Chapter 4:
***********************
I urged myself not to cry, but I cried anyway. I kept on feeling like it was all my fault, since I couldn’t do anything. I had seen that something was going to happen, but I had ignored it. Stupid me.
My eyes felt as though they were in the oven, as though they were burning. The tears kept rushing down my cheeks, trying to cool me down. I was shaking as I thought of all those friends who were now dead. Hayley, Brandon, Kristina, Kerry, Angela… I now felt bad for not saying yes to Brandon when he asked me out. He just wasn’t my type. Was that my fault too? And, he was so hopeful. But, not anymore. Because he was dead. Everyone was dead. Dead… Dead… I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around the word. The word I have dreaded all my life. The word I have hoped would not happen to anyone I knew. But it did. To everyone at my school. Except for Kaitlin and I.
I lay down on the bed, not realizing that my eyes were now fluttering to sleep. I tried to think of other things other than my friends and my schoolmates. So much for that longing. I ended up thinking of the best memories with all of them. I was remembering all those times when Hayley made me burst out laughing, and the times when Angela the smart one helped me with my homework… And, of coarse when Brandon had tried asking me out. Ok. This definitely wasn’t helping.
I opened my eyes again, and decided to get some of my clothes out for Kaitlin. I got out her favorite t-shirt of mine, and some jeans. Then, I took a glance at my arms, realizing I was shivering, and decided to get a sweater for myself, and another one for Kaitlin. Just in time too, I heard the water turn off from Kaitlin’s shower. I walked over to the bathroom, and placed the clothes on the counter.
"Ashley?" My mom yelled from upstairs.
"Ya?" I yelled back, hoping my tone of voice sounded annoyed.
"Come upstairs and talk to me." The tone in her voice carried my legs quickly towards the stairs. Why was she this mad? Then I remembered what time it was. It was only 10:00 am. We were supposed to be doing math at school right now. And, that meant that I had to explain about the school. Shit, this sucks. Would I just say that we didn't realize it was a Pro-D-Day? No. She would check the school website. Um... I could say that the school blew up, and we survived? Yeah, no. Damn. I was running out of ideas. I am definitely not the creative type. I heard my mom yell my name one more time, and this time I was dashing up the stairs.
"Ashley. What are you doing out of school this early?"
"I, um well I should have phoned you, but I was really sick and um ya." The likelihood of Mom believing that wasn't very high.
"And so why did I hear two voices downstairs?" Oh shit. I definitely didn't prepare for this question.
"Oh, I um brought Kaitlin home too, cause um..." What was I going to say? Then I remembered what I had told Kaitlin's parents. That she had fallen. I hope that will work for my Mom too.
"...because she fell really badly on the pavement, and the nurses said she needed some comfort, and um.. that she also needed a shower."
"Oh no! Honey, is she ok? Let me come downstairs and see what happened" Well, that certainly caught her attention.
"Yes, mom she's fine. She was just taking a shower to wash the blood off. She, is still in a little shock from um hitting herself so hard, but she um she just needs to lie down for a little bit like I do."
"Ok then... Well, I have to go take some papers down to my office downtown. I won't be back until 4:00, so I would like you to pick your sister up after school."
