A couple months back. I thought life wasn't so bad; I mean my sister was getting married in the summer. My brother would be in his second year of college in the fall. And of course, I would be starting the tenth grade. No one could ever realize what my family was going through until my mom started to scream at my dad. The whole neighborhood could hear it. They would fight now and then. However, never like this, it was so intense. Even though it was so intense, I would still sit up on the stairs and listen in. Scared to stand up on the stairs, while listening to my parents talk, or shout other times was me. Usually what ever they were doing that day, they talked about. Other times it was usually about work, Emma, or Chet. However, it never about me. A casually about my grades or how good I was doing, but never like this.
My parents were yelling about a boy I liked at school. No one had seen him in a while. Everyone assumed he had gone out for vacation over the summer. Before summer stared, I had seen him around school. Just here and there. The thing was, I had never talked to him. He was really nice; and he would wear jeans everyday to school. Sometimes they would be worn-out jeans, with some holes here and there. Some white marks on his thighs from where the color had faded out. Other times brand new jeans. He would also wear white under shirts with a button up formal shirt on the outside of it. His name was Stephen Helander.
Stephen would say hi to me in the hallway now and then. I was terrified to talk back though. Eventually I would dream about him at night. Him and I walking on the beach, holding hands, sometimes I would dream of us making love. It all felt so great.
The things my parents were yelling about frightened me, to the extreme. I didn't get this scared much; I don't even remember being this scared, ever! As I listened more, and more, thoughts began to race throw my mind. Him walking through the hallways at school with cuts all over his arms, with the palms of his hands bloody. I didn't know where these images were coming from. Soon I couldn't hear my parents anymore. I must have fallen asleep on the staircase because the next thing I remember I was waking up in my bed. Guessing my mom put me there. It felt like I had the worst nightmare that night, the nightmare was about me leaving Stephen, I mean literally.
Stephen and I were in the gym at school. It was just him and me. We were just standing there at first, and then some dim lights came on. I could see his bright blue eyes staring down at me. Him wearing a tuxedo. Like we were at prom together, without anyone else there. It was just Stephen and me. Dancing the same beat in our heads. It almost felt like Stephen was reading my thoughts. Suddenly I had fear going throw my whole body. Then my body began to freak out, I just couldn�t figure out why though. Then I realized Stephen had his arm around me. He was leaning towards me, as if his lips were to meet mine. Then I slipped away, so that he wouldn't be able to. That�s what I know I wanted to, but it didn't feel right.I started to run from him. As if, he was chasing me. Like he was a monster and I was the little animal he was trying to get at. Something just didn�t feel right then, but I guess I ran so fast, that I couldn't see where I was going. Because I was about to hit a wall. When BAM!
My nightmare was over, I had woken up instantly. It was just before dawn, I figured I might as well go for a walk. It was a nice day outside. Got dressed, and headed for the kitchen and started to write my parents a note telling them where I was. Of course I didn�t tell them exactly where I was going, but I told them I was going for a walk. Should be back later... It must have been around four in the morning because no one was awake, of course. No idea where Stephen lived, but I found out that morning.
Guess Stephen liked to wake up from nightmares and go for walks too. Because he was outside, he was just about to walk into his house when he saw me. He didn't take his eyes off me, as if I had on my head saying
"LOOK AT ME, I LIKE YOU!" But I guess I did, because Stephen soon came running over. The first thing that came out of his mouth was;
"Oh, darn it. You�re not Emily. I'm sorry, I�m waiting for someone."
I just mumbled "Oh, sorry to ruin the moment for you."
I'm guess he�d heard me. Because he had a comment right after I had mumbled it.
"I'm sorry; I don't know your name and you look so familiar. Do you go to my school? Maybe I've seen you around. By the way, I was waiting for Emily, my cousin. She is bring over, Meliza my about four months old, sister. And the only time Emily can bring Meliza is right now. So yeah,�You didn't exactly ruin my moment. I just thought you were her."
I felt so stupid at this point, I wanted to just break down and cry. Nevertheless, I held it in.
"My name is Amerikis Welder. I do, go to your school. You use to say hi to me in the hallway last year. I might be in some of your classes this year, I think. Then again, I'm not exactly sure. At least that's what I�ve been told. Would you like to walk me back to my house? Or do you have to stay here?" I didn't know what I was saying. The words just kept on coming out. Like I had no control over them.
"I have to stay here. Until Emily comes. However, I could walk you home, after she brings Meliza. Which should be any minute now. I'm hoping at least, I haven't seen Meliza in a couple of weeks. I miss her so much. She is my little bundle of joy. How about you, do you have any siblings?" Stephen said to me with some tears going down his cheek.
"I have a brother in college, and a sister getting married in the summer. No one younger then me. I'm the youngest." I said almost proud of it.
Which I�m not. I hate being the youngest; I am treated like a baby. That�s what I wanted to tell him, but I just couldn�t bring myself to it. Then a car drove up, I guessed it was Emily. Stephen whipped away his tears. Ran for the car.
Stephen was inside the car now. Emily was yelling at Stephen. All I could hear was Meliza screaming behind them. Stephen got out; loud rap music filled the dry dusty air. He went to the back of the car and opened the door. Then Stephen shut the passenger seat door. The music was slightly lower now. However, it was filling the air more and more, as the door stayed open. I could see how much Stephen loved Meliza just by the way he held her. All he did was put one arm under her head and another under her body. Stephen stared at her, as she was his own. Then he turned to me.
"Would you hold her while I get her things out of the car?"
I turned around and then turned back to him. I thought he was talking to someone else. Not me.
"Are you talking to me?" I pointed at myself. Stephen just nodded.
I slowly walked over to him. I was so terrified, I had never held a baby as Stephen was holding Meliza. As I got closer to him, I felt a little more comfortable having to hold Meliza. By the time, I had gotten to Meliza she was staring at me. She had the most beautiful green eyes, I had ever seen.
Her hair was brown with blonde highlights. Meliza was wearing purple bunny slippers. With a blue body dress. It was so cute on her. While she was in my arms, it was simply amazing. She was only in my arms for probably only about two minutes or so. But, those two minutes were just amazing. Stephen went into his house, grabbed a stroller. Took Meliza back and put her into it.
"Are you ready to go?"
I felt like I was in a different world. As if I was still dreaming. It took Stephen a couple times to try to get my attention though.
"Amerikis? Are you okay?"
�Yeah, sorry, let�s go. Thanks so much for walking me home. I hope it's not too much trouble with Meliza and all."
"Don�t worry about her. She's fine, Meliza is a good little pumpkin. I love being with her. She listens so well for a four month old."
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By the time, we reached my house. We had gone through so many things in our lives. I almost said that my house was farther down because I wasn't paying good enough attention to where we were going. I loved talking to Stephen. He was so easy to talk to, his voice was incredible. It wasn�t a deep, manly voice. It was more soothing, it was a little deep, but mostly soft. I absolutely loved it. I just couldn't figure out why he wasn't with anyone. He was gorgeous, easy to talk to, sweet, nice, caring. Nothing was adding up. Then suddenly the world was at a stop.
"Amerikis, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Will you be my girlfriend? You are awesome. I don't want to stop talking, and I know we passed your house. I could see it in your eyes when we passed it. I know that you like me. You�re a great girl. I don't ever want to stop. So will you, please?"
I was stunned. I thought I was going to pee in my pants. I almost did pee in my pants. I felt like he was staring me down. My throat was gone. I couldn�t breathe. Soon I was on the road, we had been walking on the side of the road. However, after he asked me, I must have been stumbling, because I ended up sitting on the road. He was right there next to me.
�Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. And yes."
"Excuse me? Why did you say yes?"
�Didn�t you just ask me to be your girlfriend?"
"Yes. That I did."
He was smiling with the whitest, and biggest smile I had ever seen. Everything about him was amazing. He helped me up. He walked me to the front door of my house. Kissed me on the cheek. And asked me;
"Are you sure your going to be okay? You still look really pale. I can just take Meliza out of the stroller and put her on the floor of your bedroom while I tuck you in. So you get some sleep. I'm scared you'll faint or something."
"Okay, I'll get my key. Just be careful. I don't want to wake up my parents."
"Meliza is sleeping. She won't wake up for a while, I promise"
I opened the door and started to walk in.
Then I was in my bed. I couldn�t remember what happened from the time I walked in, up until now. Stephen was right next to me. Holding my hand. My mom was holding Meliza. My dad was checking my temperature.
"Is she going to be okay?" Stephen asked very concerned.
"She will be fine, Stephen. Would you like me to drive you and Meliza home?"
