The running Dream Characters

Jessica Carlisle

A sixteen-year-old track star who loses her right leg below the knee in a bus crash and has to rebuild her identity from a wheelchair up. She goes from pushing away help to running a state-meet 400 on a carbon-fiber blade—and pushing Rosa across a finish line.

Appears in:

Part 1: The Leg Is Gone

Part 2: The Girl in the Next Chair

Part 3: Twenty Thousand Dollars

Part 4: Running, Finally

Themes:

Identity after loss

Seeing past the wheelchair

Letting people help

Whose dream is it, anyway

Rosa

Jessica's math-class neighbor, a brilliant, funny student with cerebral palsy who dreams of running a race someday. Her words pull Jessica out of self-pity, and together they cross a finish line.

Appears in:

Part 1: The Leg Is Gone

Part 2: The Girl in the Next Chair

Part 3: Twenty Thousand Dollars

Part 4: Running, Finally

Themes:

Seeing past the wheelchair

Letting people help

Whose dream is it, anyway

Fiona

Jessica's best friend and track teammate, minor injuries from the same bus crash. She absorbs Jessica's early rejection, drags her to a track meet, and organizes the 'Run for Jessica' 5K.

Appears in:

Part 1: The Leg Is Gone

Part 2: The Girl in the Next Chair

Part 3: Twenty Thousand Dollars

Part 4: Running, Finally

Themes:

Letting people help

Jessica's coach

The steady hand at the track, working Jessica's form and endurance back into racing shape. He presents the fundraiser check and gives her the 'For finishing the race' medal.

Appears in:

Part 3: Twenty Thousand Dollars

Part 4: Running, Finally

Jessica's mother

Caregiver through the hardest early days, from showering her daughter on a plastic stool to rearranging the house. She holds the family together as the bills pile up.