They Call It Magic...

Chapter Three

“Are you sure you got absolutely everything on your list?”

            “Yes Mom,” I sighed. I was back sitting in my truck in the mall parking lot with my phone pressed to my ear. My mom had been talking, I mean lecturing me, about the importance of being packed and prepared for our trip. Of course, I was all about being prepared for anything but I much preferred to lecture myself about it. I knew (and so did my mother…I guess she must’ve forgotten) that things only get done right if you do them yourself.

            “You know I don’t mean to get down on you, right Valorie?” my mom voice came through the speaker. “It’s just that you and I both know that we have to be prepared for anything. We won’t be able to just drive home if we forget something.”

            “Mom, you’re fine,” I assured her, smiling even though she couldn’t see. “I know I should’ve done all this week ago but I’m doing it now and that’s what matters.”

            “So, shopping’s done?” she double checked.

            “Shopping’s all done,” I nodded.

            “Are you coming home then or do you have other things you need to do before we leave?”

            “Actually,” I said, “I was thinking of going to visit Mona. I mean, if she’ll let me in.”

            “I’m sure she will,” my mom said.

            We both said “goodbye” and “love you” before I put down my phone and pulled out of the parking lot. I only had a couple seconds before the light changed to decide if I was actually going to see Mona or not. The truth is, she’d shut me out for more than two weeks before but now things were different. It had only been two days but now she wasn’t in her room where I could just walk up the stairs to her house and go to her. Now, there were security guards, doors with coded locks, and also the fact that she could be on drugs because of how she was. Maybe she wouldn’t even be herself anymore… Was it possible for a sixteen year old mental patient to request that her best friend didn’t come anywhere near her? Then again, I did possibly save her life so maybe the doctors would let me come in.

            It was almost twelve thirty and the traffic on Polar St was insanely busy. I carefully pulled out into the mass of cars and took a right which would eventually lead me to where Mona was. All of the shopping in Morrison was packed pretty close together and so were hospitals. If I timed it right, I could make it to the mental hospital in less than ten minutes. But, if it wasn’t for the fact that Morrison’s temperature was almost always in the upper nineties I would gladly walk pretty much anywhere. Or run, because running was way more fun than walking.

            A couple horns honked behind me and I realized the light in front of me had turned from red to greed. I pulled forward, shook my head and told myself, “You need to start paying attention or you’re going to get rear ended on of these days.”

I decided to drive around the traffic on a side road and got to the hospital in less than five minutes. And it wasn’t only faster, but I was sure there would be less people to honk at me which I was getting tired of. I had parked my truck in front of somebody’s house and hoped they wouldn’t mind. The mental hospital was actually just a side building to the actual hospital which I had been to before so I wasn’t that hard to find. With the doors only feet away from me, I made my way into the building.

“Hello,” I said when I reached the front desk. There was a woman sitting there with dark skin and shiny black hair up in a neat bun. “I was wondering if I could get in to see a patient.”