I felt the blood drain from my face. They're dead. No. That can't be true. I just saw my parents, there was no way in hell they could be dead.
"W-what?!" I choked out, a sob escaping my body. I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Cas ask what happened.
"It was a car crash... someone hit them," Keaton told me, his voice wavering. "They're gone Brinley. Gone..." by now I could tell he was definitely crying.
I've never heard him cry.
"WHAT THE FUCK KEATON STOP PLAYING LIKE THAT! THEY ARE NOT DEAD!" I screamed angrily.
I didn't want to believe it. My parents would be home when I got there after school tomorrow, give me a hug and tease me about my grades. Maybe even ask why I was born. Anything. But they were not dead.
"I-I'm not."
And that was the confirmation. Even if Keaton was a terrible brother he would never joke about something like that.
They were gone.
I hung up and slammed my phone down onto the bed, letting out another heart wrenching cry. I stood up and threw myself onto the ground, kneeling and hugging myself.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
The one syllable word echoed through my head, over and over. It was torture.
I wasn't even aware of what Cassie was saying to me as she knelt beside me, whispering nice things into my ear and rubbing my back.
I didn't know how long I stayed crying in a heap on the floor, but eventually I felt no more hot, salty tears running down my face. My eyes stung and my mascara was streaked down my red cheeks.
"Brinley I'm so, so sorry about whatever happened. You're worrying me are you okay? You need to take a deep breath," Cas whispered.
I shook my head, swallowing hard. It hurt.
I sucked in as much air as I could and tried to regulate my breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Eventually I was breathing more slowly, but the tightness in my chest was still lingering.
"They're dead." I didn't want to be so blunt about it, but I couldn't think of any better way to put it. They hadn't 'passed away' or 'moved onto a better place' because they died. They were just dead and that is the sad truth.
Cassandra knitted her eyebrows together, worry plastered clear across her face. "Who's dead?"
I wiped my eyes and stood up slowly, unwrapping my arms from my body. There wasn't any tears left to cry.
"My parents. They died." I hated the sound of those words coming from my mouth. I never knew I would have to say those words so soon. Or even at all. I hadn't thought about the death of any of my family.
I didn't hear her response because all my thoughts were suddenly so freaking loud.
I wondered if Keaton was okay and if he was safe. He was probably alone at home crying to himself and worrying about what would happen next.
I wondered who the bastard that hit them was and whether he was facing his consequences. I hoped he was in jail for murder.
I wondered where we would have to go now that we were basically orphans. We didn't have very many nice relatives since everyone thought our parents were crazy.
I wondered what my parents last thoughts were and if they saw their life flash before their eyes like the movies. Most of the memories I had with them were happy. Mostly.
