1...2....3. Again and again she takes another pill. And hits me in the head. I wince but I don't look at her. I'm afraid to. 4...5....6. She laughs and then she gags. The couch starts to move and I grab the house phone without looking at her. Don't.
Just don't look.
Dialing 9-1-1, the couch stops and I don't hear her breathing. 7....8...9....10. Slowly I look at her. Her eyes staring at me. But she's not breathing. I close my eyes and face back towards the tv.
"9-1-1 what's your emergency?" the operator asks.
"My mother overdosed. She's not breathing.", I say softly, hoarsely.
"What's your name sweetheart?", she asked. "What's the address?"
"Autumn. My name is Autumn."
Twenty minutes after that, the ambulance finally came with a God-like knock. Sounding like heaven, in the depths of hell. My bare feet slapping against the cold, old tiles. Opening the door without a word, I pointed to the couch and they raced over to her. Now seeing her cold eyes for the first time. I clutched my eyes closed and turned away to face the curtains. The sun illuminating what little purpose it could of our broken home. The paramedic made me sit down so he could check me out. Making sure there was no bruising and there I sat as still as possible as the paramedics lifted Mom off the couch. Her hand fell off the roller as they headed out. I knew what death looked like. I could tell from her paled skin. That she was no more. Gone.
As if she was never there in the first place.
* * *
I looked up from all the beeping and the crying around me to see a blonde haired woman with puffy eyes, asking for me at the front desk. I put down my head as everything began to fall quiet in my head as the receptionist pointed me out to her. She hesitated before clearing her throat. "Autumn.", she said, clutching onto her purse with white knuckles. My eyes fluttered up to hers and she gave me a shining pearly smile. "You must be Aunt Meg.", I pursed my lips together trying my best not to cry all over again as I stood to face her. She enveloped me in her arms and I closed my eyes tightly.
This isn't real.
Flashes of Mom before Dad died came back to me. When she was happy. When we were all happy. I want so badly to remember those memories over the ones where she stuck the needle in her arm or sniffed drugs to forget the pain. Maybe she never forgot. Maybe it was all just a haze to her.
But it was there, I was there. I was a reminder that Dad was gone.
She could never forget. So she would die to get away. In that case, there was no silver lining. No place for hope anywhere. I was just a narrow end of hope for her. I killed her. God I wouldn't even look at her. No wonder.
No wonder no one wanted me around.
YOU ARE READING
The Good, The Bad, And The Inbetween
Teen FictionAutumn is a regular girl. She has her shares of ups and downs. When her mother dies she is forced to move in with her Aunt. She starts all over. A new school, a new job, and a new family. A new life.
