To Fall Apart

Day 4: 5:40pm (Ryan)

    This it it, she had said. We were leaving at 5:45, no sooner, no later. We had spent most of our day, getting me to walk as comfortably as possible. Loaded me up on as many pain pills as we dared, not too much though, I needed to be able to move easier, not a dead weight for Ally to drag along. 

  We had me up on my feet all day, making sure I could walk. We even danced. Ally was going to walk away to go get something, but I grabbed her hip and spun her to me. She laughed at how I startled her, then I hummed a song from the radio. She smiled and sang the lyrics as we swayed and stepped along to the beat. I had always wanted to take Ally to a dance, and this was the best I could do for now.

  Now, Ally stands by the door, ready to leave. But she quickly goes back and grabs a couple sheets of paper, folded in thirds. Each page had been written on, front to back, every line filled with her messy cursive. I asked her what it was, "It's all that I found while I had to be with that arse, David. This information needs to get to the police. Ryan if anything happens-" I stop her before she can finish that Hell of a sentence.

  "Nothing will happen, Ally." "Listen to me-" "Ally-" "RYAN SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" I had never seen Ally so upset. Never once had she yelled, not even raised her voice. I nearly cried. Ally was upset, the world must be falling apart. "Ryan, I'm sorry, but you know there's risks. I just need you to promise me, this information will make it, even if I don't." It almost feels like she's writing her will, or her death sentence right before my eyes. We were teenagers, not some kind of superhero and crippled sidekick.

  "I promise." And speaking of promises, I pull out 2 small, circular, metallic objects from my pocket. Yesterday, while Ally was gone, I had found 2 paperclips on the Nurse's desk. I had spent a good 3 hours bending and shaping the clips into 2 rings. "I made these for us, I just wanted... I was thinking...." My words trail off, but when I look at Ally, rather than my shoes, she's smiling. I know she understands.

  I place the ring on Ally's right ring finger. My mom always told me that it meant 'promise'. Armed with two pages of life-or-death information and paper-clip rings, we walked out of the Nurse's office.