Little pieces of Hope

Chapter Three

Thursday, 5:30 AM
My alarm woke me up earlier than I wanted it to, but I knew my suspension was over and I had to go to school. I don't understand how Dylan never got in trouble. I will admit something though. If I was the principal, and I saw Dylan walk in my office, I probably wouldn't punish him either. Ashlynn stop it! He talked about Blake, so he is not cute.
I took my daily 15 minute shower, and brushed my teeth after. I put on some sweatpants and a T-shirt. I wore my black and white nike tennis shoes. I knew I should stop wearing stuff like this and wear something nice, but I just didn't feel like it this morning. I wore my hair down because it was the least I could do to look nice. I grabbed my bag and keys, and I walked outside to my car. I got in and turned on my music. As I pulled out the driveway and got down the road, I saw someone walking on the sidewalk. I thought it was Dylan, and I kind of felt bad for punching him at that moment. Call me crazy, but I felt bad knowing I could drive to school and he had to walk. Next thing I knew, I was yelling.
"BLAKE!!" I screamed.
"THAT WAS BLAKE!!" I was screaming at nothing because I ran out of my car, and he was gone. I looked around, and no one was around.
"He was right there," I said in a faint whisper.
"Where'd you go, Blake?" I was talking to myself at that point.
I fell on my knees in the middle of the road and just cried. When I got back to reality, I got in the car and called my mom.
"Hello?"  She said a little confused/worried to see my caller ID.
"Mama, I swear I just saw Blake walking down the sidewalk. I got out of my car and no one was there, and I know I saw him. I swear I'm not going crazy. He was there. It was him. I promise," I said crying again.
There was a long pause on the line.
"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number, Miss," a woman said.
I hung up. I guess I was so out of it, I thought it was my mama. I looked at the number and realized I had put a 3 instead of a 2 in the number.
I looked at my phone and saw that it said 8:29. Shoot! I was 30 minutes late. I didn't know what to do, so I drove slowly down different roads to see if I could find him. I guess you could say I skipped school that day. I started laughing remembering the first time me and Blake skipped when he asked me to his football practice. He got me into this. I've skipped like 6 times since then, so I blame him. By the time I gave up looking, it was 9:25. My parents would be at work by now, so I went home. I ate breakfast, which was unusual because I never do, but I was hungry. Then I went back to sleep until 2:00 PM. Great, I had an hour before the school day was over. I just prayed that my parents didn't get off work early today. I don't know why I was so nervous. It wasn't my first time doing this. I just don't know how in the world I saw Blake. I know that was him. I'm positive it was. Except it's not possible that it was him. Ughhh! I don't know what to do with myself anymore. Six months and I've never experienced this. Never "seen" him. I'm just so confused. Why today?
It was 2:43 when my dad walked in. I jumped when I heard the door open. I was so lost in my thoughts and watching tv that I didn't expect it.
"Umm, hi?" He said confused.
"Hey," I said trying to hide anything that gave away what happened.
"Why are you here? It's 2:45, shouldn't you still be at school?" He asked.
"I should," I answered a little smarter than I .wanted to.
"Well, what are you doing home?" Doesn't he have something better to do. He ain't never cared before, so why should he now.
"Something happened and I came home," I answered.
"What happened?" He asked. That's when I cried and he just walked to his room. I knew he didn't care. Never has, never will.
I went to the bathroom and fixed my makeup from crying and got in the car. I left without saying a word to my dad. I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. Yes, after promising myself that I would never come here if I didn't have to, I did. I just sat there and looked. Didn't move a muscle. I didn't know if I really wanted to know why Blake was a patient here. I finally realized that I needed to do this to settle my heart, and I needed to know what happened. I got out the car and slowly walked to the automatic doors. I stood in front of the building wondering if I should turn back now that I still can. I wanted to, but I knew that I deserved to know what was wrong. I walked in, and went to the front door.
"Can I help you?" The lady asked.
"Yes, I'm looking to speak to Doctor Bentley," I said hoping he would be available.
"Do you have an appointment with him?" She asked.
"No ma'am, I just need to speak to him, please," I answered.
"He's with a patient right now, but you can sit in the waiting room, and I will notify you when he's available," she said.
"That's fine, thank you," I went and sat down.
I got in my phone and saw I had 3 missed calls from my dad. Well, I refuse to talk to him right now, so I hid his notifications and looked on social media. A good 30 minutes went by before the lady called me back up there.
"Doctor Bentley is waiting for you through that hallway, and it's the last door on the left." She said.
"Thank you," I told her as I walked back and saw the doctor on his computer doing something.
"Hi Doctor Bentley," I said knocking even though the door was open.
"Hello, Ashlynn?" He asked making sure that was my name.
"Yep, that's it," I said smiling.
"What can I do for you today?" He asked sounding happy.
"Well, I know that you can't give out information about your patients, and I'm not here for that. However, six months ago, you treated my friend named, Blake Berret, but he didn't make it." His face turned sad when I said that.
"Oh, I remember this," he said.
"Well, when you came back in my room to tell me the news, you said that he was a patient here. What did you mean by that?" I asked hoping he will tell me.
"Blake was one of my patients that I saw regularly, Ashlynn. I do remember the night that y'all both were here. I just don't know how you'll handle this news, and I don't think you would want to know," he said worried about me.
"Trust me, I've heard worse news and you of all people should understand why I want to know," I said, not meaning to sound rude.
"Ashlynn, I know you've heard worse, and I want to tell you. However, I think you should ask his parents. Then, if you still want to talk about, then you can come back, and I will be open about everything," he said. I knew he wanted to tell me, so I pulled him in for a hug and said thank you.
"Your welcome, and I'm always here for you. Not only as a doctor. If you ever need a friend just call me or shoot me a text." He said. That's why I loved Doctor Bentley. I shook my head and he showed me the way out.
I got in my car. As much as it took to come here and ask Doctor Bentley, I don't know that I'm ready to talk to his parents. I don't know how I'm going to ask them. Especially since they blame me for everything. They never talked to me or my family after what happened. It made me really sad, too. I had a very close relationship with them, but one night out changed everything.
I went back home to my parents. I didn't talk to either one because I knew my father had the chance to tell my mama his side of the story, so I went upstairs. I went to the bathroom, and I took my makeup off and brushed my teeth. I went to my room and put in a movie to watch. I fell right asleep though and didn't watch it. I dreamed about Blake, and woke up crying. I dreamed that he was telling me something in the hospital as he was laying on the bed, but all he could get out was "football". I don't know what that was supposed to mean. What about football? I looked at my phone and it stayed 3:23 AM. Wow. That dream didn't feel long enough for it to be 3 in the morning, but oh well. I was going to find out what that dream meant though. No matter if it took days, weeks, months, or years. I was going to find out, not for me, but for him. For Blake.