The Neighbours

Chapter Six: Missed Call

I woke up in Maddie's bed, her arm sprawled, almost hitting my face and the covers all messed at the bottom.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table to check the time, 11:27 am.

6 missed calls, 18 new messages.

All from the same person, my mom.

Well fuck.

I groaned, grabbed my phone and got out of bed. I walked into Maddie's conjoined bathroom and closed the toilet seat before sitting down.

Hesitantly, I pressed call, holding the phone in one hand and ran the other through my hair.

No answer.

Um excuse me? Please don't call me 6 times and then not pick up when I call you back because obviously it was important.

Like did you die since the last time you called? No? So pick up the damn phone!

I dialled again and listened it ring, assuming that she wasn't going to pick up and dreading that she was.

I don't know if you know this, but generally if you have 6 missed calls from your mom, you might as well walk to the guillotine because it ain't gonna end well.

"Hello?"

I jumped, shocked by the noise in my ear because I fully wasn't expecting her to pick up.

"Mom?"

"Oh Avalon. Lon-Lon my baby, baby girl..." She stuttered, her voice broken from crying.

"Mommy? Is everything okay?"

"No baby girl, your da-d-d he's n-not doing s-so w-well."

"Mom what happened? Where is he? MOM!" I yelled again when she didn't answer.

"Hospital" she chocked out, then the phone went silent; she hung up.

It was silent for about two seconds before my world broke down.

I could hear someone screaming, it was like a ringing in my ears. It wasn't until Maddie came sprinting in to the bathroom that I realized that it was me.

"WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY?" She said, picking me up from the floor where I had collapsed, crying.

I cried on her shoulder as she rubbed my back, sobbing and struggling to get a sentence out.

"Shhhhh.... Let's just breathe for a moment."

We stayed in the bathroom, just standing there hugging each other until I managed to get my breathing under control.

I wiped my eyes and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a mess. My entire face was now red and puffy and some eyeliner from yesterday was smeared across my face.

I hung my head, suddenly embarrassed that I let someone see me like this. I wiped the makeup off and headed to the bed to hide under the covers.

I never thought that I would react that bad if something happened to my father. I mean, this wasn't the first time that he has been in the hospital, but I don't know. This time feels different.

This time feels bad.

Maddie took the covers away from my head and pulled them down so that they stopped mid-stomach. She sat with her back to the headboard, her hands gently moving some hair out of my face.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" She asked, after a very lengthy silence.

"It's my um, dad. He's in the hospital." I mumbled.

"Are you going to go visit him?"

"Yeah. I could I not?"

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"No, my mom didn't say."

"Well, I'm sure that he will be fine. He probably just fell down the stairs or something."

"Or he got to another bar fight." I whispered under my breath so that Maddie wouldn't hear.

She didn't respond for a while, and I made no effort to keep up the the conversation.

"Go get dressed. I'm going to get us a ride."

I barely nodded before she was out of the room.

I didn't move. I couldn't move, I was completely numb. It was like everything was in slow motion. I don't know why.

Its not like he was dead, he's just in the hospital. Jeez, Avalon. Get it togethe.

But I still couldn't shake this feeling of dread. The last time he was the hospital, I couldn't care less. He was admitted for smashing his face up when he was drunk.

But I feel like this time, it's for a bigger reason.

"Avalon. Girl, you gotta get up. Dallas is driving us to the hospital."

I somehow managed to get out of bed and walked over to Maddie's closet where I pulled on a pair of sweats.

We walked down the stairs, me taking the rear. Dallas was in the kitchen with Dianna, holding a cup of coffee, but she immediately put it down when we walked down the stairs.

"Let's go girls." She said, grabbing the car keys.

The ride was absolutely silent. I was looking out of the window as it rained, watching two raindrops have a race to the bottom. I could see Maddie glance at me occasionally through the reflection of the window, but I never looked in her direction until we arrived.

When we got there, it was like I was on auto pilot.

My surroundings started to blur, I could only focus on the main doors as we walked up to them. I barely even registered that Dallas had grabbed my hand.

The emergency room was crowded, the screams of pain and the crying loved ones gave me a headache.

Dallas squeezed my hand harder as I gritted my teeth and searched for my mom in the masses of people.

I spotted her hunched in a chair in the corner and I made a beeline in her direction, Madison and Dallas following closely in my heals.

She looked up as we walked nearer to her and she immediately burst into a fresh round of tears.

I ran the rest of the distance, wrapping my arms around her skinny frame.

"Have you heard anything?" I asked.

"They are trying to find out if it was intentional or not."

"If what was intentional?" I asked, confused,

"His suicide."

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I was really confused as to wear I was going with this story after the last chapter, but I finally decided. So don't worry, it's all good and I have so so so many plans for the rest of the book 😏

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