You'll Be Okay

Prologue: 2 Years Ago

March 31st 2016 (Miami, Florida)

It was her 15th birthday.

Lex woke up to find her mom making her favourite banana and blueberry pancakes in the kitchen. The TV was on, the morning news providing background noise in a house that was eerily quiet without her dad and her younger brother home.

"Happy birthday!" Lex's mom smiled, blue eyes lighting up as Lex walked into the room. "Oh, you're growing up so quickly."

Lex hugged her. "Thanks, mom."

"Your father and Daniel should be home in a few hours." She continued, scraping the last of the pancake batter into the pan. "Breakfast?"

There always seemed to be a shortage of food when Daniel was home but Lex happily helped herself now. She sat with her mom at the kitchen counter, loading her plate with berries and maple syrup. While she scrolled through her phone, basking in the attention and responding to birthday wishes, Marina Patterson sorted through case files. There were about ten in total, marked; CLOSED by Anthony Patterson, Patterson and Greene Lawyers.

Her dad and brother had been in California for the last three months, working on a child custody case for a celebrity family. Daniel had begged their dad to take him since he was a huge football fan and dreamed of touring the training facilities of the Los Angeles Chargers.

The phone rang and with a sigh, Lex's mom got up to answer it.

Meanwhile, Lex turned her attention to the TV where NBC was currently announcing the breaking news from this morning; "...a freak accident just minutes ago, resulting in a major traffic delay. Police and paramedics are currently on the scene, treating a number of victims. There has been one casualty who has yet to be identified."

She could only stare in horror at the TV. There were at least ten vehicles involved in the crash, including an eighteen-wheeler truck tipped onto its side. Police and the fire department swarmed, some directing the traffic and others helped treated injured bystanders.

Something crashed onto the floor in the lounge room, startling Lex. Eyes still fixed on the screen, she got up and went to check on her mom. 

When she saw her mother kneeling over, clutching her phone in her hands as heartbroken sobs wrenched out from her chest, Lex froze. There was a fallen vase beside her mom as broken glass, water and long-stemmed roses were strewn across the floorboards.

"Mom?" Lex rushed over, pulling the phone out of her hands. "Are you alright?"

It was a stupid question but Lex couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her mother cry. And suddenly, her heart somehow knew what her brain hadn't even begun to process.

-

It had been an hour since Anthony Patterson had been pronounced dead and Daniel Patterson had been rushed into the ICU.

"Lex!"

The sound of her own name caught her attention and then Kayley Brewer was flying down the corridor, flinging her arms around Lex in a tight embrace. Her best friend had mascara streaks running down her face, her Givenchy heels clutched in one hand but she was here.

Kayley was here, as she always was.

"Hey." Kayley's voice was firm, jolting Lex out of her numb reverie. "Hey. Talk to me. Lex, you will make it through this. Do you understand?"

She wanted to agree but the words were stuck in her throat.

-

A distraught woman wept in a waiting room, her daughter silently staring out into the parking lot below. Between them, a blonde-haired girl, still in her bridesmaid dress from a family event, held onto them both, trying her hardest to keep it together. They had been there for hours.

But Lex was slipping and she could feel it.

An hour before midnight, a dishevelled doctor with blood-stained scrubs finally walked out and as Lex looked up, he caught her gaze. And then she knew; there was no point hoping and praying for a miracle. There would be no miracles here tonight.

"I'm Doctor Patel. Are you the family of Daniel Patterson?"

Hearing his name was like a slap in the face but it was the look in her mom's eyes that would stay with Lex forever. She looked like she had had her heart ripped out of her chest. Beside her,  Kayley was wordlessly pleading with the doctor, still holding onto the hope for good news.

"I'm sorry," said Doctor Patel. "We couldn't save him."

-

Lex stood at the front row of the church, in the same black dress she'd worn to her grandmother's funeral. Relatives, her parents' co-workers and clients, Daniel's friends, her classmates and even complete strangers filled the church to the brim. Most kept their distance, but some brave souls did come up to offer her their condolences.

Their eyes held pity but she didn't feel a thing.