321 Reasons

More of a hospital

We stopped taking the bus after we got our road test so we picked each other up when we went places. Every Saturday Sophia would pick me up and we would go get ice cream and spend the day talking about our weeks. We did this for weeks and she was NEVER late. Which is why I was scared today. It was 7:03 and she wasn't here yet. She probably got stuck at home. 7:17. She still isn't here. I called her and she hadn't picked up. 7:32. I picked up my keys and started out the door. It took me five minutes to reach her house. Her moms car wasn't there, which it almost always was unless she went grocery shopping. I knocked on the door. No answer. I rung the bell. No answer. I called her again. No answer. I started panicking. Where was she. Where'd she go. I stayed in front of her house for an hour waiting and thinking and calling and knocking on her house, because I didn't know what else to do. What happened to her. Why isn't her mom here. What if she got arrested. What if she's dead. She can not be dead.

9:12 pm
A car pulled up in front of Sophias house. The headlights blinded me as the car pulled in the driveway. A man got out of the drivers seat, and Sophia got out of the passenger seat sobbing. I jolted up, walking slowly to her at first and then running to her. She's not dead. She's okay. Thank god. She was surprised to see me. "Oh god, Luna I'm so sorry, I forgot about today." "You're sorry? Soph what happened. Come on let's go in."

She opened the door, still crying and her house seemed a little sadder than I remember. She fumbled upstairs and told the man she would be a while. I had never seen her like this. She started gathering some things and she hadn't said anything. I didn't push her but I didn't know what happened and I was getting really stressed. I told her to please stop packing and sit down and tell me what happened. "NO Luna stop. I need to pack." She flamed in a way she never had before.
"Where are you going? What happened. Jesus just slow down." I tried holding her and get her to stop moving.
She wriggled out of my arms and started crying. "It's...it's my mom. She's."

I told her it's okay and she didn't have to say it all at once. But I assumed something happened to her mom. I loved her mom and she was like another mom to me and I started getting worried that something really bad must have happened for Sophia to behave like this. Something really bad. "I have to stay at my aunts house or I go into the orphanage system until I'm eighteen."

The orphanage system? That can only mean one thing. Tears pooled in my eyes because I knew what happened. There was no other explanation. But I had to put on a braver face for Sophia, her death is a lot more impactful on her than it is on me. Still shaken up, I tried calming her down. After an hour of crying and talking, she finally got the courage to start packing again and I tried helping her in any way I could. This changes everything.

I brought all her stuff down to the car and helped transport everything to her aunts. Her aunts house wasn't nearly as homely as her house. It was more modern, filled with greys and blues and it felt more like a hospital than a home. You could smell the automated freshener the moment you stepped in. The wall was covered in modern art pieces with random splashes of color that meant nothing. There was no music playing, and her aunt came rushing in. "Oh sweetie, come here Sophia, come here." She sat her down on the couch and slightly glared at me as she took Sophia in as a "who are you to her?" And I mentioned that I was a friend. "I think Sophia needs to be with her family right now." I'm just a friend.

"Right" I watched as she closed the door on me and I drove home. This is not what I expected at all, this isn't how the night was supposed to go. I had so much to tell her about what happened at school and how I fell walking home. I kept thinking about everything that happened through the night. I slept at somewhere around 5 am and slept well into Sunday. Dad came into my room at 3 pm and wondered why I was still sleeping. My eyes were still swollen from the day before from crying and everything felt off and empty. Maybe it was all just a bad dream and her mom was fine. I checked my phone. No new messages. I called Sophia. No answer.  It felt so real. I remember going to her aunts house, and it sent a shiver up my spine.
It was real.