The Double Life

chapter Six

photo: Avril Lavigne as Natalie Maddison: bad side

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well, Jesse's back to his old self. His parents got everything settled. He's staying here, living with his mom. His dad's moving from here, Indiana, to Washington state.

Connor and Troye are good, as I mentioned before. Jenn and Andrea won't be back for another 3 weeks. My parents extended their trip until next month. Today is Saturday.

Jace is coming over. we're going to watch a movie and order pizza. We've gotten to know each other pretty well over the past week. Well, more me getting to know him than anything, considering I don't tell him much. He has a little sister who was anorexic, and he has anxiety. Apparently he has frequent panic attacks. Who would've guessed. That kid's always happy. Sometimes people can put up a good front, I guess.

Since the weather's getting warmer, I'm wearing shorts. I'm the type of person who hates long pants and as soon as the weather hits 60 degrees I'm wearing shorts and converse. so I'm doing just that. I have on shorts, black converse, and a black and white crop top. my hair is straight and I'm wearing black eyeliner and pink lipstick.

just then, my phone rings. I look at it and see Jace's name pop up. I slide the button over and pick it up.

"Hey. you almost here?" I say into the receiver.

"no... my sister relapsed. I don't know what to do. She's in the ambulance with my parents. Please help me Natalie. please."

well I wasn't expecting that.

"okay Jace. deep breath. are you at home?" I ask, grabbing my car keys and heading outside.

"yeah.. can you come over please?" he asks. I've never heard him sound this broken.

"on my way."

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I open the front door of Jace's house and see him sitting on the steps, head in his hands. I go over and sit next to him. I wait for him to look up. He's got tears in his eyes, but they don't spill over.

"I can't loose her Nat. I cant. I cant." he keeps repeating, breathing heavily. I guess this is what an anxiety attack looks like. I put my hand on his back and rub it, telling him to breathe. He gets up and goes up to his room, locking the door. I guess he doesn't want me to see him like that?

"Jace?" I say, knocking on his bedroom door. "you okay?"

he unlocks the door and starts walking downstairs. He gets to the front door and walks out, going to sit in my car. I follow him, getting in the driver's seat. I speak up. "what hospital?"

"North Central." that's the biggest hospital in town. I start driving, taking his hand in mine. Crap. I'm getting attached. Or maybe it's just sympathy. I don't really know. He looks at me and he looks like a scared little boy. I start talking to try and calm him down.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?" I ask, my voice soft.

"I came home from the store. She was home alone because my parents were both at work. they work on weekends. when I came home, I was looking for her. the only door closed was the bathroom door, so I opened it. she.. she was laying on the floor. I guess she tried to make herself throw up. I called an ambulance but I couldn't bring myself to touch her. God, I'm such a wimp."

I just look at him, with sympathy swimming in my eyes. we're at the hospital now. He tightens his grip on my hand as I park the car. I guess he doesn't like hospitals?

"Jace? you alright?" I ask, seeing as he's gripping my hand tightly and staring at the hospital doors as we stand in front of them.

"I haven't been in a hospital since.." I don't know what he's talking about, but I make a mental note to ask him later. I just start walking in and he follows me. I go up to the front desk and ask the woman for Alyssa Matthew's room. '231' she says. I say thank you and start walking. Jace follows me.

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we get to room 231 and I go inside. I see his sister all hooked up to at least 3 IV bags, and a mask on her face helping her breathe. this doesn't look good. She also has a tube in her throat.

I go into the hallway where Jace is talking with his parents. He hasn't seen her yet. I'm afraid of what might happen when he does.

"Hey jace.. you might not want to go in there." I say, gesturing towards his sister's hospital room.

"Yeah... can we just go home?" he asks.

I nod and say goodbye to his parents. we start our long, silent walk to my car.

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authors note:

depressing chapter oops. next upload: sometime this week