Life on the Big Island

Death was upon me

Opening my eyes, I squint from the bright warm sun pouring into my room. I move to the side to check my phone. With no notifications, I decide to stretch my way out of the bed. As I walk in the hallway to the kitchen, I notice that the house is unusually quite. I quickly remember that mom went into work early this morning. I begin making my coffee, when there is a knock on my door. I begin to wonder who it could be, because if it was mom then she would just unlock the door. I make my way to the door as the pounding continues. I unlock and open the door to come face to face with two policeman. I look at their badges and mentally take notes of their names, Officer jewelry and Officer Travis.

Officer Travis says "Are you Parker Wright?"

I all the sudden feel anxious but I manage to muster a simple "yes."

Officer Lowdnes asks if they can come in and sit down and talk to me. I open the door wider and kindly let them in and lead them to the kitchen table. We all sit down and officer Lowdnes says "Parker, we have some bad news for you to hear. We are very sorry to inform you that this morning, your mother was killed in a car accident. We are very sorry for your loss and I know this is a lot to process but with you being the only family member left you will need to identify the remains. I will need you to come with us."

My brain is trying to process those eight words of your mother was killed in a car accident. As the words keep replaying in my mind, I don't seem to feel anything but being numb. I am not crying yet because I think the shock I am feeling at the moment is just to much for me to portray. I quickly grab my purse and keys and phone and head with them to the cop car. After getting in the passenger side of one of the two squad cars, we head to the morgue. When we arrive, I am led down to a room. I face a body laying on a table covered by a sheet. At this time my emotion is starting to set in. As an employee comes in she gives me a short synopsis of what I am about to do. She says all I have to do is shake my head yes or no if it is my mom. She lifts the sheet to reveal my moms face only. I begin to cry for the first time since I have been told and I shake my head yes. One of the officers comes over to console me. Nothing ever in your life will prepare you for the moment when you have to identify your own mothers remains. I feel so empty and dead inside myself. That body on that table was my mom but now my mom how I knew her. All of the joy and color she brought into my life was drained from this lifeless body.

I turn to the officers and say "What's next?"

"Well we will now take you to a social worker to decide how your living arrangements will be made."

I nod my head and follow them out to the cars again and then a short ride to the police station ensues. Once getting there I am placed in a room and told to wait until my social worker gets there. Not but a short five minutes later, a social worker comes in and sits down beside me. I want to smile and be brave for this lady. Show her that I will be okay, but in my current state, this seems nearly impossible. She says "First of all let me extend my deepest condolences to you. Second I want you to know that your mom was a wonderful woman that I had a pleasure of knowing. She had a plan for you, in case the worst ever happened. Your mom cared about you so much and it was so evident in the way she came to life when she talked about you. But since you don't have any living relatives besides your dad, who is not allowed to get custody, and you only being sixteen, your mom made a plan for you to go with someone that she trusted more than anyone. This might come as a shock to you but her closet friends before you were born were Duane and Beth Chapman. You might know them from their popular tv show?"

The words come as another shock to my system. I shake my head yes and she continues, "So the plan is we will give you a couple hours to pack up your essential needs from your house and you will be flown to Hawaii. Everything else will remain the same in your house until you become of age and the house will then be in your name for you to do as you please with it. Again I know this is a lot to process and I want you to know I will be there with you every step of the way. I can help you pack up your things if you would like.But unfortunately we don't have very long until your plane takes off so we will need to get moving right away."

I follow her out to her car and then she plugs directions into her GPS to go to my home. Once we get there I unlock and open the door and go straight to my room. I think that being that I am in so much shock and so overwhelmed that I just want to do it and get it over with so that I don't have to think about this anymore. I grab all my bags and start packing up what I need. After clothes, shoes, bathroom items, pillow, and blanket are all packed. I open another bag up to put pictures of me and my mom in. I walk down the hallway into her room and go to her jewerly box and take out some of the things she loved to wear the most and carefully wrap them up. I make my way back to my room and place them in the bag. I finish packing my packing my bookbag full of all my electronics. 

After loading every thing in the car, I lock up the house and breathe a sigh of relief. Relief that one thing is done and now I am on to the next. My social worker takes me to the airport and I check in and shortly after board the plane. I decide it is a good idea for me to get some sleep now before I get there. I let myself drift off into sleep and don't awaken until I feel someone lightly touching my shoulder. I open my eyes and look up to see a flight attendant ask me to come with her and get off the plane first. I grab my belongings and follow her out the plane and into the gate area. Waiting for me, like promised, is no other than Duane and Beth Chapman. Dog proceeds to come over and wrap me in a hug and him and Beth both tell me they are sorry for my loss. Due to their popularity  we have to leave the gate rather quickly and get my bags and head out.  I arrive to their house in a big black SUV and I am escorted inside. Walking in to their house is overwhelming because I dont know what to say or do. I follow them to the kitchen table where I come face to face with their entire family. We all sit down and I am introduced to everyone one by one. 

"Parker, I know this is a lot to process and take in, in such a short amount of time, but we have some decisions that need to be made. I am sorry to say but you can't live with me and Beth because we still have four kids in the house and all our rooms are full and they can be so overwhelming sometimes. So we thought about who you could live with next and we came to the decision you should live with Duane Lee. He isn't married and has no kids but has always wanted them. He will be able to give you the attention you need in this time of loss. I know its not what you probably expected but it is what has to happen. I know that you will become apart of this family easily and maybe even the family business. Parker, I just want to say that your mom was one of the greatest people on the face of the earth and Beth and I were honored and pleased to get the chance to know her and become friends with her."

I finally get the courage to say " Thank you but for now I really just want to go to where ever my new home is because I just need some sleep and time to process. I am not trying to be rude, I just need some time to process this."

"We are no rush in anything so we can do what you would like but I think you need to be around people right now."

"With all respect sir, I am going to politely decline."

He nods his head in Duane Lee's direction and Duane Lee gets up and grabs my stuff and proceeds to put it in his truck. After everything is loaded, We head to what will be my new home.