The Story Of Daniel

/t w e n t y - n i n e/

Chapter 29

Six Months After

Amelia made her way through the white hallways. She didn't stop at the desk like some of the other people around her, she knew her way. As she walked down the corridors that she had come to be familiarized with, she felt like she could cry. But she didn't, it wasn't like her crying would help anything. So she fought her tears, and opened the door in front of her.

Amelia dragged the chair that was by the wall over to the bed. There used to be three chairs, now there was only one left. Amelia was the only one that hadn't given up on him yet. "Hey, Danny," she said. Her voice sounded dull and emotionless. A few months ago, when she visited Daniel, her voice was full of raw emotion and she couldn't contain her tears. Now, she had no tears left, no emotion left. She just held to the tiny bit of hope that was left. "I decided to come visit you today. Most people are out enjoying the nice weather, but I haven't come in almost a week so I thought I would pay my long overdue visit."

When Daniel was first taken to the hospital, Amelia visited him every day. His parents didn't leave the hospital for a week. After that week, they would take shifts. His mom would stay with Daniel while his dad was at work, and then he would come after. But eventually, they started to come less and less. After three months, they barely ever came. And that's how it came to this, Amelia was the only one left, and her hope was a tiny bit of string ready to snap at any moment.

And she kept coming because it was all her fault. She should have warned him sooner. Or pushed him out of the way. She should have, could have, saved Daniel.

Now

Amelia was sitting in a chair on the roof of the apartment building she lived in. There was a table in front of her with a piece of paper and a pencil on top. She was trying to find the courage to fill the paper with the words that needed to be said, but she kept finding ways to avoid it.

Maybe a cup of tea would help. So she made a cup of tea and took her time adding the sugar in a procrastinating type of way. Then she returned to the roof where she sat back down with her cup of tea.

That pencil looks a bit dull. So Amelia sharpened her pencil, slowly spinning the handle and watching the curled pieces fall in a procrastinating type of way. Then she returned to the roof where she sat back down with her cup of tea and sharpened pencil.

Everything was in place, there was nothing left to fix in a procrastinating way, everything but Amelia's courage that is. So she picked up the pencil that was sharpened perfectly, plucked a thought from her mind like a ripe apple, and started to write.

She realized that it was easier once she started and she found it hard to stop. The thoughts flowed through her mind like water and her hand wrote fast. She had done it! She had gathered the scattered bits of courage that hid within her shattered self and written the words that needed to be said. When Amelia finished she blew on the paper to rid it of eraser shavings and then held it in front of her like it was a trophy. But this letter wasn't a trophy. If Amelia got a reply then maybe that letter would be like a trophy.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

Amelia needed to mail it.

***

Daniel sat on the bus with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and his headphones pushed to his ears.

I woke up just as you probably are now, shocked and confused.