Kiss Off

Chapter 12

Someone must spot my sorry looking form emerging from the few trees left standing. Before I can summon the energy to climb the fence, I see an entire team of emergency personnel barreling toward me. There's hollering, those in charge issuing orders to their subordinates, and I watch as an ambulance attempts to maneuver through the wreckage toward me. It only makes it halfway before it's forced to stop; fallen trees, a basketball hoop, and several other unrecognizable pieces of my school blocking its path.

Slouching to the ground, I curl my fingers into fists and press them against my eyes, forcing back the onslaught of emotion. My body has nothing left in it. I've given every bit of strength and now that I know I'm safe, I have no more fight. I can't move forward. So I don't. I just wait for help to arrive. And within seconds, it does.

Questions are being thrown at me, lights blasting across my vision. I'm disoriented. My mental ability to absorb anything has died. I simply sit, dazed, as I watch swarms of people gather around me. A moment later, I'm being lifted onto a gurney, my shirt being torn from my body as they inspect the damage. I hear crying, and at first I think it's coming from me, until I feel a gentle hand wrap around my shoulder.

Her scent reaches me first. I know that scent far too well, because it's the same smell she's always worn. Something florally and fresh.

"Mom?" I rasp, feeling as though someone's taken a pair of scissors to the inside of my throat. It's raw. Dry.

Swallowing, I let my eyes drift to the familiar blue ones gazing back at me. How did she get here so fast? Has she been here searching for me this whole time? The questions prick my brain for an instant and then vanish.

"Hi, baby," she whispers, tears choking her words. I never realized how desperate I was for the sound of her voice.

The worry on her face. The complete brokenness etched into the quivering lines around her lips as she attempts to hold herself together. It's too much, and I feel myself collapse with her. It's only been two days but it might as well have been forever. It seems as though I haven't felt her touch or heard her voice for years.

Then I see my dad. He's standing behind her, his hands shoved into his front pockets as he watches me with glassy eyes. He's fighting his own emotional battle and I know just how much he hates showing weakness in front of people. So instead of reaching for him the way my heart and body yearns to, I simply smile. That's all he needs. The reassurance that I will be okay even if things are out of our control right now. He smiles back, his shoulders tightening as he fights off the onslaught of tears that I see glistening in his eyes. Then he nods, dropping his gaze as he swipes a finger across his nose.

He doesn't meet my eyes again as my mom explains where my siblings are. Honestly, I hadn't even noticed they weren't around. I just assumed they were fine, and thank goodness, they are. They're probably soaking up all this free time with their friends. Loving that mom and dad aren't breathing down their necks for once.

I feel my body relax into the gurney beneath me as my eyes flutter closed. But the moment they do, I'm once against submerged beneath ground, darkness crowding out the light as I watch Bryson's eyes widen as the winds suck him from my arms.

"Bryson!" I suddenly gasp, trying my hardest to sit up straight. How the heck had I forgotten about him? He's practically dying, and somehow my mind just shut off the moment I saw hope in the distance.

"What?" my mom questions, reaching for my arm, but she's practically pushed out of the way as the paramedics and police officers press in closer.

"Bryson Andrews," I tell them before they can ask. "He was with me. We both got trapped in the basement. Something's wrong with him though. He needs help."