"Leah's dad is in the hospital."
Kiera knew which hospital that was. It was the only one in this town. It was not a huge town but had just enough people to make it seem quite populated. Anyway, her palms were clammy, her heart rate was spiking, and she was taking in desperate gulps of air. Leah's father took over the role of a father when he learnt that she did not have hers, she was dreading the loss of a second one.
She stumbled all over her home taking all the necessary items before rushing to the door. Fumbling with her keys, she managed to unlock the door with shaky hands before continuing her journey with legs as wobbly as jelly. Tears raced down her cheeks. She was glad that she did not know the seriousness of the car accident or she would have probably thrown up in fear, or maybe not knowing every detail was worse because her mind raced with every worst-case scenario possible.
She wanted to break out into loud sobs or scream. She did not know which one would make her feel better so she did neither. Of course, that meant that she still felt like shit. On the bus, she could feel the gazes of people staring at her. When she looked at the people looking at her, some had very puzzled faces while others were smiling sympathetically at her. She sent them a small smile in return to answer their silent question--"are you okay?"
She was okay. She had dealt with losing her own father before. Surely she could deal with everything else, right?
Wrong. Having dealt with pain before did not make the pain that much more bearable. In fact, it was probably worse. She knew that she would be suffering but there was no way she could change it. She could not even prepare herself for it.
Pain came in many different forms. There were the slow ones which were similar to a tingly feeling of pain that just lingered and slowly intensified. And then there were the throbbing ones which were similar to a migraine and just continuously pounded, sending jolts of pain through every throb. Moreover, there were also the single ones that sent a huge blast of pain through your body. All of them were equally unbearable, and there was no form of preparation for them.
That was worse, feeling helpless in a situation that would bring about pain. She hated it. She detested it with every living fiber in her body. Hell, she would even say that she abhorred it. Those were really strong words that she would try to refrain from using but they were perfect for pain, because she did feel that strong of a dislike for it. She was not insulting anyone (unless pain was a person) and that meant that she could say whatever she wanted about it.
The more she thought about the topic, the more dejected she felt. She tried thinking of inspirational quotes or just words of advice that she would usually give to others. She encouraged, 'If you survive through the pain, you become stronger because you were strong enough not to give up.'
It was not the best word of advice but it did help her. Words of motivation could be structured into the most beautiful line ever and still not have an impact, it depended on the person listening. At that point, Kiera really wanted to lift her own spirits, so anything she said that was even just slightly motivational would have worked. It was similar to the idiom, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." A person could try their hardest to motivate someone, but if the person did not want to be motivated, nothing could be done to help.
She saw the blurry image of the hospital approaching so she quickly got out of her seat and got off the bus.
She hoped that she wasn't too late.
