broken || outerbanks, jj

three

wednesday ; 8:12 pm
home

i laid on my bed, watching the news. it was supposed to storm today. a bad storm. loud and hard. rough and scary. it wasn't going to effect me though. i liked storms. i liked the thought of the rain and thunder. the sounds kept me calm and numb.

dad was getting home in about two hours, so i decided to keep myself busy with some drawing. i drew a boat. a small boat. but it wasn't just any boat. it was a boat from my memory.

the HMS pogue boat.

john b's boat.

it was a nice boat. a very well run down, but very well taken care of boat. you could tell it had been put to work. it had been used often. but it was a nice boat.

then, my phone started to ring. it was a loud ring. the noise bounced off all my walls and into my ears. it was like a loud scream.

i let it ring and continued drawing. it didn't matter anyway. after a minute it stopped.

i continued to add more details to the HMS pogue boat. adding in the name on the side and the water ripples.

the water ripples brought me back to the time i first met john b. he hated me then. i watched those ripples as he drove that boat angrily all because big john wanted john b and me to have a conversation. that entire thing lead to the end, and lead me to here. that whole conversation john b and i had, had a start of a relationship with him and all his friends, then to a finish to all the relationships with him and his friends. kie, pope, and jj.

my phone took me out of my thoughts. it's ringing bouncing off the walls again, loud as hell.

"oh my god. what?" i yelled at it. throwing my notebook to the side of me and getting up. i grabbed my phone and looked at the caller id.

princess margaret hospital
253-107-6995

the hospital? why would the hospital call me? the last time they called me, they found my dad in the ditch, drunk.

i quickly answered it.

"hello?

"hi, is this lexi cooper? daughter of derick cooper?"

it was a man. he had a low voice, but it was full of panic.

"this is."

"great, glad we could reach you. your father, he went into liver failure. he was transported to princess margaret hospital."

as the man spoke, i broke. i felt thick tears fall down my face. i felt everything inside me, break. my body fell to the ground and i just listened.

"he told us we could reach you and you would come down here. he said to tell you his keys were in his dresser drawer and you can take the spare car."

"um, okay, thank you."

that's all i could spit out before i ended the call and ran to his bed room. i went into his dresser drawer and grabbed the keys. i ran back out of his room and into the front entry of our house, putting on my shoes and running out of the house.

how could this be happening? it's the beginning of summer. it's the one year of no drinking. it's the one year he was happy. the one year he talked about mom.

i unlocked the car and got in. i started the car and backed out of the driveway, leaving the garage door open. i sped my way to the hospital which was only forty two minutes away. i sped until my right foot hurt, hurt from all the pressure i put onto it from speeding, from stepping on the peddle.

9:00 pm
princess margaret hospital

"yes hi, derick cooper?" i asked as i ran into the hospital.

"room 403." the lady sitting in the front chair said.

i nodded and ran down the hallways, looking for room 403. he was here somewhere. he was here laying in a bed, in pain.

i found the room and knocked. taking two deep breaths before entering. i walked in and the smell of the room was clean. tiddy. almost like it was a hospital. of course it was a hospital, but i didn't want to think that.

i saw his body. he looked life less. my father was alive, but he looked, not alive. he looked himself, but pale and he held no emotion.

"lexi?" i was asked as a tall blonde doctor had walked into the room.

"yeah."

"your father, he needs surgery-" i cut the doctor off.

"no, we can't afford that. it's to much. it's always to much." i shook my head as i stood besides my pale father.

"we can work around it, for right now, he needs it. his liver is failing. his heart can't pump on it's own. he needs surgery now, or,"

"or he dies." i finished for the doctor.

"yes, i'm sorry."

he wasn't sorry. doctors are never sorry. they only have to say that because it's their job. they only have to say that because they have to say that.

"will he be in any pain?" i asked, already knowing they are gonna say no.

"no, of course not."

i nodded at the doctor. "okay."

with that one word, the blonde doctor motioned for three nurses to come in. those nurses moved around cords. moved around all kinds of things that i didn't know the name off. then the nurses moved the bed, took him out of the room. took him away.

that was the last time i saw him until after his surgery.