My Knights in Shining Armor

Aggressively Poking Me With Chopsticks

A/N so here's this one

i should really be asleep

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The night bleeds into the morning, and all I can do is sit in silence on a plastic chair, legs pulled up, arms wrapped around them. I stare at a spot on the floor for hours on end.

My mother is dead.

My mother, who laughed with me when I did something funny, who cried with me when something hurt, who stayed with me when I was sick. Who provided for me all by herself when my dad left.

My mother, Julia Hall, is dead.

This repeats over and over in my head like a mantra, until it replaces the beating of my heart.

I repeat it, because I know if I don't, I will fall apart. I will break. And nothing will be able to put me back together again.

As I sit there, on the cold, hard plastic chair, hearing people move in an out of the room, some whispering about me to their companions, others choosing to ignore me, I start to cry.

And I cry. My nose runs, and I ball up the long sleeve of my shirt to stop the snot from dripping down onto my clothes. I had taken off my varsity jacket and placed it on the seat next to me about an hour ago, but now I feel it being draped gently over my shoulders.

I lift my head, heavy from sorrow, and look with bloodshot eyes at Ginger, who has a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Cherry," he whispers. "Cherry, let's get out of here."

I sniffle. "Where are we going to go?"

"I can either take you back to your house, and you can get some sleep, or if you don't want to be by yourself, I can take you to a friend's house," he says, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze before standing up again.

"Can you take me to my friend's?" I say, wiping a few stray tears that leaked from my eyes.

"Of course. Do you know the way?"

I know every street in this city like the back of my hand, so I nod.

"Come on, then." Ginger offers me a hand, which I gladly take, unsure of the strength of my legs after being curled up in one position for so long.

"Sir?" I ask tentatively as I walk beside him to where his car is parked.

Ginger laughs. "Call me Charlie."

"Okay," I manage to crack a grin. "Charlie, I can't stay with my friend forever. We both know that. So where am I going to live?"

He scratched his head. "When we checked who your mother had on her emergency list, all we found were two names. One, her mother, who is now dead, and the other, one of her best friends from college. When we called her and told her what happened, she said she would take you in. Love you and care for you."

I nod, but on the inside, I frown. Mom never mentioned any college friend to me. At least, not that I remember.

"What is this college friend's name?" I question.

"Anne Knight. She lives in Michigan with her family, and is on her way here right now to get you. She'll be here in a few days. Monday, at the latest."

"Okay," I say, suddenly quiet again.

"Let's not dwell on that right now, though," Charlie says, holding open the passenger door for me. "You must be tired; you sat in that chair unmoving for five hours."

My mind reels. How was that five hours? It felt like half an hour, at the most.

But Cherry, you literally watched the sun rise.