"That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. I will come back later, Amerikis. Please, get some sleep."
Suddenly I was sleeping again. I could see Stephen, and I knew I was dreaming because Meliza was nowhere in site. It was just him and me on the beach. I was in this white bikini. Stephen was in this red, with black flames on the sides, boxer swimsuit. It looked great on him. He just kept on saying how I looked amazing. How beautiful I looked. I refused to believe him. But I secretly knew inside, that it was all true. I did look amazing, I somehow always looked great when I was with Stephen. He was just so much fun to be with. I was always smiling while I was with him, I don�t ever remember being sad while I was in a dream, with Stephen.
But as we walked along the side of what looked like the ocean. Neither of us talked. The one thing I hated about my dreams was that I couldn�t hear anything. Every sound ever made, was silence. It was as if someone had turned off the sound, as if I was put on mute. The waves hit the bottom of our toes I wanted to giggle. I thought I was, that�s when Stephen just looked at me. Looked at me as if I was crazy, as if I had no emotions. I was scared I didn�t have any emotions, but I knew I wanted hear him. Just unexpectedly, I could hear him.
�Amerikis�I hope I never have to leave you.� He paused as he got down on one knee. �I would hate to be the one to say good-bye and never come back to you. You are so important to me. You are my whole world, my whole life. I felt like something was missing, now I have found it. It�s you, you�re my missing part.�
I paused for almost a whole minute without saying anything. Everything had become blurry because my eyes were filled up with tears. I couldn�t believe it, I was something special to someone. I could feel the gentle warmth of my tears going down my cheeks. I wish I hadn�t started to cry, Stephen was being so romantic and trying so hard to tell me his feelings. And here I was, crying. Soon Stephens�s soft fingers were wiping away my tears.
�Do you really feel that way? On the other hand, are you just saying that? It sounded so meaningful. So beautiful, so true.�
After I had said that, my dream had ended. I wanted to know so badly if the dream was right. If he did feel that way about me. I had never known anyone feeling that way about me. It would be just incredible if someone did feel or even had felt that way about me. I did feel that way about Stephen though. I wanted to tell him so badly. No one would give me the time of day, as he would.
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Stephen had gotten my cell phone number from my parents on the drive home. He had called me as soon as he walked in to door. It must have been about an hour after I had fallen asleep, because I had woken up instantly. It was as if someone had screamed until I was awake. When I had sat up, I had become so dizzy; I had to lay back down. When I sat up again, I wasn�t as dizzy as I had been before. But my chest was throbbing. I thought I had fallen on it when I had fainted. However, when I looked down, my white tang-top was covered in blood. I had fallen on something that cut my chest right open. I didn�t understand how no one had seen it. This cute white tang-top was covered in dark blood, and the sheets I was wrapped up in, were covered in dark blood as well. Quickly I got up and ran to the bathroom. I washed off my chest. Only to find a gash above my heart. After I was done cleaning my chest and finished bandaging it up. My cell phone was still ringing, it was Stephen. He wanted to make sure I was okay. He had said he just got home. Everything felt so weird. I felt like everything was still a dream. That nothing was real, that the gash on my chest was just a prop someone had added to make it look real, but not feel real. He asked how I was feeling. I didn�t answer him. But it felt like he already knew.
�Amerikis, do you want to tell me something?� He asked extremely concerned. I couldn�t figure it out. I didn�t know what he was talking about. I didn�t want to know either. I was terrified to find out what he was talking about. So I didn�t say anything. That�s when he sounded even more concerned.
�Amerikis, you know what I�m talking about�I saw the scars on your arms. Your mom told me about your legs. Why are you doing that to yourself? You shouldn�t have to! You have me, now! And I saw that gash on your chest. What were you thinking? You could have killed yourself!� Then he hung up.
The second before he did, I heard him sniffle. He was crying, I had never heard a guy cry in my life. Only my dad, but that�s different. On the other hand, he was crying because my grandmother had just died of breast cancer.
I tried so desperately to call Stephen back. I must have tried a hundred more times. Before I crawled back into bed and cried to myself. There was no option of sleeping, so I just laid there. Even though I didn�t want to sleep, I attempted to. Nevertheless, I just couldn�t sleep. My eyes would just shut to reveal Stephen there, crying on his bedroom floor with Meliza in her crib crying. The image wouldn�t leave my head. I tried to go back to sleep ten more times, but I just couldn�t. I called his cell phone more last time. This time he picked up.
�Hello?�
�Is this Stephen?�
�Yes, this is. Who is this?�
I bit my tongue before I said anything. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, if he would be okay, if Meliza was okay. However, I didn�t ask any of that.
�Hi Stephen. It�s Amerikis. Please don�t hang up.�
�Why not?�
�Are you still mad at me?�
�Extremely, mad at you.�
�That�s the thing. I don�t understand why you�re so mad at me��
I paused for a minute. There was no reason for Stephen to be angry with me. So, I wanted him to tell me why he was mad at me. But I was also very scared he would just hang up on me instead of telling.
�Amerikis, you know I like you a lot. I just don�t understand why you would go and hurt yourself like that.�
�Stephen, what if I told you I didn�t remember what happened? That I had no idea I had hurt myself. That when I went out for that walk this morning, there were no injuries on me. And when you left, I�m sure there wasn�t either. But when I woke up, there was.�
�I would ask you if you�re on anything, your not suppose to be on�?�
�Stephen! That isn�t funny! And I�m not on anything I�m not supposed to be on. However, I for sure don�t remember making anything on my chest.�
�But that�s the problem. You did do something on your chest. Because right before I left, I could see blood, seeking throws your sheets. But I didn�t say anything�� Then he paused �To anyone.�
�If you knew, why didn�t you stay a little longer and tell me about it? Before I passed out and woke up to bloody sheets? And I don�t want to fight with you.�
�Amerikis, you�re already making us fight by calling me back. Anyways, I didn�t want to act like something was wrong around your parents. They seemed to be so happy that you were home.�
I just mumbled �Yeah, right� and sat up in my bed. I didn�t want to talk to him anymore. He was making me more upset then I already was. Then in the back round, I could hear someone yelling. Like a parent yelling at Stephen.
�Amerikis, I have to go. I�m sorry. Meliza is getting crabby and I have to make sure she goes to sleep this time. You understand don�t you? I�ll call you later.�
Before I could even answer, he had hung up. I didn�t understand. But at the same time, I didn�t want to understand. I just didn�t understand why he took care of Meliza so much. It wasn�t his daughter, or was she? I didn�t want to think about this. Especially right now. I just wanted to be hugged and told everything would be okay. It would all work out itself. However, I knew it wasn�t going to work out itself.
I had to talk to Stephen, I needed to know what was going on with him. He was scaring me. It wasn�t like him scaring me. It was more like the way he was acting towards everything. The way he was living his life. I was puzzled as to why he could be so handsome, and live this horrible life. He had to take care of this cute baby all the time. Everything sounded so bad to me. I was scared to even go over to his house, I was scared his family would yell at him for having me over. And go take care of Meliza while I walked home, alone.
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Stephen called me later that night. He sounded really upset. The fear of him leaving me went throw my body like a bolt of lightning. I was terrified that�s why he called. However, I was very wrong. It wasn�t why he was calling. He needed to talk to someone. Especially me.
�Amerikis?�
�Yes�� I didn�t want to say much. I just wanted to know what was wrong.
�Do you know why I had to leave earlier? Or are you just clueless?�
�I�m pretty much clueless. It�s fine that you had to go take care of your sister. Anyhow, why did you ask?�
�But that�s the thing. It wasn�t okay for me to just leave you like that. Just out of the blue. Do you remember Emily?�
�Yes, I remember Emily. What about her?�
�Well�ah�� He just paused. It sounded like he was ready to give in the towel. Just let it all out. Let the horrible truth of his life out of the box of secrets. �Well, she�s not exactly my cousin. And Meliza isn�t exactly my little sister.�
I just hung up. I didn�t want to hear anymore. I turned off the ringer, dropped the phone onto my bed. Laid down and cried myself to sleep. I wanted to hate Stephen. I wanted to hate him for lying to me. Lying was bad, I knew that much. My world was being turned upside down. I just couldn�t image how hard that would be for him to tell me that. That Emily isn�t really his cousin and that Meliza isn�t really his little sister. What I was still wondering was�who are they, really?
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After a long night of thinking it over. Of tossing and turning, all night. I finally decided that I wanted to know what he meant by Emily wasn�t his cousin and that Meliza isn�t his sister. I woke up, very early the next morning. I wanted to go for another walk. Just to clear my head, but while I was walking, all I could think about was when I was with Stephen and Meliza. Suddenly was at Stephen�s house. I was standing on the side of the road staring at his window. I could see him lying in bed. His arms wrapped around Meliza. He must have been so upset he cried himself to sleep with Meliza in his arms.
