At Your Bedside

•Ch.15•

It is raining outside. The clouds are grey and the sun cannot be seen. It has been three weeks since Hazel left the house. She has not called or texted me at all. I think she's mad. But I don't know why.

I call Isaac.

"Isaac, will you come to my house? I have to talk to you about Hazel."

"Okay. My mom's driving me. Can you drop me off later."

"Yep."

There is a light knock on the door. I could barely hear it. I open the door and Isaac is waving his hand. I let him in and Isaac's mother drives away.

"Isaac? Does Hazel hate me?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should find out." He whips out his phone and hands it to me. I look up her contact and start typing a message. It reads:

"Wanna go to the park later in the afternoon?"

We wait for what feels like an eternity when suddenly the bubble with eclipses shows up on the screen. Now the message has arrived and it reads:

"K."

"Wow, she must be mad," Isaac says.

"Oh, no really!"

Isaac sits at the small swing set in the park with his phone on his lap. His phone is calling mine and is on speaker so that I can hear every word they say. I sit at a bench with my hood on so Hazel doesn't see me. Isaac gives me a thumbs up indicating that he is ready. Hazel walks up to Isaac and sits in the swing next to him.

"Swings," she says. "You just had to pick swings."

"Mom put me here. I feel like she took some ridiculous picture of me." Hazel laughs. She grabs the chains of the swing and looks at her feet.

"What did you want to talk about, Isaac?"

He sighs. "What happened between you and Hazel? We haven't seen her in three weeks. And you...you have become depressed again. It's almost like...it's almost like Gus died all over again for you."

"I loved Gus and I would do anything just to see him once more. But the mentioning of his death made me feel like he died all over again, like you said. But that didn't make me mad or depressed or anything really because I knew he was dead and there was nothing I could do. The thing that made me mad was that I was not allowed to see him. I would have died just to see him one last time before he took his last breath. But Casey, she saw it happen and she didn't even know him. That is why I am enraged."

"Do you really think Casey wanted to watch that happen? She has seen way too many people die right in front of her. It's not really her fault. The one who should really be depressed is Casey."

"Wait," Hazel commands. "How do you know both of Casey's parents died?"

"The only thing I can do now is listen, if you haven't noticed. Its not her fault, Hazel. Just think about that." Isaac stands up and walks towards the area where I am. I turn my phone off and pull down my hood. Hazel sees me. I look at her with the corner of my eye and walk away with Isaac at my side.