High School Sweethearts (wlw)

~ Chapter 17 ~

TW: Drugs, Childhood Trauma with Flashbacks

(Rose POV)

I was having a lot of fun dancing with Emily.

Especially as the songs weren't just slow ones.

You could really vibe to some of them.

Whoever created the playlist, I needed to give them a kiss.

Emily and I danced towards Grace and Alex.

"Have you guys seen Maggie?" Grace asked.

"She had an argument with someone named Bill and she went to get some fresh air afterwards." Emily said happily.

Grace looked at me alarmed.

"Rose, could you please go and check on her?" She asked, in a voice that didn't tolerate a no.

I walked off to find her outside.

God, where was she?

She had to be around somewhere.

"Maggie?" I yelled.

I heard a groan from somewhere.

I ran towards the noise.

And then I found her.

I gasped in shock.

She was lying there, hardly breathing.

"Dad?" I heard little me say.

I turned around. But the backyard of school was gone. Now I was in a memory.

We were home alone. Surely he must be around here somewhere.

"Dad? Are you here?" I yelled.

I heard a groan from his bedroom.

Immediately I ran there.

My father was lying on the floor. His eyes were open, but he wasn't moving.

I trembled. How could my dad, the guy who used to pick me up from kindergarten and buy me ice creams, transform into this?

"Dad? Can you hear me?" I whispered, my voice trembling.

He didn't react though.

I looked for a telephone, but I couldn't see one anywhere.

Then my eyes fell onto his phone.

I unlocked it and dialled 911.

"911, what's your emergency?" A woman on the other side of the phone asked.

I was shaking. What if what I was calling for wasn't an emergency? What if this was normal?

"Hello?" The woman asked.

But I hadn't ever seen any human like that in my life. Surely that couldn't be normal.

"My... my father is lying on the floor and he isn't breathing." I finally said.

"Ok, where are you?" The woman asked.

She didn't sound like this case meant anything to her.

I told her my address and she said she'd send someone over.

"Dad, you're gonna be fine. You'll survive." I told my father.

He didn't respond, causing me to cry out.

"Your father will be fine, dear." One of the woman that came into the apartment told me. "He just needs a bit of time to heal. So we're going to be taking him to rehab."