7 am. Monday morning. Auggie sits on the edge of my hospital bed. "I love you, Riley. I hope they fix your knee." He reaches for his backpack. "Mommy says I have to go to school, so I want to give you this first." He pulls out a piece of paper and crawls up next to me. It's a mess of colors. He points out a stick-figure drawn in shaky crayon. "That's me," now her points to a slightly larger one with a pony-tail, "and that's you." I examine the picture. There's a big red bump on my right leg. "Auggie, what's that?" He smiles, "Your knee silly! I saw it and it looks so red and puffy." I laugh a little. "You're right. I love you, Auggie. See you after school." He hops down from the bed and walks out of the room.

My surgery starts soon. Everybody's coming in and talking to me. Next my mom walks in. She comes over and sits down next to me. "Hey, Riley." She brushes some hair away from my face. "Hi, mom." I readjust myself to a sitting position. "Well, today's the day. I'll be here all day, but I have to drive your brother to school soon. So this is the last time I'll see you before the operation." I try not to cry. I really do. But the tears slide down my cheeks. "Mom, it hurts. This will hurt more." My mom wraps her arm around me. "Oh, Riley." She kisses my forehead. "I know it hurts, and yeah this will hurt too. But it's the only way you'll get better." I wipe my eyes. "Okay, mom. See you... later. After my reconstruction." She kissed my forehead again. "Riley, it's all going to be okay."

Doctor Wagner walks in the room. "Well, we're ready for you." I look at the clock on the wall. "Already? My surgery isn't until 7:30 though." Doctor Wagner nods. "Yes, but the surgery takes nearly six hours, and I have other appointments. If we want to start the reconstruction at 7:30, we're going to have to put you under anesthesia now. Okay?" I nod with hesitation. My mom waves goodbye and leaves the room. "Lots of love," she calls on her way out. I lay back down as a nurse comes in to push me into the operation room. My dad walks besides the bed. He reaches over and squeezes my hand. All of a sudden I remember the conversation we had with my doctor this morning.

"Dad," I say when the bed stops rolling and Dr. Wagner takes a moment to use the restroom. "Yes?" He smiles at me. I sigh heavily before speaking. "So, let's just say I'm that one percent we talked about this morning... the one where that mistake is made and I don't, um, wake up?" My dad's face turns grave in a second. "Riley. Stop. Don't talk like that, okay? Like you said, one percent. You're in the other 99, okay? Dr. Wagner has done countless procedures like this. You'll wake up, just fine. Actually, you'll be better than you are right now because you knee will be reconstructed, right? I'll see you in six hours."

Dr. Wagner steps out of the restroom. "Okay, Mr. Matthews... this is where we leave you. Riley will be alright, and you can see her when this operation is over. Is that fine?" My dad nods. Before he can wave to me, my bed is wheeled around a corner and into a brightly lit room. A mask is placed over my face, and warm air hits my gums, pushing them backwards. My vision gets dark at the edges and then my mind shuts down. Time for sleep.