Stay With Me

Three

It's been a week since I went with Jared's friends to the scary bar. And hey, I am still alive. I bet the bar's serial killer found a more...willing prospect to kill. Jared's been outside everyday with his friends. I have never been outside since last week. The A-Z weather is giving me a lot of sweat, it's not really that pleasant. But I guess I'm still getting use to it. I was just about to watch zombieland when the phone rang. I answered it on the second ring.

"Nike?" Garrett's voice said on the other line.

"Uhm what's up, isn't Jared with you guys?" I replied,

"Well, that's the thing, he's kind of in the hospital Nike"

"is this some kind of a prank? It's not funny Garrett" I replied. It is not funny. First, thinking that my cousin is in the hospital makes me sick. Second, I don't like hospital, I have never had my check up in 10 years now, and that makes me sick-er.

"I wish Nike, uhm can you just go here?" he asked, voice cracking. I dont know what happen he wont tell me. I asked for the hospital's address and went to my bedroom to change into my pants and a random shirt. And went downstairs to get a cab to the hospital. The last time I was here in Arizona, I lost 2 people I love, I can't believe that Jared is in the hospital, I hope he's not in some serious condition too, am I some sort of a curse or something? When we arrived at the hospital, I ran to the counter to ask where's Jared and they led me to the waiting room where I saw Garrett, a girl was curled up to his side, John, Pat and Larry's hand has a bandage.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck happened??" I asked, my voice cracked, as my hands were shaking, my nerves wasn't helping me. Hospitals are the worst place on earth. I hate it. John went up to me, his bruised head stood out and gave me a hug as he lead me to the others who was sitting closely together. We were just staring at each other, Garrett was comforting the girl beside him, besides that, no one is moving.

"Can someone please talk, hospitals aren't my favorite place so someone should at least fucking talk" I burst out, almost standing, Pat's hands were on my my shoulder as he breather heavily, almost crying.

"We crash the car..." John's voice, although comforting didn't change the fact that it's a car crash, the same one we encounter 11 years ago, when my mom and brother died. My knees were wobbling, and I was thankful I wasn't standing, I looked over Pat, Larry, Garrett, John and the girl and noticed the scratches and bruises. My hands automatically covered my face as I fight the tears. I think I'm gonna be sick.

"Jared was driving and we were all drunk and another car went up to his si-"

"okay I can't hear this" I said cutting him off, everything that happened to me 11 years ago came flashing back. The truck that went straight to right side of the car, killing half of my family. Almost killing me. I stood up and look at John. "Just tell me he's okay, please" I managed to choke out as John looked back at me.

"I think he hit his head, and knocked unconscious, but I think he's gonna be okay, he's a strong guy y'kno" he said, reassuring, I want to believe him. But my head is spinning, the walls in the hall is moving and I ran to the nearest bathroom to barf my guts out. No one dared to follow me, and I like that, taking my time to think. To reassure myself that it's not a truck that hit them, that it's not as serious as what happened to my family a decade ago. I want to reassure myself that Jared will be back on our apartment tomorrow and everything will be alright. To tell myself that nothing bad happened to him, I look at myself in the mirror. My green eyes that resembled my mother's, my olive skin that resembled my father's and my hair, my everything seems like I am a patient in this hospital. I look like a mess. I look pale.

I went back to the waiting area where they were still sitting, I took my old place in between Pat and John. Larry was dozed off in the other side.

"Where's Kennedy?" I asked, my voice low, almost a whisper.