I saw his clock, on the nightstand. It said �5:36 AM.� I couldn�t believe it. I had been walking for over two hours. I woke up around two forty-five that morning, and began walking around three. I wanted to knock on the window and just wake him up. Just to be like �Stephen, its cold out here. I�m only in my pajamas, well�As you can see, they aren�t exactly for this type of weather.� However, I knew he would just look at me. And just say �I know girls who where less clothes then you in colder conditions. So just leave!�
However, I didn�t knock, I didn�t wake him up. I just stood there, and then started to walk home. I forgot I had my cell phone in my pocket. It started to ring. It was a special ring. I had made it the night before, just for Stephen. Nevertheless, that�s what worried me the most. I had just left his bedroom window and he was sleeping. I had stopped walking, I was now staring at my phone. I was scared to answer it, but also worried if I did, he had seen me. Anyhow, I answered it anyways.
�Hello?�
�Is this Amerikis?�
�Yes�
�This is Stephen.�
�Oh.�
�You sound surprised to hear from me. Were you asleep when I called?�
�No, I�m actually outside. I was walking.�
�Are you near my house? I would like to see you��
I waited a couple minutes. I was right next to his house, but he didn�t know that. I could almost see him in his bedroom holding Meliza. Walking back and forth with his cell phone on his shoulder, talking to me.
�Not too far away. I�m sure I could be there in a couple minutes. Is everything alright?�
�Not exactly. I just want to straighten out what I said last night.�
�Okay. See you in a bit then.�
�See you in a bit.�
I almost watched him get dressed. He put Meliza on his bed. She laid there, at first un-life like. Then I saw her smile. Stephen went into his closet, got out a torn up white tee shirt. Put that on, and then put on some torn up jeans, they looked very faded. Meliza just laid there. Then Stephen went into his dresser, took out a cute pink dress with little white roses all over it. Took off Meliza�s nightgown, and put on this cute dress. She smiled when he was done putting it on her.
Nevertheless, I didn�t, couldn�t understand why he took so much care of this baby. However, that wasn�t any of my concern at this point. I was going to stay outside until I saw Stephen at his door stoop. Then was going to walk over, kind of slow. Then just walk up and say;
�Hello.�
I was about ten feet away when Stephen turned around. He was just standing there. Meliza was nowhere in site. I didn�t understand it. At first I thought I was dreaming, because Stephen always had Meliza with him. However, this time she wasn�t with him; Stephen was just standing there, with his cell phone in one hand and his other hand in the back pocket of his jeans.
�Amerikis, do you remember what I told you last night?�
�How could I not. I didn�t sleep because of it. I just kept tossing and turning trying to understand what you meant by it. Actually, what did you mean by it?�
�Are you sure you want to know? It�s a lot to take in. And you would be the first person to find out about it. I wasn�t lying to you. I�ve been lying to myself this whole time. I guess I was just scared of the whole truth.�
�Well it�s a matter if you want to tell me or not. It sounds like it�s very serous.�
He started to walk backwards. He knew exactly where he was going to sit. Right on the step. He turned to me, as if I knew exactly what he was thinking. His face turned sour. Almost as if someone had just given him a very sour candy and he was scared to spit it out in front of them, so he left it in his mouth.
�Would you sit down next to me, please?�
�Oh, I�m sorry. I was just thinking about something.�
I sat down next to him. His hands were resting on his lap. Stephen looked so helpless. I was scared to say anything because I was scared he would end up going sour face on me again. I could see the hairs on his arm raise then fall. He would get goose bumps and then they would just go away. He didn�t say anything for what felt like forever. I wanted to say something, but then I started to get goose bumps when I opened my mouth. I turned my head to the road, and I watched cars go by.
�You know why I asked you to come over? Right?� I just stared at him. �I wanted to talk to you, about what I said last night. About Meliza and Emily.� Stephen stopped for a minute. Nevertheless, before I could say a word, he just started up again. It was as if he was a robot. Just waiting to die out. However, his battery just kept on going, and going and going. It would never die.
�Emily really isn�t my cousin. She isn�t even close to being related to me. I use to date her. About six months ago, we broke up. She and I dated for almost two years. No one knew about her and I. It was one of those �secret relationships�. Everyone knew I was with someone, but couldn�t figure out whom. However, about thirteen months something bad happened. I mean�well ahh�I don�t know what I mean.�
I just stared at him. My eyes were slowing gathering tears. Everything was getting blurry. The tears just started to go down my cheeks. I didn�t want to show it, but I couldn�t help it. I was a lost soul trying to find what was wrong. I just sat there and let the tears go down my cheeks as he spoke to me�
�You know what I�m trying to tell you, right? It probably all just sounds like a bunch of jibberish. I know something is missing right now. I hate to tell you that. I hate to tell you any of this. Nevertheless, it was the whole truth. Meliza isn�t really my little sister. She�s my daughter.� Stephen just stopped there. He was tearing-up now.
Everything felt so difficult for him. I couldn�t figure out his life in my eyes. I just knew that it was so hard for him to tell me that. I could see it all in his eyes. The fear, Stephen had of me telling someone. Telling anyone in that matter. I knew I wasn�t going to tell anyone though, I never would. Even if someone asked me, I would just tell them it was Stephen�s little sister or his cousin. I didn�t want to believe him at first. It was something really hard for me to believe.
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Then again, Stephen did tell me over two moths ago. Emily stopped coming over after that. I just guessed that Stephen and her were finished. That Emily wasn�t going to take Meliza anymore. That Stephen would have Meliza, forever. This was fine with me. I loved that little girl. Things started to get easy with Stephen and me, after he told me. Things made more sense. Why he had to take care of Meliza so much.
Things would just get much different in the next couple of weeks though. School was going to start in three weeks. Stephen needed to find a job to send Meliza to day care, and he needed to figure out his schedule. I offered to watch Meliza while he was at work. However, he said that she wasn�t my responsibly. I told him, she was while I was with him. Nevertheless, that is when I got this strange phone�
�Hello?�
�Ah. Hi.�
�Stephen, is that you?�
�Oh, no. I am sorry ma�am. Is this Amerikis Welder?�
�Yes this is Amerikis Welder. Who is this?�
�This is a nurse from United Methodize Hospital. We have Stephen and Meliza Helander. Stephen was asking for you. He gave me your number.�
�Oh my god! What happened?!� I demanded right away. I wanted to know why they were at the hospital.
�Apparently Stephen was walking over to your house with Meliza in his stroller. When a drunk driver came out of nowhere and hit Stephen. Meliza was hit into the curb, bonked her head on the stroller. Stephen is in the ICU now. We need someone to take Meliza. Would you be willing to come down here, right now? Even though it�s quarter to three.� The nurse asked me, with a concerned voice.
I was scared to ask my parents to take me. Therefore, I called a friend of mine. Things the nurse told me scared me so bad. I was scared to get out of my bed. I didn�t want to see Stephen in a hospital bed, all broken up. To see tubes, down his throat and big machines next to his bed. However, I called my friend, Zachary anyways. I needed a ride to Stephen and Zachary was the only person I could trust to bring me there, safely. I dialed his number with my palms sweating, and my fingers all shaky. He answered his phone in a sleepy tone of voice.
�Hello?�
�Zachary?� I said with tears going down my cheeks. I was scared to even do this now.
�Yes. Oh my gosh. Amerikis, are you okay?� He just sounded so frightened now. I didn�t want to say it was me. I just wanted to hang up and go back to sleep. Wake up; when this nightmare was over.
�Zachary, I�m not okay. Do you remember that boy I told you about, Stephen?�
�Yes. Did he hurt you? Is that why you�re calling me so late?�
�No, he didn�t hurt me. I need you to bring me to the hospital. He was in an accident. I need to go see him. And I�m terrified to ask my parents for a ride there. He was asking about me and gave one of the nurses my number. They called me and told me what happened. Will you please come and get me. I need to go as soon as I can.�
�I�ll be over in ten minutes. Just don�t do anything. Get dressed and I�ll wait outside for you. When I get there and you�re not waiting outside. I�ll just call your phone. Put it on vibrate, so your parents don�t wake up from it ringing.�
�Thank you, Zachary. I�ll explain to you what happened on the way to the hospital.�
After I hung up the phone with Zachary, I just jumped out of bed. I needed to get dressed as soon as I could. Zachary only lived two minutes away from me. However, from what I heard from the nurse, I didn�t want to go outside. I could have walked to his house and woke him up. But I was scared of being hit by a drunk driver, as Stephen had been. I got dressed as fast as I possibly could. Nevertheless, when you�re trying to put on jeans and a sweatshirt at once, it gets somewhat difficult. I looked out the window and there was Zachary waiting in his ford-mustang. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. To the main floor. Sense my bedroom was in the basement now. I was moved, down to the basement over a month ago. My parents said I could get more privacy down there. When I got outside and my phone started to vibrate. It wasn�t Zachary, I could see him now. I answered it, and got into the car.
