Water Doesn't Wash Away Everything (Zack Merrick)

Chapter 30

Meg’s eyes slowly opened. Everything was in a daze. It reminded her of the war videogames she used to watch the guys play. When you got hurt, your vision got blurry and you could only hear your heart beat. The noise seemed to succumb everything else.

She was back in the bus again. Jack’s character had just gotten injured and his screen went weird. Jack groaned and waited as it went back to normal. Meg glanced over at Zack, his hand wrapped around hers securely. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Can you hear me?” he asked her. Megan’s brow furrowed and she moved her head to look at him.

A bright light shined into Meg’s eyes and she winced from it. The light went away and a man’s face was in her view instead. She squinted her eyes slightly when she noticed he was upside down. Maybe she was?

She was no longer in the bus. Meg looked around confused and tried to find some sort of thing that would help her. She noticed the dashboard of her car in front of her and smashed. She looked past that and saw little pieces of glass scattered every where on the street.

“Ma’am, can you hear me?” the man asked. Megan didn’t answer him. She let her eyes fall back close instead.

“No, look at me please,” the man said calmly yet still urgently. “Ma’am, if you can, please look at me.”

Megan felt in too much of a daze. She didn’t try moving her fingers or anything. She was in pain but didn’t know exactly what hurt. She felt too numb and like a baby animal that just got it’s mother taken away.

They don’t where they are and don’t know what to do. So they sit there, not moving, and wait with that string of hope that their mother will come back for them. That maybe, just maybe, everything would be back to normal and they would know what was going on.

Just like Jack had waited for his screen to go back to normal and then he could go on with his life.

***

Zack tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he cruised down the street, looking at the house numbers. He stopped in front a small yellow house. Zack took a deep breath then pushed himself out of the car.

His leg bounced nervously as he stood staring at the house. What if she slammed the door in his face? What if she had moved on and had another boyfriend already?

Zack imagined himself walking up to the door and knocking. She would opened the door and just stare up at him, not saying anything. The silence would eat him up inside forever. The image of Meg having tears in her eyes as she closed the door without saying a word made his throat tight.

Zack shook the thought out of his head and started towards the door. He licked his lips and slowly knocked his fist on the door.

Zack listened for footsteps, but heard none. He knocked again. Again, there was no answer, only silence. He leaned over and tried to peek through the window. Zack bit his lip and rang the door bell.

“Excuse me.” Zack turned around to look at the person who spoke out. A woman a little older than him stood with a dog that was panting with its tail going wild.

“Are you,” the girl paused then started again, making her voice louder. “Are you looking for Megan?”

Zack’s face turned curious at the tone of her voice. He then turned and headed off the porch and closer to the woman.

“Yea,” he said quietly. “Do you, uh, know where I could find her?”

A look of sympathy grew on her face. Zack turned confused, his stomach went into a knot.

***

Alex groaned and searched for his phone on his bed side table. He finally grabbed it and answered without even looking at the number.

“Hello?” he tried to sound awake.

“Hello, is this Mr. Alex Gaskarth?” The voice was very formal, which made his brow furrow.

“Yes,” he replied slowly.

“I’m calling from the hospital of….” Alex sat up quickly and listened intently to the woman speaking. “I’m assuming you are affiliated with Miss Megan Keats, yes?”

“Yes,” Alex stuttered. Alex wanted the woman to get the point. “What happened? Is she ok?”

He stood up and quickly grabbed jeans off of the floor and rummaged around to find a clean shirt.

“I’m sorry to say this Mr. Gaskarth, but Miss Keats has been injured in a car accident.”

Alex froze and stood still in the middle of the room. He stopped looking for a shirt and focused instead on trying to get his voice back.  

***

A look of sympathy grew on her face. Zack turned confused, his stomach went into a knot.

“What?” he blurted out. Why did she have that look on her face?

“I’m sorry to say that Megan’s in the hospital,” she said quietly. Zack went tense. He swallowed and he tried to stay calm. His hands started shaking and he shoved them into his pockets. Zack’s fingers hit the necklace that he kept in his right pocket. His throat got tight and he clutched onto the necklace.

“Is she…is she ok?” he stuttered out. She had to be. She is, he repeated to himself over and over. She’s ok. She’s ok.

“I believe so,” she said politely. “I don’t know the whole story. I got a call from someone this morning. Megan works at the library. We all grew fond of her over there, the kids adore her. So when she got in the wreck, everyone knew.”

“Would you….Is there any way that you…um, could show me to the hospital?”

“Oh, yes. Of course. Just follow my car. I live just right there.”

“Thank you so much,” Zack said quietly and sincerely. She smiled and nodded. Once Zack turned away, she sighed and looked at him with sad eyes. She could see Megan was someone special to him. It was strange she had never seen him around before.