Overprotected

Chapter Twenty-Four

           The day my best friend died was the worst day of my life, and probably will ever be.

     It happened so unexpectedly, you know?

     We're supposed to be lovers, vacationing with our graduating class. 

   How could an innocent night of romance end so wrong?

~*~*~

I climb into the front seat of Mr. Bind's rental car. Blair hops in the back, and Mr. Bind starts driving.

I grip the door handle, feeling dizzy.

Some promises Carson made, he can't keep.

Oh my gosh. Does that mean what I think it does?

We reach the hospital and I rush in with a sense of dread and apprehension. The hospital director is there, with a doctor. "Hello, Ms. Lexi."

"H-hi." I say. "What happened? Who's that?"

"This is Carson's doctor, Dr. Cancan."

"What. Happened." I ask again.

"I think you should sit down." Dr. Cancan says.

In whispered words, he explains to me that about an hour ago, Carson's machines starting going off. The nurses did their best, but no matter what they did he kept deteriorating. He died soon after.

I sit back in my seat. The first thing I feel is numb. This can't be real. Carson, my best friend for ten years and boyfriend, he's not gone.

A minute later, the numb feeling is pierced with anger like a knife, rather than sadness.

I leap from my seat and hiss in the doctors face. "That shouldn't have happened! He was awake, he was healing, he wasn't even that hurt!"

"That's what we thought," Dr. Cancan says, "but apparently we were wrong."

"Apparently?" I shout. "You should've figured it out! You're a doctor, you run scans and tests and all this stuff to figure it out!"

"He had a very positive outlook miss," the doctor says. "We were sure he would live."

"Well he didn't." I say, and am shocked at my words. My anger fizzles out and I sit again, my face in my hands. "What killed him?" I ask hoarsely.

"We honestly don't know. It's a medical mystery. We're going to run an autopsy-"

"Don't." I whisper. "Finding out what killed him won't save him at this point. Let him be. Until his parents get here."

    The doctor falls quiet and sits for a minute. When I don't raise my head, he stands up and quietly leaves.

    I sit like this for six hours. Dull and listless. I don't move from my position. No sadness comes. No tears. Just empty.

     I shift from my position when I hear his parents. They caught a flight as soon as the could when they heard about his accident, and now they finally made it.

    I stand to my feet, muscles cramping from being in the same position so long.

Mrs. Trayco sees me and rushes over, her husband following slowly. "Lexi!" She wraps me in her arms. "What happened?"

"Y-yesterday, or was it two days ago? Well it was the night before last. We were on a late night walk and a- a drunk driver came... And-"