�Hello?�
�Hello, is this Amerikis Welder?�
�Yes, this is.�
�Hello. This is Nurse Elderen. I am treating, your boyfriend, Stephen.�
�Is he going to be okay?� I was getting really scared now. I was getting closer to the hospital but farther away from knowing if he was okay.
�He just got out of surgery. He was hit pretty badly from behind. His collarbone was shattered. Which means his whole shoulder was shattered into many little pieces. Do you understand what I�m trying to tell you?�
�Yes. I understand what you�re telling me. However, what I don�t understand is why you had to call me and tell me that. When a nurse just called me and told me that I should come and get to the hospital to get Meliza.�
�Well Meliza is Stephen�s daughter, right? And you�re not the mother. But you are Stephen�s girlfriend because Emily, Meliza�s mother died in a car accident several months ago.�
I was shocked to hear that. Stephen didn�t tell me about that. He never said anything about Emily dying. I wondered if he had told anyone about Emily�s death. I almost believe he was in denial about everything.
�Yes, Meliza is Stephen�s daughter. I am his girlfriend, and when I become of age, and if I am still with Stephen. I will become Meliza�s stepmother. How is Stephen, is he going to be alright. Is Meliza going to be alright?�
�How close are you to the hospital?�
�Not too far away. I should be there in a couple minutes, why?�
�Because I don�t like talking on the phone. I would rather talk to you in person. If that is okay with you?�
�Yes, that�s fine with me.�
I hung up with Nurse Elderen. I started to get out of the car when Zachary said;
�Do you want me to come with you? Just incase something really bad happened.�
I looked at him, thought of the horrible thoughts that were going through my half-awake mind.
�If you are willing to. Then yes.�
He was willing and ready. I could see it all in his body language. He was already half-way out of the car when he asked me if he was allowed to come. I was terrified to find out how bad of a condition Stephen was in. I was even more scared to find out how bad Meliza was doing. If she was going to be taken away from Stephen or put into my custody. But I was getting closer to the front doors, and fear was becoming a normal thing in me. I started to walk through the doors when a nurse ran towards me.
�Are you Amerikis Welder?�
�Yes, I am. Are you, Nurse Elderen?� She looked at me all sourly faced. She almost looked angry with me. As if I had done something wrong.
�I am Nurse Elderen. Meliza is this way. Please follow me.�
I started to follow her. I looked back at Zachary, he was still waiting in the doorway. Just standing there as if he was a no one. Like he was invisible. I waved my arms to have him follow me, but I guess he didn�t see me. I went into this dark room; I could see a crib in the middle of it. I wasn�t sure when they were going to turn on the lights. However, I knew they had to sometime. I stood in the doorway, because that�s where most of the light was. I hated being in dark hospital rooms, they frightened me. I then suddenly saw Meliza, Nurse Elderen was bringing her to me from a different room.
�We put her into a different room, for safety.�
�Why would you need to put her into a different room, for safety? It�s not like she can run away or anything. She�s only six months old.�
�Oh dear�No one told you.�
�No one told me what? May I take her up to Stephen? I would really like to see him, and hold her.�
Nurse Elderen just gasped and took me into the waiting room. Looked at me with some tears in her eyes. I didn�t understand what was going on, I was holding Meliza and she was still sleeping. I could not believe I was holding the baby that was my boyfriend�s daughter. Nurse Elderen looked at me one more time. Then walked over to the phone. All I could hear her say was;
�Yes, Amerikis Welder is here�She�s holding Meliza�What are we going to tell her? She looks worried. Okay�Okay�Okay, I will. Yes ma�am.�
Then she hung up the phone. Walked over to Meliza, Zachary and me. Sat down right in front of me. I thought she was going to tell me that Stephen had died. However, the thing was, I desperately wanted to look into her eyes and see something else. Nevertheless, I just could not bring myself to. I couldn�t even see her face. She had buried her face into her lap. Zachary wanted to leave. His legs were getting all shaky and he kept on staring at Meliza. Therefore, I turned to him and said;
�Zachary, would you please take Meliza and go get something to eat.� He looked at me. He was scared to touch her, but he was going to. Whether he wanted to or not. I was going to make him, I just nudged his shoulder telling him to stand up. He slowly stood up, I stood up even slower. Just for the fact that I had a sleeping baby in my arms. I looked down at Meliza. She was wearing one of those hospital gowns. Even though it is suppose to look bad, it looked cute on her. Meliza also had a bandage on her forehead, as they had told me before. I wanted to take it off. To just see her forehead, but I wouldn�t do that. I handed Meliza to Zachary, watched him walk down the hallway with her. I slowly sat down next to Nurse Elderen. Nurse Elderen still had her head buried in her lap. I looked at her; she saw I didn�t have Meliza anymore. I just guessed that she didn�t even notice I asked Zachary to take her. She just stared at me, while I stared at her. I had been staring at her for some time now.
�Where is Stephen, what happened? Why was Meliza in a quote �safe room� unquote.� I did the quotation marks with my hands. However, she didn�t even notice. She just stared at my arms. As if I still had Meliza in them. She finally looked up at me.
�Do you remember that surgeon that called you and asked you to come to the hospital to talk to her? Well I called her because she wanted me to call her when you arrived. She said that I should talk to you. The information regarding Stephen.�
Everything sounded so serous at this point. I was terrified to even know where Stephen was, and where Meliza would be going. However, my mind was in a different place from my mouth.
�Where is Stephen?!� I started to tear-up. I wanted to know where he was. I didn�t want to lose him. Not now!
�Do you remember the surgeon telling you that Stephen was hit by a drunk driver?�
I just nodded. I didn�t have enough energy to say anything more. Nurse Elderen just continued on.
�Well, after we brought the driver in. Took some tests, and found out he was drunk. We brought the police in. To arrest him, he was fine. He just had a cut across his forehead, like Meliza. And some stitches where he went through the windshield. This is around his shoulder and lower arm. We told the police he would be fine. However, that�s when Stephen started to ask for you. Told us, you could take Meliza. That�s also when the drunk driver, found out able the Meliza. He took Stephen. Said he was sorry, and wanted to see Meliza. I refused to let him in the nursery to see her. But he could see her through the windows. He took out a gun, and almost shot, Meliza. The police managed to get the gun out of his hands, but weren�t able to keep him down. He grabbed Stephen and ran for it. Because Stephen is so weak, he was not able to fight back. That�s when the drunken man took out a knife. None of the police officers could feel the knife because it was in one his shoes. He didn�t have any leg or feet injuries so we didn�t take off his shoes. That was our mistake. The police are in pursuit with a high-speed chase trying to get Stephen back to the hospital for intensive care. Stephen was hit really hard with drunk driver�s car. Meliza should be fine in a couple of days. She just has a really big scratch on her forehead. Stephen is a good father. He took very good care of Meliza while, he called 911.�
I stared at her with the biggest eyes, but let the tears go down my cheeks. I was crying really hard now, and I was in total shock. I could see Zachary walking down the hallway with Meliza in his arms. I just looked down to his shoes and saw blood all over the floor. I was almost sure that was Stephen�s blood. From the injuries, he had. My whole body was in fear. My hands were shaking, I couldn�t stop crying. As soon as Zachary saw me crying, he started to walk a little faster. He knew if he tried to run, he would slip and fall. Possibly, even drop Meliza.
When Zachary got to me, I was starting to whip away the tears on my cheeks. Nurse Elderen was crying too. She was scared for me, she didn�t want to tell me about Stephen but she had to. Now I wish I hadn�t said anything to her. I got Meliza from Zachary. He slowly handed her to me. My hands were still pretty shaky, but I could handle it with Meliza in my arms.
From my shaking hands, Meliza woke up. I slowly stood up and started to rock her back and forth. Nurse Elderen was already walking into the room where Meliza was when I first came. She came out with Meliza�s diaper bag. Handed it to me, and I slowly sat back down. I was in a completely different row from Nurse Elderen and Zachary. I laid Meliza down on this mat so, I was able to change her diaper. She was a bit wet. I changed her diaper, gave her a bottle and stood back up. I began to rock her back and forth again. So she was able to go back to sleep.
