Hidden scars

Chapter 1

Bzzzz. bzzzz. bzzzz. The sound of my phone ringing in my pocket wakes me up. I sigh, the one time I went to bed early I get woken up my someone calling me. I check the time on the clock , it reads 1:32 am. I pick up the phone, ready to yell at the person on the other end of the call. But before I can yell at them someone asks " is this Sage Evergreen?"
"Yes, who's this," I ask back nearly containing my annoyance at them. " I am Dr Jo, I am calling you because it states here that you are the closest alive relative to the Evergreen children?" The lady says in a questioning tone. "No, my parents, Abby and Steve Evergreen are the guardians of the Evergreen children that are under 18. Why are you even asking this?" I say, getting more annoyed with this lady. " I'm calling you to see if you can take care of the Evergreen kids, you are the closest alive relative. The parents of the Evergreen children are dead."

That sentence shocks me. My parents aren't dead, how can they be dead, they were alive and happy when I saw them last week for brunch.
I pull myself together, realising that right now I have to be the adult, my brothers and sisters have just lost their parents, that are probably all alone, sitting in the hospital reception area. " yes, I am the closest alive relative," I say slowly, realising that I will have to care for my siblings from now on, I'm not letting them go into foster care, they'll all be split up.
" Do you want to become the permanent guardian for the Evergreen kids?" The nurse asks, " Yes, how do I make that happen?" I ask.
" Just come here we will sort all that out for you when you get here."
"Ok, what hospital are you at?"
"Grandview, do you know the one?" Asks the nurse.
" Yes I do, I'll head there right away, I'll get there as soon as I can." I say and then hang up.

I take a deep breath in, slowly exhaling. I stand up and grab the duffel bag that I dumped the the end of my bed, I stuff my clothes into the bag. I realise that I probably won't come back here, it doesn't matter that much anyway, I hardly have anything having just finished college and not much money because I hadn't found a job yet. Finishing stuffing my clothes into the duffel bag I reach under my bed and pull out my suitcase and place the remaining stuff into there.

I view my room, it's been quickly stripped bare nothing but the bed frame and mattress left, they were the owner of the small apartment building anyways.

I quickly shut the door, locking it and then scamper down the stairs duffle bag and suitcase in tow. I reach the owners room and shove the key to the envelope that I had extracted from my duffle bag. Along with a few 20$ notes to pay for half the weeks rent and a note saying that I will no longer live in this apartment because of a family emergency.

I throw my stuff into my car and head onto the road.
And with that, I leave the town where I had made many memories and friends.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Many hours and gas station coffees I finally make it to the hospital. I hurriedly park the car and rush into the hospital. Running up the the reception desk I say " I'm here to se Dr Jo, tell her I'm Sage Evergreen." The person at the desk nods her head then picks up the phone saying something onto it that I can't manage to make out.

" Go through those doors," she says, pointing to two doors to the left, " then Dr Jo will come to meet you." I thank her and then scatter off and through the doors. Once I am through the doors a lady comes up to me, she has bright pink curly hair, and roughly comes up to my shoulders. "I'm Dr Jo, are you Sage?" She asks. I nod, not feeling strong enough to speak. " Follow me" she says.
As we go through many hallways she speaks to me, saying " from the information given from the police we have figured out that your parents were driving home from dinner when a drunk driver hit them straight on, killing your parents immediately. They were in their van, which has 8 seats so sadly the two in the second row were injured quite badly. "
And with that she stops at a door, saying, "your siblings are probably still sleeping, but feel free to see them," As soon as she says that I can see them I sprint through the door. As soon as I see Moon and Sun , who are the oldest, I burst into tears, sadness overwhelms me. " Why didn't I stay here like Mum and Dad said," I mumble whilst trying to withhold my tears. Moon had a huge bandage around his ribs, before I can look at his chart to see what happened to him the nurse calls me over, saying that the lawyer is here, along with a social worker.

Entering another room I see 2 people. "Just sign here says the bored looking lady." I read through it, it's basically just about how I will look after the children etc. "is there anything else?" I ask.
"No, it's simple with you, we have too many other people to worry about with worse conditions." The lady says whilst standing up, " we just have to do routine checks." With that I sign the paper and head back out to the room with all my siblings in it.

As I go into the room Dr Jo hands me some pieces of paper " this is a summary of their injuries ,I nod my head.
I sit down on a chair placed at the end of the room.

Looking down at the first piece of paper in big letters at the top it says Sun Evergreen 16 years old.
Spinal hernia, needs to stay in hospital for 4 months, when out of hospital 1 month in a wheel chair, 1 month crutches.
I try to hold myself together, I can break down once I've got everything sorted, I tell myself.
I read the rest, it's mainly about treatment.
I go to the next piece of paper, it reads at the top Moon Evergreen, 16 years old.
3 broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Ribs need to be wrapped for 3 months, in hospital for a week. When out of hospital in crutches for 2 months.
Similar to Suns the bottom of the page is all about treatment and medicine.
Onto the next page I mumble with a sigh.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

To sum the rest of the children's injuries fall, who's 14 got his eye scratched, so he needs to stay in the hospital for 3 days and when he gets home he needs to wear an eye patch for 3 weeks.
May, who is falls twin, broke her ankle, she comes home in 3 days, she needs to wear a moon boot for 10 weeks and use crutches for 18 weeks, slowly putting more weight on her ankle after she gets the boot off, she will need to wear an ankle brace for 10 months to make sure no more damage happens. She has had emergency surgery and now has 13 metal pieces holding her ankle together.
And as Poppy, who is 13, was in the very back she wasn't harmed as extremely as the others she still broke her arm and also had to have surgery, she now has 5 screws holding her wrist together, she needs to stay at the hospital for 2 days, having a wrist brace for 2 months.

I sigh, the house is going to become a hospital.