Ease My Mind (Skrillmau5)

Hospital

Joel’s POV

Seventeen year old Joel Zimmerman drove as fast as he could to his childhood friend Sonny’s house after calling 911. He couldn’t believe that Sonny had already broken his promise – it hadn’t even been a full day yet! Nonetheless, Joel was still going to be by Sonny’s side. He couldn’t let him end up like his mother.

Once Joel parked into the parking lot of Sonny’s apartment, he exited the car and slammed the door shut. An ambulance had already arrived and the door to Sonny’s apartment was wide open.

Damn, that was fast.

Joel could feel his stomach drop as he saw paramedics rushing poor – and hopefully passed out and not dead – Sonny Moore on a gurney and into the ambulance. It was just like when he watched his mother pass away four years ago.

Thirteen-year-old Joel had known his mother had been recently diagnosed with clinical depression and had even quit her job because it was so bad. He was upset with this because his mom meant everything to him. He didn’t want her to be depressed all the time. It just wasn’t fair.

“She’s a good person, she doesn’t deserve this,” he would think to himself on a regular daily basis.

Then, as Joel came home from school one day, he had a flashback to when he was about eight-years-old. His mother had asked him and Sonny to help her bake some cookies. When the cookies were done and cooled off, the three of them happily munched on the sweet treats. Joel could remember the look on his mom’s face – she looked so happy.

Then, he had an idea. He was going to bake some chocolate chip cookies to cheer up his mother.

Once the cookies were done and cooled off, Joel walked into his parents’ bedroom with a plate of cookies in his left hand. They were a little burnt and Joel had a feeling that they weren't as good as his mother's, even though he did follow her recipe which he found stuffed in one of her cookbooks. But it's the thought that counts, right?

“Mom?” he called. When he got no answer, he started to worry. He turned the lights on and no one was in the bedroom. He walked out and noticed that the light from the hallway bathroom was coming out from the crack underneath the door.

He knocked on the door softly. “Mom?”

No answer. Joel was really starting to worry now.

He put the plate of cookies down on the floor and put his hand on the doorknob. He turned it and opened it, knowing that the lock was broken, and felt his heart sink as he saw the image before him. His mom was lying in the bathtub, but the water was a gross, pale red color. He could hardly even look at her face without throwing up. Her face was pale and her eyes and mouth were wide open.

Joel couldn’t move, speak, or even breathe for a few seconds. Why… why would his mom do this? Abandon everyone who loved her?

Joel quickly regained his senses and ran into the living room to grab the house phone. He immediately dialed 911 and he could hear an ambulance siren nearing his house about five minutes later. Tears were spilling out of his eyes and he didn’t know what to do. He knew that he should have called his dad and told him about this, but how could he? How could he tell his father that the woman he was madly in love with just killed herself?

Soon, there was a quick and heavy knock on the door. “Open up!”

Joel ran to the door and opened it as fast as he could. Paramedics ran into the house.

“Where’s the victim?” one of them asked Joel. He pointed to the bathroom in the hallway and they immediately rushed in. A couple more paramedics came in with a gurney and about two minutes later, they were rushing his mother out of the house.