Suddenly Zachary was asking Nurse Elderen why I was so upset. I just walked across the waiting room. I didn�t want to listen to Nurse Elderen tell Zachary. I couldn�t bear hear it again. My heart had taken enough tragedy for one day. Then, my cell phone went off. Woke up Meliza right away. I had turned it off vibrate, when I wish I hadn�t. I saw it was my house.
�Hello?�
�Amerikis! YOU�RE ALIVE!�
I could tell it was my mom. She had seen that my bed was empty and that I hadn�t left a note for her.
�I�m sorry; I forgot to leave a note. But I had to leave as soon as possible.�
�What happened? Where are you? Wherever you are, please go outside. All I hear is static.�
I started to walk outside. When Nurse Elderen ran up to me. And said �You can�t bring Meliza outside. And please hurry with your phone call. I don�t what to get information regarding Stephen and have you been outside somewhere.�
I handed Meliza to the Nurse Elderen. And ran outside. I knew that my mom had heard her tell me that.
�Amerikis? Where are you, sweetie? What happened? Why are you with Meliza and not Stephen? Why do you need to hurry up with this conversation with your mother? Who is going to find information out about Stephen? Where is Stephen?!� My mom, always demanded so much from me. Like I was her servant. Not her daughter. However, I answered every question she had for me.
�Mum, I am at the hospital. No, I�m fine. You don�t have to worry about me. I got a call around three this morning, Stephen was on a walk because sometimes that�s all Meliza will fall asleep to, is a walk outside. Nevertheless, this morning, some things went sour. A drunk driver hit Stephen and Meliza. Don�t worry, Meliza is okay. She just got a cut on her head. However, Stephen�s shoulder was shattered and dislocated. Nevertheless, the drunk driver only suffered some miner injuries. When the drunk driver found out about Meliza, he wanted to see her, to make sure she was okay. When the nurses refused to let him, he took out a gun and almost killed Meliza. Then he remembered Stephen and kidnapped him. They are in a high-speed chase somewhere. The nurse said I shouldn�t be on the phone long, so she can find me if she gets any information about Stephen. So she is able to tell me right away without having to run around trying to find me. She asked me not to take Meliza outside because someone could see her and kidnap her, or worse, kill her. I have to go now Mum. Please, if you need to call me. Please just let it be an emergency. I am here with Meliza, Zachary, and Nurse Elderen. I know you know Zachary. He has been my best friend sense the third grade. I�ll call you later, if I get any information on Stephen. I love you, Mum. Please don�t worry about me.� I hung up before she could say anything.
I ran back into the hospital. Where Nurse Elderen was nowhere in site. I ran up to Zachary, when he turned around to look at me, he was holding Meliza. And he just looked up at me. I was in total shock. I also felt like an idiot.
�Nurse Elderen had to run up to the ICU for a minute. She gave me Meliza and wanted to tell you to turn the television on to channel six. She said the surgeon upstairs said that they had News on Stephen. She also said to take Meliza. Try to get her back to sleep.�
I ran to the television in front of the soda machines. I turned it on, and put it on to channel six. They had a helicopter, following Stephen. It was weird. He was in this car with a drunk driver. Nevertheless, the driver was doing really good, at least driving. Suddenly the helicopter had a close up of the car. Stephen was driving. The drunk driver, to my surprise, was my brother. No one told me that he had his license back. Zachary was right up behind me, holding Meliza. I could feel Zachary, starting to drop Meliza. I turned around, took her and turned back to the television. Then I turned to Zachary.
�Zachary, Stephen�s being held hostage by my brother!� I sat down, onto a chair as slow as I possibly could. I didn�t want to wake up Meliza again. However, I was going to. I knew I was going to. I most always did. Zachary stared at me with huge eyes. I couldn�t look at him back. My eyes were filled with tears, and I couldn�t believe what was going on. I had sent pictures of Stephen, Meliza and I to my brother all the time. I would write long letters to him, telling him how much fun I was having, and how happy I was with Stephen and Meliza in my life. However, he never really wrote back.
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Then I remembered what my parents were fighting about a couple nights ago. It was like BAM! I remembered it. I just sat down and pictured it all in my head�My mom was yelling at my dad;
�YOUR SON IS AN ACHOLIC BECAUSE OF YOU! IT�S YOUR ENTIRE FAULT! YOU LET HIM GO TO THAT PARTY WHEN HE WAS ONLY 16! HE DRANK TOO MUCH THERE AND NOW HE�S AN ALCOHOLIC!�
My dad just sat there. Listened to my mom scream at him. I was in my room at the time. I heard feet stomping on the ceiling. I didn�t know why, so I slowly walked up the stairs and sat at the top step, right before you open the door. No one heard me because the screaming was so loud. I could see my dad just sitting there though. My mom was pacing back and forth. Her eyes were all red and puffy. She had been crying, I could see it. My dad had no expression on his face, as usual. He never really did have an expression on his face. My mom used to tell me when I was little, that my dad was just playing around. He would smile every now and then. However, after my grandparents, both died. He lost everything, all his emotions. Finally, after two hours of listening to my mom yell at him. He stood up. Walked over to the front door and said;
�You want me gone? Then fine! I�ll leave!� My dad had been crying as well. His face was all red with anger, but his eyes were dripping with tears.
My heart pounded as I watched him leave. My mom fell to the floor. I didn�t want to leave the stairway. I liked it there, it felt so much safer then being next to my mom. Trying to calm her down. Nothing would calm my mom down at this point. Only my dad, and of course�Alcohol. She was the alcoholic. My dad just started to leave now and then. Not come back for days, hours, one time he was gone for almost a month. I was four at the time. My mom just said that he was on a business trip, far, far, away. However, he was not on a business trip. He was living in a motel down the street. My mom kicked my dad out so much that I was just waiting for them to tell me they secretly divorced. However, they never did tell me that. I wanted them to. I needed them too. I couldn�t take it anymore.
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My heart was beating so fast, and so hard that it woke up, Meliza. She wasn�t screaming or anything. She was just laying there in my arms. Staring up at me. She looked exhausted. I could feel her getting wet, so I took her into the back room and changed her. I looked in the mirror. And well I didn�t look that great either. I hadn�t slept in almost three days. The police said I shouldn�t leave the hospital. But I was getting so sick of being told what I should and shouldn�t do. It was as if they were controlling my life. When I walked back out to where Zachary was. There was a police officer talking to him. They both looked at me. Zachary stood up as fast as he saw me.
�Amerikis, they have some information on your brother. They�ah, well; they believe he�s involved in a gang. Up at school. He might have gotten involved at a party and just never let it out. Has he ever said anything about having new friends, or being in a gang? Or anything like that?�
Zachary looked at me as if I knew exactly what he was talking about. As if I had more information then he knew. However, the truth was, I didn�t have any information. I had no idea what they were talking about.
�Huh?� I was puzzled.
Chet, in a gang. It was un-heard of. He was the most caring, sweetest guy I had ever known. Not including he is my brother. However, that�s when it hit me. That�s why he wanted to see Meliza; he wanted to make sure she was okay. Wanted to make sure he didn�t hurt her. He knew all about Stephen. He thought it was great, what Stephen was doing with his life and his daughter. I just started to sit down on a chair. When Zachary walked up to me. He knew I was withholding information. But he wasn�t sure what kind of information.
�Do you know information regarding your brother, or Stephen?�
I looked at him, then at Meliza.
�Well, if I do. Why should I tell you?�
�Amerikis, you can trust me. You know that, I just want to help you. I want to get Stephen back here, as much as you do. You know I care about you. I would do anything to help you, or the people you love. So please. Tell me what�s going on.�
�Chet is the most caring person you would ever meet. He loves kids, that�s why he wanted to see Meliza. He wanted to make sure she was alright. That he didn�t harm Meliza to, too badly or at all. When the nurses wouldn�t let him see her, the drugs he had been taking, or the alcohol in his body worked him up. He�s had a problem with anger management sense he was child. He just wanted to make sure a baby was okay. Then he remembered Stephen. I�m sure he�s gotten to know Stephen. He�s probably acting like best friends with Stephen now. He would never hurt Stephen, or Meliza. This is all just a MIS-UNDERSTANDING!� I screamed.
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I watched the news one last time that day. I watched the car, Stephen was driving go straight into the ditch. Chet�s head went against the dashboard as Stephen�s head was sitting on the horn. It wouldn�t stop. My eyes were full of tears by the time the car started to go off the road. Zachary was right next to my side when it happened. I watched as the ambulances came to get them both. I watched as they were taken away and brought to the hospital, that I was at. I turned to Zachary. He knew exactly what I was going to say.
