HAVING 13 - Johnny Kavanagh

55. A tragic ending

JOHNNY
August 26th 2005

I woke up to my Mam shaking me awake.

"Jonathan," She was crying.

I sat up. "Mam? What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Melissa's alright, but she's in the hospital, son," My Da said, standing in my doorframe.

Panic. Pain.

"What?" I croaked out. "How?"

I was already standing up and scrambling to find clothes—any clothes. I had to get to her. Immediately.

I was confused and half-asleep. I barely processed anything I was being told.

"She and her friend, Taylor, got in a car accident," Mam explained. "We're gonna head over there in a few minutes. Get dressed and brush your teeth."

"What—"

"We'll explain more on the way there."

•

My mind was going over the speed limit, and I was frantically trying to distract myself in the backseat of my parents' car.

Shannon, Tadhg, Da, Mam and I were on our way to the hospital. We briefly left Aoife and Gibs in charge of Ollie and Sean, since both offered to help us out.

Missy 'wasn't gravely injured'. She had a dislocated shoulder, which was already put back into place, and a wound to her head, but she didn't need stitches, so it wasn't deep. She had a concussion and some scratches and bruising around her body. That was what my father told me.

It didn't sound like she was unharmed.

She and Taylor went back up to the street after crashing off-hill.

Taylor got hit by a car and died later in the hospital.

She was ran over right in front of my girlfriend's eyes.

The hospital also told my Da that Melissa didn't know yet. She didn't know her friend was dead.

We arrived and all of us went to see Mel. She was sitting upright on the hospital bed.

"They're checking me for a concussion," She almost whispered.

I let Shannon and Tadhg have their moment first, because they all needed the reassurance of having each other. All of them had endured enough loss for an entire lifetime.

Then, I brought my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Johnny," She breathed. "Oh, god, I was so scared."

"I know, baby," I told her softly. "I was asleep."

"It's not your fault," She convinced me. "You couldn't have known."

"Walk me through it?" I offered. "Only if you want to."

I backed off, going to lean against the windowsill. Mam held her hand as she got ready to tell the story.

"We were just supposed to talk about what happened. She started telling me that she killed a guy, but she was going an insane speed, and I said she was gonna get us killed," She told all of us. "She thought I was criticising her. She swerved off road on purpose. I was unconscious for a while."