Waiter in Hiding

The Phone Call

2am and still no phone call back, I groan, internally.

Mom come on pick up your phone, already!

I look down to check my caller history,and it reads '20 Missed Calls to Mom.'

I sigh and go back to my English assignment, "How would you feel if you were Abandoned Unexpectedly?" The words, abandoned and unexpectedly pull out at me, even if my paper is blank I already know the answer. I'm not new to the word abandoned.

5 Years Ago, my father left our family,very suddenly, my mom and I didn't know why, but we were forced to leave our house and were left out in the streets. Struggling to keep feed herself and me, my mother moved back in with her parents for a while, and searched for a job. 

As a teenager, age 13, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to help my mother or how to at least...keep her ''motivated''.

Eventually a few months later, my mother found a job and was able to buy an apartment. However, depression took the best of me and I found myself running errands for my mother 24/7. That, was until my best friend, Stephanie, managed to save me from the black hole I submerged myself in, and back into the reality of life. 

Now as a 18 year old, I find myself looking back thinking I could've helped my mother a little more, but time is scarce and many don't use their time wisely, many, including me. 

I wake up to the sound of a buzz and I shot up immediately. I fumble to press the green answer button, and I'm greeted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Hello, is this Franco Households?" A ladies voice, with a slight Canadian accent, replies to me.

"Um, yes. May I ask who's calling?" Confusion starts to take over my mind, Who's calling me at 2am in the morning?

"This is Martha White, one of the paramedics, who assisted your mother during the car accident." My eyes widened and my vision started to get hazy. 

"Pardon me?"

"I apologize to be the one to tell you this, Miss.Franco, but you're mother is in a coma due to the car crash that was taken place on 25th Avenue at 9pm, she suffered a major head injury while hitting the frontal lobe of her brain, causing her the coma, which she is in. Her life expectancy is not yet analyzed, neither is when she is going to come out of her coma."

I blinked and a rush of chills went through my spine, I leaned back into my chair and tried to relax. Attempting to grasp the idea of my mother in a, coma, not moving, or in more "scientific" terms unconscious.

The lady on the other end of the line, started to speak again but I blanked out and several thoughts were going through my mind, my breathing became more audible, I started to wheeze and the lady started talking louder, more audibly."Sweetheart, can you hear me? Honey, we need you to come to the hospital, do you know how to drive?"

I whisper faintly, barely audible, my breathing starts to take over my speech ability,and I slowly say, "I know how to drive, which hospital?" 

She breaths a sigh of relief, "General Washington Hospital, located on 5th Street, Manor Estate."

I cut the phone and took a few deep breaths and tried to grab my keys, and instead grabbed my phone and I clutched my phone harder and harder breaking it, I heard it start to crack and eased. I took the keys on the opposing stand, and ran out the door, forgetting to lock it. 

I started up the engine and it growled instantly, glancing at the gas tank, I backed up on the driveway.

Half-tank, probably enough for the hospital ride.

While, driving a million thoughts went through my mind, but one of them was articulated distinctly. 

What am I going to do without mom?

I took a sharp turn entering an unfamiliar street, I unintentionally,

 pushed the gas pedal slightly and the tires started going faster, 

then abruptly the car stopped,

 in the middle of the road,

 at 2am, 

while my mother was in a coma. 

My eyes widened in fear, and I unbuckled my seat belt, I looked at my surroundings and recognized this as the "bad" part of town. I rolled my eyes, probably made up.

Someone came down the sidewalk, a figure I recognized from school, Thomas Sarasso, I groaned internally.

Just great, 2 Am and I have to come face to face to the number one do not mess with guy in school. Thomas Sarasso, was one of those people you would call, "bad boys',' he didn't like dealing with drama and stuck to a small friend group, but everyone knew him anyway because of his recognizable history of getting into trouble , and because of his distinctive appearance.

As the figure started to get closer and I started to retreat back into the car when a voice interrupted my mind, it was the deep masculine voice, the type of voice that had to have an absolute stunning face to go along with it, and I'll have to admit, even if my mother was in a coma, in the hospital,it was that type of face. 

"Yo, Franco," his dark green eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here at 3am?"

I started speaking, but a rush of tears bursted onto my face, smearing my already messed up makeup. I feel the mascara drip down my cheek.

His face slightly altered and he put a muscular arm on my shaking shoulder and steadied me."You alright?"

"My mother is in the hospital in a coma, my car isn't working," I inhaled loudly, "I want to see my mom," I sobbed. His eyes widened and pulled me down the street. He took out a shiny object and I shivered, Is that a knife?

"What are you doing?" My voice started to get shaky but this time it wasn't from fear, it was from nervousness. 

He rolled his eyes in return and wedged the shiny object into, a car?

"Get in, I'll drive you to the hospital," he tells me in a soft voice, "What hospital did they take your mother to?" 

"General Washington Hospital,do you know where it is?" 

He nodded. I started to rest my head on the neck cushion.