�Zachary, I don�t want to be here. Especially when they get here. I want to be at home, sleeping. I hate what�s going on. I hate what happened, and what�s happening right now. I just want to go home. For right now it�s over.� I then turned to the Officer.
�I�m going home. Zachary is going to take Meliza and me to my house where she is going to stay with me. Just until Stephen is able to take her home with him. And if you say no, you�ll have another situation just like that on your hands. So I am going home!� I demanded. I had to get out of there. Chet didn�t feel like my brother anymore. He felt like the enemy and I felt like a prisoner. Nothing was going to stop me from going home.
As Zachary and I started to walk out the doors, Nurse Elderen ran up. She wasn�t running after me, she was running to the ambulances that were coming up.
�Excuse me, Amerikis.�
She ran right past me. I started towards the car. When I turned around, and watched them take out Stephen and Chet. I couldn�t believe how bad they looked. My heart was pounding to the extreme. I just sighed it off.
The hospital was very helpful. They gave me a car seat for Meliza. I put her in it; she didn�t even make a fuss about getting into it. She just fell right asleep, after I strapped her in. I sat right next to her. Zachary drove me to Stephen�s house to get some things for Meliza. After I got about a weeks work of clothes and such. I got back into the car and started on my way home. I couldn�t image of what could come next.
When I started to walk down the stairs to my bedroom, I saw a crib next to my bed, and on the other side a cot. I imaged the crib was for Meliza and the cot was for Zachary. Just until Stephen could leave the hospital. I put Meliza in the crib, fell onto my bed and just was dead asleep from there. I had a horrible nightmare.
It all began when I was walking down the street with Stephen and Meliza in the stroller. Except, Meliza was older. She looked about three or four years old. I had an engagement ring on my finger. Stephen and I were so happy. Meliza was talking like crazy. She sounded so cute. Then all of the sudden, this drunk driver came up in front of us. I grabbed Meliza, and Stephen jumped for the curb. However, the drunk driver was coming too quickly and hit Stephen. Killing him instantly. I went to the funeral and everything. Next to Stephen�s coffin, they put a picture of Stephen, Meliza and I, right after he got home from the hospital. I didn�t recognize anyone at the funeral. Everyone looked all weird. I couldn�t figure out what was going on with their faces or body�s. Then as they were bringing out the coffin to those cars, they drive them in to bring to the gravesite. A drunk driver hit me. However, the drunk driver was Stephen. I just kept on screaming for him to stop, but he wouldn�t.
I woke up in a cold sweat. I got out of bed, changed Meliza�s diaper and took her clothes off. I put her in her pajamas, and then changed into my pajamas. Plugged my cell phone into my charger. Got Zachary�s cell phone and put his into his charger. Put a blanket over him. Then crawled back into bed.
I started to have a nice dream. I mean, it was a lot nicer then my nightmare. I was in a garden with Stephen and Meliza and we were just teaching Meliza how to speak. It was so cute. When I heard my cell phone ring. I thought it was just a part of my dream. Nevertheless, when I woke up and it was flashing. I ran to it. I thought it could be the hospital or so. However, I couldn�t see who it was. I forgot that I taken out my contacts and forgot where my glasses were. So, I answered it anyways.
�Hello?�
�Hello Amerikis.�
My heart stopped. I couldn�t believe who it was. It was Stephen. I walked into the bathroom and started to put in my contacts. Checked what time it was. I only got two hours of sleep. This didn�t surprise me at all.
�Why are you calling so early? You know I never really liked sleep anyways.�
�Amerikis, you have to come to the hospital as soon as possible. The police want to talk to you about Chet.� He paused. �Chet�s been asking about you. He wants to see you. He wants to make sure that Meliza is okay. I want to see you too. I want to see Meliza as well.�
�Stephen, where are you?�
�I�m at the hospital. Are you at home?�
�Yes, I�m at home. But which hospital?�
�Amerikis, I don�t have time to play games. Just come to the hospital.�
�But Stephen, what if I go to the wrong hospital. You know there is a lot in this little county.�
�Amerikis, there are only three hospitals. In addition, the closet one you live to is, United Methodize Hospital. And that�s the one I�m at. So please get Zachary and have him bring you here. With Meliza. See you in a bit.� Before I could say a word, he hung up.
I slowly walked out of the bathroom. Where I had been standing, close to putting my pants on. I was changing as I was talking. As I put my cut-up jeans over my pink panties. I started to walk over to my window. To try to get some fresh air in my room. However, when I walked over to my window, it was locked. I never locked my windows. I was becoming scared of being at home. Nothing was getting easier for me. I woke up Zachary as fast as I could.
�Zachary, we have to get out of here. Get your cell phone, I�ll get Meliza.�
�Amerikis, calm down. What�s going on?�
�My windows are locked, I never lock them. Stephen just called me in a panic. He wants me to come to the hospital as soon as possible with Meliza. We have to go. Come on!� I just yelled at him. I never yelled at Zachary before. Nevertheless, Zachary didn�t move. He just sat there. Zachary was in pure fear. I sat down on my bed. My eyes filled with tears. I didn�t understand what got into me. I was scared to be at home. And the worst part was Zachary was scared to be near me. I walked over to Meliza, who was sleeping like an angel. I picked her up, and began to put her in her day clothes. I took her pajamas off. Then I took a purple and white sundress out of the bag I put all of her clothes, diapers and bottles into. She looked great in this little dress of hers. Zachary stared at me the whole time I was changing her. After I was done changed Meliza, I picked her up, and put her on my bed. I put a bunch of pillows around her, so she wouldn�t fall off. Then I turned to Zachary,
�Would you please go sit on the stairs while I change? I�ll only be a minute. Oh, don�t forget your cell phone. I put it on the charger for you last night.�
Zachary stared at me. �Rikis?�
I turned to him and was just amazed about how he remembered that. I hadn�t been called Rikis in a long time. Not sense I was five years old. No one could pronounce my name so, everyone just called me Rikis. I knew that Zachary hadn�t been called Zachie, or Zach sense his Mother died. He was around seven when she passed away. Everyone stopped calling me Rikis because, well�When my little baby sister, Jellin, was born. They just stopped calling me it. When she was around two months, she died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It made everyone un-happy. I guess that�s around when my dad stopped showing emotions as well. Around the same time, my grandparents passed away.
�Zachie, what is it?�
�Rikis, I�m scared. I don�t want to go back to the hospital. I think it�s a set-up. I think that someone is going to kidnap you or Meliza, or worse, both of you.�
That scared me, when Zach said that. He never told anyone his emotions. Only me�and when he did tell me his emotions, it was serous stuff. Zach never told anyone about his crush on me. He told me in the third grade that he liked me. That little crush he had for me didn�t go away. He and I both knew that. He just liked to look out for me. The thing about Zach being scared was that I was scared too. I didn�t want to lose Meliza. I knew that Zach didn�t want to lose Meliza or me. And I didn�t want him to have to go through that. It�s hard enough for me to watch my family do this to me.
�Zach, I�m scared too. I�m probably more scared then you could ever imagine. However, I have to face the facts sometime. I�m going to go get dressed and then I�m going to call the hospital. Make sure that Stephen is okay, and that Chet is far away from him as possible. Does that help?�
I was still pretty teary-eyed. My eyes were starting to get tired. I wanted to get more sleep. But I knew I couldn�t. Not right now.
�Rikis, that helps me out a lot. Thanks, so much.�
Zach stood up, and started to walk towards the bathroom. Then turned around.
�Do you mind, if I just go sit down in your bathtub and wait for you in there. I don�t want to go by the stairs. I just have a bad feeling about that.�
�Yeah, that�s fine. I was thinking you were going to do that anyways. I don�t want you to leave anymore then you want to leave me.�
As Zach started to close the bathroom door, I started to take off my shirt. I was wearing a HUGE pajama shirt. And needed to put a tang-top on and a sweatshirt over that. I hated wearing regular shirts. They never felt right on me. I changed as fast as I could. Grabbed my cell phone, jumped on my bed next to Meliza. Then went through my phone to find the hospital number. I found the number and began to dial.
