ON THE ROAD

Max

I jumped out of the car as soon as Keith unlocked the doors.

"Call me if ya need a ride baby!"he screamed at me.

I ran inside of the hospital, assaulting the first nurse I saw. I grabbed her arm and begged her to lead me to Hallie's room.

"Miss, I'll ask you to refer to the Main Entrance Office, they'll tell you where you friend is."

I hated the look of pity in her eyes, but I knew I must've looked crazy. I hadn't taken the time to get ready after waking up ans I still had morning breath, which was one of the things that disgusted me the most.

I knocked on the Main Office's window to catch the lady's attention, but she pointed a finger up towards me as she continued talking on the phone. If there wasn't a window between us, I would've snatched the phone right off her ear.

I was impatiently making signs towards the office worker for her to give me indications, but she purposely turned her chair to turn her back to me. Before I could say something, I was pushed aside violently.

"Miss... Miss?"

The lady turned around the stare blankly at the furious tornado who had just entered the room.

"I need my daughter's room number right now. Right now I said!"

I could hear the lady mutter into the phone that she would call later before she hung up and asked the name of the patient.

"Hallie Thomas."

I looked up in disbelief and was shocked to see Hallie's mother. I had always despised that woman. When we were younger, she would take me aside when Hallie wasn't looking and tell me what a bad influence I was to her daughter.

One night, at the end of summer, we were sitting next to a camp fire in their backyard when she asked me to follow her inside. Hallie was chatting and laughing with her father and was not paying attention to me. I took my time to get inside, but as soon as I entered the kitchen, she grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to her. Her perfume was so sweet that I felt like I was drowning in honey.

"You filthy filthy animal, what have you done to my daughter?"

I tried getting out of her touch, but she held me tightly.

"Yesterday, when she came back home, all I could smell on her was alcohol. What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear! We only went to my house and..."

Her hand slapped my cheek and before I knew it, I was whinnying like a baby.

"Oh stop crying! How could you bring her to this evil place. You are a horrible human being Maxine. Horrible! Nothing good will ever happen to you, because our God doesn't like people like you. If you can't be loved by our Lord who is so good and understanding, who could?"

Her words felt like a needle inking my soul. From that moment, I knew what I was worth. Nothing.

"I never want you to get near my daughter again. If you ever do, I'll make sure you leave this town. You wouldn't want to leave Mommy and Daddy, wouldn't you?"

I had stopped sobbing and I felt numbed. I looked out the window towards Hallie who was smiling brightly and I knew what I had to do.

"I don't want your daughter to be like me", I said in a low voice. "But I don't want her to be like you either. Goodbye."

When I stepped foot on the street, I started running. Running from her. Running from the pain. Running from the hate. Running from the shame.

And I kept my promise... until a few days ago.

"You?"I screamed, unable to control the anger in my voice.

She turned to me and I could see that she was shocked.

"You?"she repeated.

We both stared at each other with flames in our eyes for a few seconds. The lady in the booth was uncomfortably trying to catch Hallie's mother's attention.

"When I learned that she was in ohio, I knew something was wrong, but I would never have thought it was because of you. What did you do? Did you kidnap her?"

I let out a sour laugh.

"Oh no, she was happy to come with me. I taught her the things you never did. I showed her what happiness is. I showed her what freedom tastes like. And most importantly, I opened her heart to love."

She stared at me in disbelief and I took advantage of the situation by asking the lady what room Hallie was in.

"241", she answered.

I ran away.

I had no idea how a girl so sweet could be the daughter of such a monster.

"Stop her", I heard her saying to a security guard. "She's not part of the family, she can't visit my daughter."

Without looking back, I simply kept on running down the hallways towards room 241.

The green door was slightly opened. I slipped into the room and gasped in shock. The girl who was laying in the bed was bruised and looked destroyed, nothing like my Hallie. When she saw me, a mix between hurt and relief danced into her eyes.

"Hallie", I whispered.

She held out a hand towards me. As I took a step forward to reach it, an arm pushed me to the side.

"I don't think you can be in here miss", told me a large man. "If you don't leave, we'll have to escort you out."

"No, she can stay... she needs to stay", weakly said Hallie.

"Oh no she won't."

When her mother stepped foot into the room, the temperature dropped. I could feel the tension between the two family members. Hallie's eyes were filled with anger and her mouth was opened in disbelief.

"Did you call her?"she asked me.

"Do you really think I would do such a thing?"I replied.

"The hospital called me. I'm your mother after all. Imagine my surprise when they told me you were in Ohio. Gracie had been telling me for days that you girls were planning a surprise at her house for the end of the school year and I didn't think such a sweet girl could lie to me. Unless you have forced her to lie", she said, pointing a finger towards me.

"Mother!"screamed Hallie. "I don't want you here."

"Of course you do, baby girl..."

Her words made Hallie's mood shift. She became suddenly frightened and tried to get away, but was stuck inside of her bed sheets. I tried to get closer to her, but the security guard forbid me to, blocking the way with his large body.

"What's going on? Daughter, you cannot escape an argument by pretending to be sick. Whatever happened to you was all your fault."

Hallie's eyes rolled back and she fell back on her pillows.

"Call a doctor!" I screamed.

A man in blue, alerted by the screams, came running in.

"Everybody get out, she wasn't ready for visits yet."

We were all pushed out of the room. Before I passed the door, I looked behind and Hallie's eyes were slowly opening again. The doctor came closer to her and muttered words that seemed to reassure her a little.

The door then closed in front of my eyes and I was stuck in the empty hallway with the devil who calls herself Hallie's mother.