Shatter Me

[18] All The Time

I felt so helpless.

Jason was in the emergency room and there was absolutely nothing I could do when I was told that I wasn't allowed see him. My pleading did no good. All I could do was resort to sitting down in the waiting room and breaking down in tears again.

Aiden talked with the woman at the desk, trying to get as much information as possible, before coming to sit beside me.
There weren't many people other people than us sitting in this waiting room. On the right side there was an older man. And on the left side a woman who was seated with her three children.

I was scared. What if Jason didn't make it? What if his injuries were too much for him to handle? What would I do then? I would be back to where I started...in the dark. Alone. And lost. I would be more confused than ever. And I'd be back to having no one to talk to about it. I would be left with half a heart.

I snapped back to reality when Aiden placed his hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

I swallowed and blinked back tears. "No."

He scooted nearer to me. "Listen." His voice was gentle. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

I was quiet.

"Do you need anything?" He asked. "Water? A tissue?"

I sniffed. "Yes, please. Thank you."

Aiden went to get me a drink and a kleenex to blow my nose. I took in a long shaky breath and leaned against the back of the chair. 

It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. I repeated Aiden's words over and over again in my head. I was jerked from my thoughts when a little girl walked up to me.

"Hi." She said with a small smile. She had long dark brown hair and big sparkling eyes.

"Hi." I said, drying my eyes.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"I-it's Serenity...and who might you be?"

"I'm Alyssa. But everybody calls me Lissy. Are you here to see Jason?"

"Yeah I--wait, how did you know?"

"Because I'm his sister. I'm six, by the way. And Jason told me that he had a friend named Serenity."

"He did?"

"Yeah. He also showed us a picture of you. You look a lot like the picture, so I knew that you just had to be the Serenity that he was talking about."

"He...he showed you a picture of me?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. He showed the picture to me, my mom, and my other brother, Dillion. You're really pretty."

"Oh...thank you. But...why would Jason show you a picture of me...of all people?"

"Because he talks about you all the time. And we wanted to know what you look like."

"He talks about me?" I felt weird asking so many questions to Alyssa but I was just so surprised.

Just then, a little boy who was a little bit taller than Alyssa, walked up beside her. He frowned at her. "Lissy, you're not supposed to talk to strangers."

Alyssa looked at him. "She's not a stranger, Dillion. This is Serenity -- Jason's friend."

She turned to me. "This is my brother, Dillion. He's seven."

Then she turned back to her brother. "I'm trying to tell Serenity that Jason talks about her a lot. I don't think she believes me though."

"Are you kidding me?" Dillion looked at me. "Jason talks about you all the time. It's always Serenity this. Serenity that. And to be honest, it get's boring."

Alyssa's eyes widened. "Dillion, that's not nice!"

She turned to me and sighed. "Sometimes, he's a pain."

I looked from Alyssa to Dillion.

I was so surprised by what they said. When Jason was at home with his family, he talked about me? All the time? And...he showed his family a picture of me...

I was going to start crying again.

Alyssa boosted herself up into the seat beside me. "Do you love Jason?"

"Why do you ask that?" I tried to keep from tearing up in front of her.

"Because I think he loves you."

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