Alone

Chapter 8

Mom was sitting upright and everyone was quiet when I walked in. They all looked at me.

"Lori, honey are you alright?" Mom asked. I just nodded. Matthew already told them. He is really awesome, sparing me from having to tell them. I smiled at my mom, I knew that she would worry all night. I could say a lot of things about my mom, immature, careless. But I know for a fact that she loves her kids. She would throw herself in front of a bus for any of us.

"Mom, I'm fine, just a little shaken up. Don't worry." I said. She smiled, I could see that she had cried some. She held out her arms and climbed on her bed. I got the hug I really needed since James died and I started to cry again.

"Baby, baby. It's okay, hey." She said as she took my face in her hands. "I love you." She said. I blinked to clear my blurred vision. She kissed my forehead and hugged me again. Finally after everything, it was time to go home. We hugged and said goodbye. I was groggy because I fell asleep in mom's lap as she stroked my hair. The boys were strapped in their seats and passed out before we left the parking lot. When we got to the house, Matthew and Eve had mom's bed. I put the boys to bed and fell asleep soon after.

I lay awake at three in the morning. I had another nightmare. This one was different, it wasn't the accident, and I wasn't sitting in the passenger seat watching James and the speedometer. In this dream, I was lying at someone's feet. In a white room, it was empty and too bright. I looked up to see James standing above me. I tried to get up but I noticed that there was blood on my hands so I sat down and stared at them. Someone from behind me held me down. Then I looked back up at James and his mouth, forehead and neck were bleeding. But when I looked at the bottom of his white shirt and it was all red with blood...blood.

The person who held me from behind came up and tried to catch James as he fell. But as he fell, he liquefied. Finally the person turned to face me. It was Kevin. He glared down at me, at the blood on my hands.

"This is your fault. You're the reason he is dead. Murderer." He said. And that is when I woke up. I stared at the ceiling. Finally, I sat up and grabbed my laptop. I looked up all the news reports about the accident. I read them all until I fell asleep.