It’s rainy
Yea Rain! I need sun for my audition!
U’ll do fine
What if I don’t
U will, did Riley help?
Yea a little
U got this
R U coming?
Stupid question, of course
U Can’t come in, but u can wait outside
OK
Meet me @ Auditorium @ 830
OK. Don’t worry, you’ll B great
Thx
I put my phone aside and finished getting ready, remembering to grab my umbrella on the way out. Then I went to find Riley to see what he and Aria covered last night. I found him in his usual spot behind the counter at the student bookstore.
“Hey, what time is the audition?” he asked, seeing me walking in.
“In twenty minutes,” I said, glancing at my phone.
“Cool. It shouldn’t be that long. I’m going to take my break and walk over with you.”
“Okay. So what did you guys do last night?”
“Mostly just go over relaxation techniques. Breathing and whatnot...She knew her lines by heart and delivered them splendidly.”
“Sometimes I wonder just how old you are. What person our age says ‘splendidly’?” I mocked.
“Says the girl who wears a muumuu,” he countered.
“Touché.”
“And just because of our age, that doesn’t mean we can’t use words like ‘splendidly.’ Would you rather I say ‘epically’?”
“Yes, yes, I would!” I laughed. “I get your point, Riley—I am a journalism major.”
“This semester,” he muttered.
“Hey, I heard that. Anyway, she should know it by memory. It’s our mom’s favorite.”
“And yours, she tells me.”
“Yes, I’m fond of it as well.”
“Fond?” He raised his eyebrow at my word choice.
“Okay, you got me.” I held my hand up in surrender.
He showed me some of the breathing he taught Aria and how it’s supposed to help in her delivery, and then it was time to go and meet her.
“Hey, Bill. I’m taking my break now. I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” Riley told another employee before he left.
We headed over to the auditorium, which was about two minutes from the bookstore, and I huddled under my umbrella, as it was still drizzling. We met up with Aria, who was already there.
“Hey, A.” I said.
“I’m so nervous,” she said, bypassing a “hello.” Her brown eyes were bigger than normal as she stared at me from under the hood of her pink raincoat, then at Riley, wringing her hands together.
“Stop. You’ll do fine.” Riley went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Remember the breathing exercises?”
She started making these heavy, in-and-out breathing sounds and then looked at me. “That’s not working, Dac. I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can. Remember when you were starting middle school?” I took her hand. “You were nervous then because you thought no one would like you?”
“Yeah, but you said how could they not because I was awesome. Then you gave me your lucky hair tie.”
“Yeah, and you went and everyone did love you.”
“Dacey, I was thirteen.”
“But you were awesome at thirteen, and you’re still awesome. You can do this.”
“Aria Shaw, you’re up,” said an older man with a clipboard who came out the side door of the auditorium.
“Break a leg or some shit like that, right?” I asked, giving her a hug.
“Yeah, something like that.” She smiled meekly.
“Break a leg,” chimed in Riley. “You’ll do great.”
With that, she went through the door, leaving me and Riley huddled there under my umbrella waiting. We didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes later, she came out looking relieved and was her bubbly self again.
“Well?” I asked nervously.
“I think I rocked it,” she smiled. “I won’t know for sure until two weeks when they put up the callback sheet, but they didn’t look disgusted when I finished.”
“That’s good,” said Riley.
“Yeah, ’cause you don’t want them to look disgusted,” I said sarcastically.
We headed back over to the bookstore so that we could get out of the rain. Riley finished his break and talked to Aria about the play and said that when she got the part, he was active in the stage managing part of the play and would be in the background and could help her out.
I looked at him. “I didn’t know you were a drama geek.”
“I’m a stagehand. I’m more behind the scenes.”
“Still, you’re so involved.”
“It’s fun.”
“It so is!” proclaimed Aria.
Riley finished his break, and it was time for Aria and I to go to class, so we set off across campus.
She stopped me before we parted ways. “Thanks for what you said to me before I went in to audition.”
“What do you mean?” I half-asked, knowing exactly what she meant.
“I was about to go into A-1 meltdown, and you calmed me down. You’re always there for me, Dac. Thank you.”
“Whenever you need—you would do it for me. That’s what sisters are for! I love you, kid. I know you killed that audition.”
“You’re right. I probably did.” She waved to me as she went the opposite direction.
I stared at her before I set off to my class. It was funny how, in the long past, I couldn’t imagine my life with a sister in it. Now, I didn’t know what I would do without her.
Chapter 8
I walked into my creative writing class and saw Kelly already sitting in her seat in the front. She gave me a friendly wave as I made my way to my regular seat in the back, and I waved back.
The professor handed back our timed writing, and I was pleased to see that I had gotten a B on it. Kelly turned around in her seat to give me a thumbs-up, asking if I did okay, and I gave her a nod and a smile letting her know I did. She smiled and turned back around, and when class let out, she caught me at the door.
“So you did okay on the timed writing then?”
“Yeah, I got a B.”
