Unknown

Chapter 16

Alice woke up to a buzzing sound that wouldn't stop. She was back at her dorm, still wearing the black dress from the funeral covered in sand. She stretched and felt sore. All she remembered was barely walking to her room and just throwing herself on the bed. Mike was weird after last night. He seemed to be in a hurry, eager to drop her off. She hoped that after last night things didn't change between them. She walk to where she left her purse and looked for her phone. It was her mother. "Hello?"

"Hey, we are on our way to pick you up for the burial." Julia said.

"Yeah, I'm not going."

"Alice, what do you mean you're not going? You have to. You need to show your face in support. It's the right thing to do."

"No, I was mortified yesterday. Everyone was talking about me, pointing fingers. No, I'm done. I said goodbye to him already. You guys go." And she hung up. She looked at Patrice's side of the room and saw it empty. She grabbed a change of clothes and a towel and headed to the showers.

She spent the day catching up on school work. She hadn't heard from Mike all day. Should she text him? He was her boyfriend after all. She looked for her phone and texted him. Hi, hope you're having a nice day.

She bit her nails looking at the screen waiting for a quick reply. But nothing. She called Patrice but there was no answer. She was putting the phone down when it vibrated, hoping it was Mike, she saw it was an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Hi, Alice? This is Kathleen, Patrice's mother."

"Oh, hi. How are you?"

"Not good. I'm calling to let you know there's been an accident. Last night someone ran over my baby girl."

"What? Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay." Alice said, dropping to her knees. "What happened?"

"I guess she was walking back home from a friend's house last night and a car hit her pretty badly and left her for dead. She's just out of surgery. She has a broken leg and clavicle. She's banged up badly. Still hasn't woken up. Just thought you wanted to know."

"Oh my God. I'll be right there!" She said getting up from the floor and grabbing her purse forgetting her phone on the way out. She quickly drove to the hospital. At reception she asked for Patrice's room. They told her only immediate family was permitted to see her.

"Alice?" She turned around as she heard her name, there stood Peter, Patrice's younger brother. "Come with me, my mom is waiting." He said, guiding her to the third floor. Outside the door to the room, Kathleen was pacing back and forth. "Mom, look who I found."

"Oh, Alice." Kathleen said as Alice hugged her tight. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Have they said anything else? Did anyone see the car that did this?" Alice asked.

"There was nobody out at that time and she hasn't woken up to tell us really what happened yet. Come, I think you should see her. I don't care what they say." She said, pulling her into the room.

As they walked in she saw Patrice just laying there lifeless. Her face and body were all bruised up and swollen. Kathleen walked to the other side and held Patrice's hand. "Patrice, come back to us, please." Alice whispered.

A few hours later she was coming back from the cafeteria with Peter with coffee for Kathleen, when she came out of the room in a hurry. "She woke up, come, come." She said, pulling Alice and Peter to the room.

"Alice, you came to see me." Patrice said weakly.

"Of course, you're my best friend. Like my sister. Do you remember what happened?"

"I thought you shouldn't be alone after what happened at the funeral so I called my date short. As I was crossing the street this car with its lights off came out of nowhere and ran me over. They stopped and I thought they were going to reverse and finish me, but someone yelled and they pulled away fast. It was so dark I couldn't make the make or model of the car. All I remember is that it was a dark car."

After doctors and the police came into the room, Alice noticed it was getting late. She noticed she didn't have her phone with her. She said goodbye to everyone and headed back to the dorms.