The Calm Before The Storm

4.

~November 29, 2009~

The weeks that followed seemed to be perfect. I'd wake up to breakfast, fresh fruits and Jamal's  eyes waiting for me to wake up. It was almost like a movie, and that was the problem. The good doesn't last long in movies. We both knew that things weren't back to normal, but neither of us were complaining about the false sense of hope we had dwindled into.

"Sparkling.. twinkle...I don't know what to call her" I looked away from the tv that sat on the dresser and over at Jamal.

"What are you talking about love?"

"This.. What should I call it?" He held up a medium sized painting of a girls eyes. She seemed to be smiling, the amount of glee that spewed from her pupils was so captivating. It seemed like a professional portrait. Wait...no..

"Babe?? Y-You did this??" I perked up jumping to my knees bursting with excitement.

"Yeahh.. something like that" He laughed and laid the picture down and I jumped into his lap

"When? How?? Whenn??!" I'm not sure who was more excited here. He hadn't even looked at his brushes in months.. and out of the blue he pops up with a whole painting. Maybe things were looking up. Maybe he had gotten his spark back.. maybe.

I'd give anything to relive those moments with him..anything. This is the part where the dramatic music plays in those movies. The part where the good comes to an abrupt stop. The plot twist.

About a week or so after Jamal had painted that beautiful picture, he started back going out at late hours. This time he wasn't out all night. I didn't mind. He used to do it so much that it had become routine for me.

I started the night out watching tv, but soon it was watching me. It was rare that I'd wait up for him to come home anymore. Besides he always woke me when he got in anyways. Not this time..

Ring ring...ring ring

I rolled over grumpily reaching for my phone. It wasn't my alarm ringing for me to get ready for work. My vision was blurred but I knew it wasn't Jamals ringtone, but I answered anyways. Til this day I wonder would I have been better off not answering.

"Hello..wh-"

"Is this Quin Jacobs?"

"Ye-Yeah... this is she. Who's calling?" i sat up rubbing my eyes, then I looked over at the clock. It read 4:45 am.

"This is Saint Johns hospital. You were the only person to answer in regards to a.. Jamal Peterson" I heard what she said...but I didn't hear what she said.

"I'm sorry.. Jamal? I- I- think you have the wrong Jamal" I had no clue what she was calling about.. but at 4 am.. a hospital.. and by the tone of her voice it clearly wasn't good.

"Ma'am you should get down here as soon as possible.." there was empathy in her voice.. but why? What happened. Whats going on? Is this a dream?

"What...what happened??" i asked still trying to piece this together and put on some decent clothes at the same time.

"I'm not allowed to give that kind of information over the phone Ma'am.. Just get here as soon as possible. Bye" with that she hung up. This felt like a joke. A dream... everything except reality. Everything was so surreal and nothing had even happened yet.

I hurried downstairs and out the door. The weather was warm and humid. The birds were already out talking to each other. I got in my car and started it up as fast as possible. In reality I was moving so fast but in my mind everything was in slow motion. On the way to the hospital I had already convinced myself that he had gotten into a car accident.. or broken a bone.. or gotten held up. Something that wasn't his fault. Something I'd help him overcome.