“Oh, yay! Maybe you could help me. I got a C.” She made a face.
I spotted Riley coming my way and started toward him. “Sure, you know where to find me. Catch you later.”
“Is that your new BFF?” He nodded in Kelly’s direction.
“Hardly, but she’s not so bad in small doses,” I admitted.
“Small doses,” he mused.
I was about to ask what he meant by that when my phone buzzed in my pocket with an incoming call.
“Hello?”
“Dacey Harper?” asked a voice I didn’t know.
“Yes?” I said cautiously, a knot forming in my stomach.
“This is Officer Parks of the Florida Highway Patrol. I’m afraid there has been an accident involving your parents.”
“What?” I had stopped walking, and Riley bumped into me.
“Okay, just stop walking, sure.” He caught himself before he lost his balance.
“Miss Harper, are you there?” Officer Parks asked.
I had gone silent. Had he said my parents? “What did you say?” I breathed.
“Your parents were in an accident, on Bluebank Road just past Champion Highway.”
I knew the road. It was over by Dad’s shop.
“Dacey, are you okay?”
I must have looked funny because Riley was in my face looking concerned.
“Miss Harper, they were taken to Shaddy Groves Memorial about fifteen minutes ago in critical condition.”
“Um, okay. I understand, thank you.” I hung up in a daze. My parents were in an accident? Critical condition? What did that mean? Who was I supposed to call in a situation like this? Oh god, Aria. I had to find her. I had to...
“Dacey!” Riley yelled, snapping me out of my in
ternal rant. “What happened? You look pale, like you’re about to throw up.”
“My parents were in a car accident! They are in the hospital!” I heard myself say.
“Oh my god. Okay, let’s go.” He started walking fast.
“I need to find Aria. I don’t even know what class she has right now.” I followed him blindly.
“Text her.”
I took out my phone with shaky hands and sent her a text asking what class she was in right now.
She replied two second later with her room number.
I relayed the message to Riley, and we set off to Aria’s building. I’m not sure how long it took me to get there. I was moving on a kind of warp speed. I kept telling myself that they would be okay and that I had to show no fear for Aria’s sake because she would lose it.
Her class had barely begun when I opened the door and motioned for her to come out. She gave me a funny look but got her stuff and came. When she saw Riley, she looked between us two and assumed it was about the audition.
“Did they say something already?” she asked hopefully.
“A,” I sighed heavily, not wanting to do this.
“Oh, no. I didn’t get the part, did I? That’s why you’re both here.” Her face started to fall.
“No, it’s not that. It’s Mom and Dad. There’s been an accident,” I rushed out, trying to get it over with.
“What are you talking about?” She paused.
“They were in a car accident, A, and taken to the hospital in critical condition. We need to go. Now.”
She didn’t respond at first. She looked at me with her impossible huge brown eyes, and I watched as they began to fill with tears, then the questions. Were they okay, what did “critical” mean, what were we going to do, who were we going to call, and the scariest question of all—the one I didn’t want to think about—what if they didn’t make it?
“Don’t think like that. Let’s just get to the hospital.” I hugged her to me.
“But what if they don’t, Dacey? What are we going to do?” She cried harder as people started to stop and stare.
“Come on, I’ll drive you guys,” Riley offered, which I was thankful for because I didn’t think I could drive at a normal speed all the way there. He led us to his car, and I clutched Aria to my side, still crying the whole way. A few of her friends tried to stop her to ask if she was okay, but Riley politely shooed them away.
Aria and I piled in the back seat of Riley’s car as he held the door for us, then he ran around to the front and got in and sped off toward the hospital. Aria put her head in my lap and whimpered, begging to no one in particular over and over for them to be okay. All the while I stroked her hair and tried to hold it together. If I showed her how scared I was, then she would lose it. I was the one she leaned on, so I had to be strong for her.
When we pulled up to the hospital, Riley let us out at the emergency department and he went to go park. Aria and I went to the front desk and gave the receptionist our names and who we were there for. The receptionist gave us directions to a different part of the hospital. We had to go to the trauma unit, give our names to another receptionist, and tell her whom we were there to see. Then we had to wait, and wait, and wait. Riley found us about ten minutes later, and we were still waiting.
The receptionist said that the doctors were working on them. I didn’t know what that meant, but Aria let out another small cry. Finally, a short man in green scrubs and a medium-sized woman in purple scrubs approached the reception desk and spoke to the receptionist, who pointed us out to the two doctors. The doctors came over and introduced themselves to us.
“I’m Dr. Bradley,” the male doctor said, extending his hand to me, then Aria.
“I’m Dr. Albertson,” said the woman, doing the same.
We each shook their hands politely, and they sat down next to us. It was never a good sign when doctors sat down, I thought idly.
Aria gripped my hand tighter. She hadn’t let it go since we left school.
“You’re Mr. and Mrs. Harper’s children?” asked Dr. Bradley.
“Yes, I’m their oldest, Dacey, and this is Aria,” I said.
“I’m sorry, but your father died on impact,” Dr. Bradley said with no preamble.