�Hello, United Methodize Hospital.�
�Hello, my name is Amerikis Welder. I was wondering if you have a Stephen Helander as a patient there.�
�Ah, Amerikis is it?�
�Yes, ma�am.�
�Stephen Helander was involved in a car crash today. Along with Chet Welder. Stephen is currently missing and Chet died instantly at the scene. I�m so sorry darling. �
I just fell straight off my bed and hit the floor. Zach ran out as soon as he heard me fall. Meliza was crying on my bed. The nurse was still on the phone. She just kept on saying �Hello? Hello?� My hand was bleeding badly. I hit it on the edge of my frame. About ten minutes later, there was an ambulance at my door. Zach was right up there, telling them to come down to my room. I was lying on the floor. My hand covered in a towel, which was soaked in my blood. It hurt, to even move. I had lost so much blood at this point. My vision was going. I could barely see Zach now. I could still hear Meliza screaming on the top of my bed. When the paramedics first came, I could hear them extremely well. Now, they�ve faded away, along with everyone else.
Everyone and everything was gone. All I could see now was Stephen and I. It started out like another one of my dreams. Or so called nightmares. It was as if I never fell off my bed. I was sitting on the floor, still on the phone with the nurse.
�Yes, we have a Stephen Helander. He is in critical condition. We are only allowing family to visit him. Are you family ma�am?� I was silent for a moment.
�Yes, I am his girlfriend. I am also the stepmother of his daughter. Would that count as family?�
I could tell that the nurse realized who I was. I was the victim�s girlfriend. The enemy�s sister. The true victim in this all so horrible tragedy. I wanted to just hang up then. However, I couldn�t get the phone away from my ear. I wanted to know what she had to say.
�You are Amerikis Welder?� She was very quiet when she asked me. I could barely hear her.
�I am Amerikis Welder. May I bring in Meliza and see Stephen?�
The nurse on the other line was very quiet now. If she had answered me, I couldn�t hear her. Nevertheless, she didn�t answer me. The phone line was disconnected. I sat there for almost two hours more. Waiting for someone to come find me. I was all alone in this room. My mind raced from one thing to the next.
When I finally stood up, it was light outside. Really, light outside. I began to walk towards the stairs. However, I just didn�t know where I was going. I wasn�t sure if I wanted to leave the house. As I was getting to the last step on the staircase, my cell phone began to vibrate in my hand. I looked it at. It read �Stephen Helander.� I was scared to answer it. For it could be a prank phone call or something. Because I never put Stephen�s last name in my cell phone. I only put his first name. My heart raced, as I started to flip it open so I could answer it.
�Hello?�
�Hello Amerikis. It�s your lover.�
My heart suddenly stopped. I fell back on the stairs. And was knocked out cold. I couldn�t hear anything, see anything. I felt so dead. I could feel my skin becoming cold as ice.
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Then my skin started to warm up. I could hear Zach breathing right next to me. I felt Meliza�s body on top of my side. I could hear the beeps of the machines. At first, I thought I was next to someone with a lot of machines. However, when I was able to open my eyes, I was the one with all the machines. My hand was bandaged all up. I had a breathing machine in my throat. I moved my right shoulder and felt bandages on my ribs. I couldn�t talk. Nevertheless, I was able to nudge Zach. He woke up instantly. Like he was just resting his eyes.
�OH MY GOD! AMERIKIS YOU�RE ALIVE!� When he said my name, instantly, Meliza was awake. It was as if my name was an alarm clock. You have to wake up when you hear it. Then all of the sudden, there were nurses swarming me. Kicking Zach and Meliza out of the room. One nurse was taking my pulse. Another nurse was checking my eyes. I couldn�t say anything. I couldn�t tell them I felt fine. Because all I could do was, lay there. Finally, a doctor came in.
�Okay, everyone out. No, Amerikis you have to stay in here with me.�
It was as if I was still in the nightmare. I wanted to just wake up, and be okay. To be in my own bed at home, just lying there, and see Zach have his head on the side of me. And Meliza still in her crib sleeping like a little angel. But this was real. I wasn�t dreaming, it wasn�t a nightmare�It was reality.
�Now, Amerikis. You�ve been in a coma for about a week now. When you first came in, you had lost so much blood that your heart was going into super over mode. Which especially is not good for you. So we had to pump more blood into you, and while we did that, we repaired your heart. It was in really bad shape. Here, I�ll take the tube out of your throat, so you can breathe on you own. It may feel weird at first, but you�ll be fine. Just take a deep breath in, and then when I take it out, breath out. You�ll cough for a bit, but you�ll be just fine.�
He took out the tube in my throat. I coughed really hard after he took it out. It was kind of hard to talk at first. But after I had some water. I was fine, I could feel my heart working, well, just like normal. I couldn�t ever remember feeling like that.
�To my understanding, that boy in here. Isn�t your boyfriend, and that baby that was next to you isn�t your daughter. Correct?�
I coughed somewhat hard. �Ye-Yes.�
The doctor looked at me in amazement. He knew all about my past. He knew who I was, about Stephen and Chet. What I didn�t understand, is why he was doing this to me. Asking all of these hard questions, that he already knew the answers too.
�Amerikis, do you know what happened to Stephen and your brother, Chet?�
�Weren�t they involved in a car accident?�
�Did you see that on the news? Or did someone call you?�
�I saw it on the news.�
�Amerikis�we need to talk about Stephen��
�What do you mean? He�s alive isn�t he?! ISN�T HE!� I screamed so loud, I stop breathing. I listen to the doctor call for nurses. I felt six pairs of hands on me. Someone was pushing on my chest, really hard, that hurt a lot. Then I started to hear a machine beep. It was going �ba-beep, ba-beep, and ba-beep.� Which, I guess is good. Because I could breathe again. The nurses slowly left the room, one-by-one.
I could hear the doctor trying to get my attention again.
�Amerikis, I know you�re awake. I can see your eyelids moving. However, if you choose to ignore me. I guess that�s fine. I guess hearing this information is going to be difficult for you to cope with. I�ll come back to you in a couple of hours to check on how you�re doing. I�ll send someone in a while. To talk to you. Sense you refuse to talk to me.�
I opened my eyes a little, as he left. My heart started to beat fast again. My mind was starting to go blank. I couldn�t think of anything good. Every other thought I had was about Stephen or Meliza, sometimes even Zach. I slowly drifted into sleep. I couldn�t help but dream about Stephen, Meliza and I. Everything seemed to be going so well in my dreams. Nothing was ever bad in them, only when it was a nightmare. That never seemed to make anything better.
I couldn�t tell if this was a dream or a nightmare. Everything felt so real. The wind going against my skin. Stephen�s hand holding mine. Meliza staring up at me with her beautiful eyes. Nothing could compare to her smile. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. My mind suddenly went blank again. I couldn�t think of anything, not Stephen, not Meliza, not even Zach. I could only see a white tunnel. Then I started to think I was dying. I tried to wake up. Nothing was working. I started to scream. I could hear myself screaming too.
I got so freaked out; I started to have one of my horrible anxiety attacks. I started to not breath, and then my chest started to pound. I could hear the machine beeping at me again. I wanted to scream for someone. No one came. No one ever came back for me. I thought I heard a nurse run in. Then I hear Zach�s voice�
�OH MY GOD! AMERIKIS! HELP, HELP, HELP!� He was screaming so loud. I could hear the fear in his voice. My heart started to pound more, and more. Soon the beeping sound had stopped. Now it was just a straight �beeeeeeeeeeeeeee�� Nothing was changing. The sound just kept on going. I heard all of these footsteps running in and out. I soon heard a lot of voices talking.
�Nothing is changing. We need to get her to the O.R.�
I could hear them running me down the floor. I wanted to just yell at them, �Stop, I�m okay. I can hear you. I�m alive!� Nevertheless, I couldn�t. My breathing had stopped. I was guessing that my heart was starting to stop as well. I was starting to get scared. I didn�t know if I would ever see Stephen, Meliza, or Zach again. However, I didn�t care about them. I cared about me, for just once. I actually wanted to stay alive. I heard the ba-beep, ba-beep, and ba-beep again� I started to open my eyes. When one of the nurses said,
�She�s waking up! Get the anesthesia.� Then she looked down at me.
�You know, you shouldn�t be awake. Your heart started to give out so now, we�re fixing it for you. I�ll see you in a little bit, nighty-night.�
And my eyes closed again. Everything got dark again. This time I did dream. It was a good dream too. I was lying in my bed with Meliza on one side of me, and Stephen on the other side of me. I felt great. My world started to make sense again. But as always, I have to wake up when it starts to get good, or I�m starting to get happy.
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I woke up to a new room. I was alone in this room. The room before that I was in, I had someone else in there. Nevertheless, I was starting to guess I was in the ICU where you got your own room. Zach was at one side of me, and he was holding Meliza. She looked like she was sleeping. However, I doubt she was. I opened my eyes all the way. Zach stood up very slowly.
