https://youtu.be/PllLlsWVdNs

The next morning, another shuttle arrived to take Elena on a hike on Isla de Flos.

 The drive would take her to a port and from there she would take a ferry to another island. It was a three-hour trip in total. Anna's family had also signed up for the hike. Of course, the cheerful, little girl decided to sit by Elena. As Anna began her long spiel about the matters of a six-year-old, Elena listened to her and watched her expressive face. She was an adamant girl who clearly didn't listen to her parents even after her father sternly told her to be quiet. This little girl could be a politician.

Looking outside the shuttle's window, Elena saw the colourful hues of the Old City again which Elena wanted to kiss goodbye before she left. She watched the deep blue waves of the Caribbean Sea; how the rhythm of undulation never ceased. Maybe Oda was right - she had to be like water, always steady and balanced. To be like a tree in the eye of a hurricane - bending but keeping its roots in the ground. She felt she was blindly going with the flow and she had a need for direction, a steady pattern that was predictable and expected. 

The shuttle passed by a beautiful field of green which caught her attention. She frowned and looked closely so she could figure out what it exactly was. It was a cemetery.

Oh no, She thought.

Her thoughts were turning dark again. The flashbacks came back. The grey walls of the hospital, the nurses scrambling around in their blue scrubs, and the intimidating fluorescent lights. She closed her eyes and imagined a better place like Dr. Jennette had told her to do. She was having a hard time doing it. The images were so vivid, Elena could remember the horror perfectly. She was locked in place and she felt her surroundings go numb. She took off her seatbelt to give herself some air. The sounds of crying and shouting infiltrated her head.

She couldn't stop her thoughts. Her stomach twisted up and she felt nauseous. Her legs and arms went numb and she tried not to attract attention to herself by keeping herself still. Her mind was screaming and her brain was on fire.

"Are you alright?" Anna's mother looked concerned.

Elena didn't realize she had a sweaty forehead and probably had been hyperventilating. Thankfully, no one else had noticed. Anna's mother reached into her bag and gave her a baby wipe.

"Thank you," Elena wiped her forehead and took a deep breath.

"I can tell the driver to pull over?" She asked Elena.

Elena looked at her and tried to seem as casual as possible.

"It's okay, I'm fine now. Just a little motion sickness," Elena lied to her through quick breaths.

The woman's eyes lingered on hers a bit longer. She smiled and went back to looking out the window on her side. Elena was grateful she didn't ask any more about her episode. She wondered how awful she may have looked for Anna's mother to look so worried. Even here, Elena couldn't keep the thoughts out. What was happening to her? She was doing so well up to this point. 

She thought this vacation might help but perhaps this wasn't enough. Maybe even more time would be needed to heal. She just wondered how much.