Aria started sobbing loudly and held a death grip on my hand. I hugged her to my side and looked at the doctor.
“What about our mom?” I asked with a sense of dread.
“She was brought in with a spinal injury, and we operated, but she had some internal bleeding and we lost her on the operating table. We are sorry,” said Dr. Albertson.
Aria then lost it, her eyes overflowed with tears and she looked at me. “Dacey? They’re not coming back?” she asked tearfully.
Looking into Aria’s overflowing eyes, I shook my head. I couldn’t speak. I looked over at Riley, and he was pale.
“There are a few forms you have to sign, but take your time and see the receptionist when you’re ready. Again, we are sorry for your loss,” said Dr. Bradley, and he and Dr. Albertson left.
“Wait!” Aria cried, standing, “Can we...can we see them?” she asked meekly.
“When you’re ready, let the nurse know,” said Dr. Albertson.
Aria collapsed to her knees, and I went to her and put my arm around her. She started sobbing uncontrollably.
“Are they really gone?” she wailed, and it tore my heart out.
All I could do was nod my head as she clung to me and I cried with her because I didn’t know what else to do. Normally, I would go to Mom when something like this happened, but now she was gone and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how to comfort Aria. I didn’t know anything at the moment, so I hugged her tightly and we cried.
A hospital grief counselor came over and ushered us to a small private room and asked us if we had other family members whom we wanted to call.
I hadn’t thought about calling anyone. I didn’t think I could form thoughts, let alone words. Riley must have sensed this, as he said he would do it and asked for my cellphone, which I handed it to him gladly and went back to hugging Aria. I heard him call Trevor, then I heard the words “parents died” and I tuned out. I didn’t want to hear any more. I focused on Aria, who had begun to shake even though it wasn’t cold in the hospital and it had stopped raining. She wasn’t talking anymore, just kind of staring off into space, and she wouldn’t let go of my hand. She had stopped crying but was making that painful hiccup sound.
“I’m ready,” she said softly.
I knew what she meant, and I had to brace myself to make sure I was ready. I couldn’t say I wasn’t ready—it was now or never. So we went over to the nurse and told her we were ready to go back, and she led us back through several sets of doors and down a long hallway, where we finally stopped outside of a hospital room. The nurse said we could go in when we were ready and, once we were done, to leave the way we came and let her know. Aria had started crying again, and I realized I was hyperventilating.
It sucked that we had to do this. It sucked that Aria had to do this. We should not be doing this. I wanted to take this away from her. I didn’t want her to have to do this, and I was about to suggest not doing it when she pulled me by my hand and pushed the door open.
We went into the room. There were two hospital beds, and Mom and Wally were laying in each bed.
“Oh god, oh god!” Aria cried loudly, stopping at the door.
At first glance, they just appeared to be sleeping, and for years to come, I would always think to myself that’s what they were doing. Going closer, we stood in between them both. I saw the slight evidence of the accident on Mom’s face and the bruising on Wally’s. Wally, who had loved me in his own way, was now gone, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I wasn’t sure about any of this right now. I looked at them, and they were so pale. I had never seen someone so pale before. Beside me, Aria had put her hand on top of the sheet over Mom’s stomach.
“She’s so cold. Oh god
, Dacey.” She wailed again. She let go and turned into me, putting both her arms around my neck like she used to do when she was a kid and she was really afraid of something. She cried into my hair about wanting her momma and daddy back.
I told her that I knew and I did too. Again, we cried and clung to each other for I don’t know how long. I told her it would be okay. She asked me how, and I said I didn’t know but it would.
Eventually, we broke apart and we left, casting one final glance at our parents, then walked hand in hand back the way we came to a waiting room full of people.
Chapter 9
Riley had seemed to call my entire list of emergency contacts in my phone because sitting in the waiting room when Aria and I walked in were Trevor, Aunt Opal, and Mrs. Delgado. They immediately surrounded us, Opal grabbing us both up in a hug and crushing us to her bosom.
“Hush now, chiles. It’s gone all be alrigh’.”
Aria had started crying again, and when Opal hugged me tighter, I broke. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed someone to hold me. We clung to her, flinging our arms around her neck and crying into her hair. All the while she stroked our backs, repeating soothingly, “There, there, chiles. Opal’s here. Opal’s got you.”
We all wound up back in the small private room somehow, and everyone was seated around Aria and me with their faces somber. Opal had gone to talk to the nurse about what paperwork we needed to sign, and Riley had gone to get us something to drink. I was sitting in between Trevor—who had just grabbed my hand when I sat down and began stroking my hair without saying a word, seeing that I needed the silence—and Aria, who still wouldn’t let go of my hand. Mrs. Delgado was seated across from us, patting her eyes.
“Justina is on her way up. She called me when Riley called her. I was in town dealing with house stuff. Aye dios mío...” she trailed off and dabbed at her eyes again.
I had vaguely wondered why she was here but still hadn’t found my voice to ask before she explained.
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