Jaleah didn't have much growing up. For as long as she's known, her family lived paycheck to paycheck, making ends meet with what they had. But, Jaleah always wanted to get out of that life. She always knew that one day, she would make it out.
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jaleah's perspective.
We arrive to the hospital, panicking. My mother is still crying hysterically, my father is trying to keep his cool, and I'm just confused and worried for my baby sister. I'm hoping this isn't what I'm thinking it is, but honestly, who knows? She's been acting irrationally lately. I'm just hoping for the best outcome.
We are seated in a waiting area, waiting for a doctor or nurse to come out and let us know what's going on. I can feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, which is probably Tory trying to figure out what's going on, but I just can't answer right now. My heart is racing and I'm trying to stay strong, for my parents.
"Family of Amaiya Williams?" A male doctor comes out with a clipboard, looking up from it as he reads my sister's name off of it. My mom, dad and I all stand up.
"That's us." My dad says.
"Would you like to speak with just us, just the parents?" The doctor asks. Now I know it's something bad.
"No, this is our oldest daughter, you can say whatever you need to in front of her." My dad responds.
"Okay, well, it seems as though Amaiya had a drug overdose. We rushed her here to try and wake her back up, but, unfortunately, she didn't make it."
"What do you mean she didn't make it?" I ask the doctor.
"She was already unconscious when the ambulance picked her up and although we've tried to do CPR and bring her back, nothing we did worked." He explains. "I'm so sorry for your loss. We can perform an autopsy and have more information for you in a few weeks. Again, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Can we see the body?" My mom asks, sniffling.
"Are you sure you want to?" My mom nods vigorously. "Okay. Follow me." The doctor says.
"Are you coming, Jaleah?" My dad asks, but I shake my head no. I can't look at my sister like that. "Okay, stay here and we'll be right back." He says quietly.
As soon as my parents leave the room, I put both of my feet up on my chair and bury my face into my knees, sobbing. I can't believe I just lost my baby sister. I don't care how much we fought, how upset I got at her doing dumb stuff, or anything else, that was still my baby sister at the end of the day. She was only 15. How cruel can this world be?
After a few minutes, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I wipe my eyes, look up, and it's my dad. "We're gonna go home." He says. It looks as though he's been crying.
I get up from the chair and follow him. The ride home is weird. It's like we all know there's a piece of the family missing that we'll never get back. Life isn't fair at all, man.
Like I can only imagine how scared and alone she must've felt in her final moments. Who was she with? What was she doing? Why did she have to sneak out anyway? There's so many questions I have.
I partially blame myself. Like why did I leave her room to get her water? Why did I have to be so judgmental all because she didn't want to follow our parents rules? Why did I push her away when she got in trouble instead of helping her out, defending her, or strengthening our relationship in some other way. That was my sister at the end of the day, I should've done more for her.
But I also blame my parents, especially my mom. Why did she have to be so rough on her? Why couldn't she just understand Amaiya, instead of constantly chastising her for her actions? Why couldn't my dad stick up for her more?
I'm so hurt about all of this.
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Short chapter but I just wanted to get something out for y'all. I've been busy so that's why it's hard for me to upload quickly, I'm sorry😩
