n\n\n But before I could act, my phone rang again. It was the nursing home.\n\n\n\n \u201cVaughn, can you come in early?\u201d the head nurse asked. \u201cMrs. Coleman\u2026 she\u2019s been taken to the hospital. She wasn\u2019t well last night, and she seems to have slipped into a coma. She\u2019s going to be monitored closely before coming back.\u201d\n\n\n\n An older nurse | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n I barely remember throwing on clothes or driving to work. By the time I arrived, my head was buzzing with a thousand thoughts.\n\n\n\n Mrs. Coleman. The money. Was it all a coincidence? What did it all mean?\n\n\n\n The staff handed me a small envelope when I got to the nursing home.\n\n\n\n An envelope on a table | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n \u201cMrs. Coleman left this for you, V,\u201d Catherine, a nurse, said. \u201cShe told me to give it to you last night. I\u2019m heading off now, my shift is over.\u201d\n\n\n\n Inside was a note written in small, shaky handwriting.\n\n\n\n Use this for your dreams, sweet girl. You deserve it.\n\n\n\n It was from her. Mrs. Coleman.\n\n\n\n A close up of a woman | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n I stood there, clutching the note, feeling the weight of her words. She had given me that money. Somehow, she had found a way to make my dreams come true. I could go to university now. I could become something. Someone.\n\n\n\n It took me a few days to decide what to do. In the end, I didn\u2019t apply to the university. I went to the hospital to see Mrs. Coleman and was glad I did.\n\n\n\n Nobody else visited her. She was still in her coma, not knowing who was around her. And on the fifth day of her being there, she passed away in the middle of the night.\n\n\n\n An old woman in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n In the end, I didn\u2019t apply to the university. Instead, I walked into the nursing home office and handed them a check for $50,000.\n\n\n\n \u201cUse it, Miranda,\u201d I said to the woman in charge. \u201cFix the leaky roof in the dining hall. Renovate rooms. Buy a new TV. Let\u2019s make life here better.\u201d\n\n\n\n I donated most of the money to charities for orphans.\n\n\n\n And I kept a fair amount to get me into nursing school by night. When I was qualified, I wanted to work at the nursing home properly. And full-time.\n\n\n\n A young woman studying | Source: Midjourney\n\n\n\n Mrs. Coleman seemed to know me better than I knew myself.\n\n\n\n As I stood outside her room a few days later, watching the sunlight filter through the window, I realized something.\n\n\n\n Maybe this was my dream all along.\n\n\n\n A smiling woman looking out a window | Source: Midjourney\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Vaughn decides to volunteer at a nursing home to help boost her university applications, she doesn\u2019t expect to enjoy it so much. 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