Haunting Memories • J. Hughes

The News

Jacks POV
I had been sitting in the waiting room for what felt like hours when my mom called.

"Jack are you almost home or are you staying with Tatum tonight?" She asked

I debated weather I should tell her about Tati or just lie. "I'm staying with Quinn tonight mom. Tatum has a lot of work to do so I  don't want to bother her." I responded feeling bad about lying.

"Ok Jack I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"Love you too mom." Was all I could get out I hung up the phone and texted Quinn.

Ackk🎃
Cover for me mom thinks I'm at your house

Quinton👽
K I'll see you in the morning

Ackk🎃
Yeah

I paced back and forth until a nurse came out.

"Jack Hughes?" She questioned.

"Yes?" I asked with a broken voice but still some hope.

"Would you came with me?"

"Of course"

We walked through long hall ways and past many doors until we reached the Nero ICU. She is in the intensive care unit. I thought about how smart Tati was and how good she was at sports. Is, I reminded myself, is smart and is good at sports. She took me to a room with a doctor who sat on a chair with his hands in his lap looking down.

"You must be Jack." He said

"Yeah I am"

"You were listed as her second emergency contact after her mother and she didn't answer so when I heard that you were here I had to bring you in." He stayed silent for a moment almost thinking about how to put his words. "Tatum passed away half an hour ago. I'm so sorry."

I just nodded and let a single tear slip down my cheek.

"She overdosed on Zoloft and caused her brain to stop working causing all of her organs to begin shutting down." He continued. "We believe it was suicide."

"No no no no she didn't commit suicide" I cried "she loved life she loved it."

"We can't tell you why she did it but that might be for you to figure out" he responded.

I ran. I ran out of the hospital. Down the street. I ran away from everything. I ran from everyone. Hot tears running down my cheeks, blurring my vision. I ran to the park. I screamed. I yelled until my lungs gave out. Then I cried. Tati wasn't gone she wasn't gone. I sat in the park and looked around.

(Ok so flashbacks are going to happen and they are going to be in italics)

"Jack you need to stop" Quinn said while laughing. We were finishing our tour of the University of Michigan and began walking around the park. Me, Luke, Quinn and Josh were just walking around waiting for our parents. "It's not my fault Luke just had to trip on that branch!"

"Common Jack it wasn't that bad" Luke yelled and began arguing with Quinn. We sat down on a bench and I looked around. There was a girl drawing in a note book. She was so pretty and I was captivated by her.

"Jaaaaack" Luke yelled.

"What do you want" I asked in the snarkiest tone I could come up with.

"Stop staring at that girl you look like a creep" Quinn said.

"Ok you can't say that she's not pretty though." I countered.

"Yeah She is really pretty. You should go talk to her." Josh said while smirking.

"No I can't that would be weird." I said.

"Ok I'll do it!" Luke said

"No no no Luke!" I yelled as he got up "Luke stopppppp"

"Hey my name is Luke it's nice to meet you!" Luke said to the girl.

"I'm Tatum. And it's nice to meet you too" she said while shaking his hand. Wow my brother had better game with girls than me. But her name was Tatum, such a pretty name for a pretty girl.

"I love your drawing!" Luke said.

"Thanks! I've been working for about 10 hours on it and I needed a change of scenery." Tatum said.

"While I just came over here to tell you that my brother thinks your really pretty and I think you should talk to him because he's being a shy ass." Luke said. Oh no he did not just say that. But like he's kinda a good wingman. Then she smiled and looked at me. Oh my gosh her smile.

She walked over "I'm Tatum, as you probably know. Your brothers pretty... outgoing?" She laughed

"Yeah he's special!" I laughed. She's so pretty. I couldn't think of anything else.

"Come here want to walk with me?" She asked

"Yes he wants to walk with you!" Quinn quickly yelled.

"Ok let's go" she laughed.