The Things That Hurt The Most

Chapter 7; Gone

I drove to the hospital as quickly as possible. We got there in 15 minutes but it felt longer, Mrs.Chandler kept looking out the window the whole way to the hospital. We didn't say a word, we just silently prayed that Tom would be fine.

I drove around the hospital parking lot until I found a place, I parked the car and got out with Mrs.Chandler. She walked over to me and grabbed my arm, I held her arm too hoping to make her feel better. We entered the hospital and walked straight to the front desk.

There were other people here. Some were crying, others praying, and others were just watching tv or were looking at their phones. Nurses and doctors were running around the hospital as quickly as possible.

We got to the front desk and the woman sitting there didn't look up from the magazine she was reading. Her red hair was up in a massy bun, she had too much make up on, and was wearing her white coat.

"Where's Tom?!" Mrs.Chandler nearly screamed.

The woman carefully looked up and it took her a moment to react. "Who are you looking for?" She asked as she placed her hands on top of the keyboard.

"Tom Chandler. I'm his wife." Mrs.Chandler quickly said nervously.

"Yes, he's here but I'm not sure about his condition yet. A doctor will come by in a bit to update you on his condition." She told her and then got back to reading the magazine.

"But... I need to know!" She whispered.

"Let's go sit down." I told her and grabbed her arm. Se seemed to hesitate at first but then went to sit down on one of the chairs in the corner.

We waited what seemed like forever. Nurses and doctors ran by and called other family members to tell them about their friends. Mrs.Chandler grew nervous every passing minute and so did I until a doctor walked out from a hallway.

"Tom Chandler?" He asked out loud. Other people turned to look at the doctor hoping they called out for them. Mrs.Chandler quickly stood up and walked to the doctor, I followed behind her.

"Are you Mary Chandler?" He asked her as he looked through the papers on the brown clipboard he held. He avoided eye contact for a few seconds and looked very tired.

He finally looked up. "I'm sorry to tell you that your husband didn't make it. He suffered from-"

I didn't listen after that. Tom was like a grandpa for me, though we didn't talk much he meant a lot to me. The tears rolled down my cheeks like a waterfall, and this time I wouldn't have the writing in the walls. I looked over at Mrs.Chandler, she just stared at the doctor in shock.

"Tell me this is just a joke! Please tell me he's still alive!" She screamed at him.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing else we can do." And with that, he walked off down the hallway.

That's when Mrs.Chandler started crying, I took her back to the chairs we were sitting at and we cried for what felt like hours. We cried until we didn't have anything else to cry, Tom was gone and there was no way to bring him back.

"Let's go back." I told her and helped her up. She stood up but seemed to weak to do much. We slowly walked back to the car and I helped her in.

The drive back was deadly. Too quiet although I could hear Mrs.Chandler softly crying next to me. I didn't know what to do, was I supposed to talk to her and tell her that she would get through this? That was partially a lie. It would take years before she got through this. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, I wasn't sure how I feeling anymore. It was a mixture of emotions; sad, mad, annoyed, and confused.

I parked in her driveway and helped her out of the car, she was still crying and wouldn't look at me. We both slowly walked to her house. She opened the door, which was unlocked and went in.

"Would you like me to stay for a bit? My mom doesn't come home until tomorrow."

"Please. I'll go make us some coffee." She walked off into the kitchen and left me in the living room. It took me a few minutes to realize she was making us coffee this late.

I followed her into the kitchen just as she was pouring the hot coffee into her white round coffee mugs. I smiled at her and sat down in the chair opposite of her. She took a small drink of her coffee and looked at her old gray round dining table.

"You know..." She started and looked at me. "We bought this table when we first got married."

"There must be a lot of memories here." I whispered afraid that I might say the wrong things.

"There are, too many. I have to make a few calls, I'll be back in a few." She stood up and walked off to the living room.

I took a small sip from the coffee and closed my eyes. It was amazing, still the best coffee I had ever tasted.

I could hear the soft crying of Mrs.Chandler as she talked to the person on the phone. I sat there not knowing what to do, I've never been through this before so I want sure what I was supposed to do.

She talked on the phone for a few more minutes then hung up and walked back to the kitchen where I was at. She didn't look at me, just continued to stare at the table, tears running down her cheeks.

"Ummm... Who was that?" I awkwardly whispered.

"That was my daughter, she lives half an hour from here. Could you please stay until she gets here?" She begged me, finally looking up at me and when she did I could see the pain in her eyes.

"Yeah, it's fine, I'll stay here." I told her and took another sip from the coffee.

We silently sat there for half an hour, not saying one word. She seemed so....broken. I didn't know what to do about this, how was I supposed to help her feel better? It killed me not being able to help her, not being able to say one single word.

I felt relieved when there was a knock on the door. I helped Mrs.Chandler to the door and when she opened it she started crying once again.

Her daughter was very pretty, she was very skinny looking like a model with dirty blond hair, nearly brown and dark green eyes. Her makeup was running as if she had been crying for a while and she hugged Mrs.Chandler.

When they both pulled away she turned to look at me giving me a look, the look that everyone gave me and I hated. "Who are you?" She asked putting her right hand on her waist.

"Don't worry, she's Crystal, my neighbor and a very nice girl." Mrs.Chandler replied for me when she saw the look her daughter was giving me.

"I should go back home." I told them and stood by the door. "I'll come by tomorrow, if that's ok with you." I told her.

"Please." She replied and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back then walked out of the house and went over to my house.

My mom still wasn't back but I wasn't surprised about that, she might not even be back by tomorrow. I walked over to my room and closed the door,it would be better for me to continue packing tomorrow.

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A/N: hey people! So yeah... Tom... That's not really something I had planned on putting in the book but it just sort of happened. Anyways, there's this one song it's called Finding Emo by Ice Nine Kills, it's an amazing song you should listen to it... just saying. So it's 12:35 am but that counts as Friday, right? yeah, it does :P Anyways, vote? comment? thanks!!! ^.^