�Amerikis, sweetie. Be careful. You just got out of your second major surgery today. They said when you started to fall asleep; you had some sort of nightmare, and got your heart started to race up. Until the seal that they did, broke. That�s what made all the noise. I know you could hear the noise. You always can. But right before they were going to open you up and start working, you woke up. Thank goodness. Otherwise, you would have woken up during the surgery. Which is never good. How are you feeling?�
Zach just stared at me with big eyes. I almost hated it when he would do this. He would get so excited that he wouldn�t say anything, only stare. It would annoy me sometimes. Nevertheless, I was so tired I didn�t want to have feelings. It hurt to even move my finger.
�I�m tired. I want to go back to sleep, but I�m sure they won�t let me. Because I just got out of surgery and of course, you sleep while you�re in surgery. So yeah,�Have you heard anything about Stephen? How�s Meliza doing?�
�Amerikis, Meliza is fine. But we need to talk about Stephen.�
I soon heard a man�s voice outside the door. It sounded just like Stephen. I got so excited. I sat up without realizing how much it hurt. My eyes widened. Zach could tell I could hear the voice in the hallway. When Stephen walked into the room. It was total silence. I couldn�t even hear my machine beeping to my heart pounding. Zach�s eyes got even wider then mine. I think he was more surprise then I was.
�You were going to tell me, what about Stephen now?�
Stephen came up next to me. On the other side of Zach. My whole body went numb. I didn�t understand what was going on. Zach almost looked puzzled as to what he was about to say before Stephen had walked in. Meliza wasn�t in the room anymore. I just guessed that a nurse came and got her while I was talking to Zach.
Stephen�s hand was holding mine now. I could feel the warmth of him going into me. Then I just figured it was his sweat from worrying about me. He wouldn�t take his eyes off me, he was starting to stare at me as Zach was. I was being stared at and I started to feel really weird. Everything in the room started to feel weird. I kept on feeling little shivers go through my whole body. I was guessing Stephen felt some through my hand.
�Babe, are you okay?� He just kept on looking at me.
�I�m okay. I just feel a little dizzy.�
�Do you want me to call a nurse; you know that isn�t very good after you�ve had open heart surgery.� Zach just looked at me while he said that. I knew he was worried, but I didn�t think it was necessary.
However, when I think something isn�t necessary, Zach or Stephen think it was. The thing about this was, they both thought it was necessary. They looked at me; I was having a bit of trouble breathing. Then looked at each other.
�Zach would you go get a nurse, while I watch Amerikis.�
Zach stared at me. Then looked to Stephen.
�Yeah, I�ll be right back. And after I asked a nurse to come in here. I�ll go find Nurse Elderen and get her to bring in Meliza.�
I turned my head and watched Zach leave the room. I wanted to talk to Stephen, but I knew he wouldn�t want to talk to me. Because when I started to open my mouth. He put his finger up to it. And just made this �shhhhhing� sound. He just wanted to make sure I was okay. He didn�t want me to get excited or scared. He just wanted to make sure I was okay.
When the nurse came in, she took one look at me. Then ran back in the hallway. Grabbed the doctor that was attempting to talk to me before. Before I refused to talk to him. He started to walk in. However, when I saw him. My heart skipped a beat. I fell straight back. My eyes were still wide open. Stephen was just standing there. I thought he would have fallen over and broke like a statue. Nevertheless, he didn�t move. The doctor ran towards me. As fast as his legs would take him.
�Nurse, get the O.R. on the phone. She�s seizing! GET THE CART!�
I heard another doctor run in with a cart with panels on it. They pulled the blanket off my chest. Stephen started to walk towards the door now. He looked into the hallway, and saw Zach.
�Zach, man. We can�t go in there. Amerikis is starting to have another heart attack and I don�t want you to see that again. I�m sorry man. You just gotta stay out here with me. Do you know where my daughter is? Gosh, I haven�t seen her in a while. Will you come with me to find Meliza?�
Zach didn�t say a word. He just followed Stephen. I listened to them walk away from me.
�CLEAR!� BOM! My body jumped up and then fell back down. �Beeeeeeeeeeeee�� The machine wasn�t doing the ba-beep, ba-beeps anymore. Fear went through my whole body. I was so scared I was going to die, and Stephen didn�t care. My eyes closed and I stop listening to the doctors. I didn�t want to listen to them try to bring me back to life. I was alive; I just was hiding it away for a couple more minutes. I felt so worthless, because Stephen was in the hospital trying to find his daughter . The two people I loved the most, one person who I loved the most, who is also my best friend!
I felt my body jump up one more time. And the doctor�s say;
�She�s alive. Nevertheless, let�s just hope she gets out of this coma soon. Has anyone seen Stephen? Where did Zach go? DARN, TEENAGERS!� That�s the last thing I heard from the doctors. I refused to listen to them talk, especially about me. I didn�t want to hear anything regarding Stephen or Zach or Meliza. My life was in someone else�s hands, and it was going to do nothing with them.
I fell asleep. My dream was nice and peaceful. It was just like the dreams before I met Stephen, or saw him in school. I wanted to hate Stephen. At first, I thought I did hate him. He stopped being in my dreams, I didn�t even want to think about him. I didn�t even want to think about Zach. I was so angry with them. I would wake up now and then. And listen to the machines beeping. It was peaceful at times, and other times it got on my nerves. I was never awake when my parents were there. Emma never came with her fianc�. My father never came either, or so my mom told me. She would come and visit me now and then. I would wake up from a dream, because she kissed my forehead or something. I would listen to her talk to me. Talk about how much prettier I was getting each day. Mom would talk about Chet or Emma. Never really about my dad. She would say he was doing good or so. But that�s if I looked like I had no expression on my face.
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I woke up one night. I was dreaming about Stephen and me again. I dreamt about him and me occasionally. However, this was different. It was not a dream, or a nightmare. It was a memory. At least I thought it was a memory. I was sitting next to Stephen on his front step. It felt like he just told me about Emily and Meliza. However, it was different. Neither of us were upset. We were actually smiling. It seemed like we were on a very different subject. Like I already knew about Emily and Meliza. I figured it out during the night and I was totally fine with it. I guess things got serous after Stephen said something.
�Sweetie��
I was still giggling. I turned to him. I didn�t want to stop smiling. But I did, I looked up at Stephen and he wasn�t smiling. Didn�t even look close to smiling, so I tried to not smile. It was really hard for me not to.
�What?� I was still smiling, but the longer he didn�t. The more concerned I got.
�Things aren�t going to be the same with us for a while. I mean, I have a daughter and you�re the only person, besides my family that knows about her. Please don�t tell anyone. I love her a lot, and I don�t want to make her life to get worse by letting everyone in my life know about her.� He just stopped talking. Stephen wasn�t smiling or crying. He was just sitting there. He almost looked angry at me. I thought everything was fine. I mean, I was in love with someone that loved me back. However, he had this dark side to him. Nothing would be the same now that I knew about Meliza. Nevertheless, it was going to be the same.
�You know, I like you a lot. I told you about Meliza because I trust you. You are absolutely amazing. However, I can�t do this. I can�t be the person you want me to be. I can�t be �Mr. Right.� For you. I can�t be your boyfriend; I�m scared to even be your friend. I heard you were really controlling and that you would try to change people into who you want them to be. I don�t want that. I�m sorry I ever ran up to you. I�m sorry; I ever got into your life. I have to go.�
Stephen just stood up and started to open the door. When he looked down on me. I was upset about what he just said to me. I couldn�t believe it. It felt so real, but at the same time, so far away. I just sat there on that step. Stephen staring over me. My world was ending, and worst of all I felt like the idiot. I had been in love with someone that I wanted. Not for whom he was before I met him. I could feel my heart beat speeding up. I looked down at my shoes. I almost refused to look back at Stephen.
My shoes started to get white, and shinny. I wasn�t sure if it was a part of my dream. Or if I was blacking out, or waking up...
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I could hear beeping now, I knew I was waking up. I hated waking up. Everything wouldn�t feel real for a while. I just didn�t like thinking I was still dreaming while I was awake. I felt warmth-going throw my hand. I thought it might be Zach or my mom holding my hand. The beeping started to get louder. I hated when the machine was doing this.
Then the machine just went silent. I thought I was dead, and that I was an angel listening, watching. Nevertheless, I wasn�t dead. They were taking me off life support. They knew I could breathe on my own. My eyes went wide open. Zach nor my mom were holding my hands. I never would have thought he would come back. Especially after that dream. It was Stephen holding my hand.
Stephen flew up, and ran for the door. Yelled for a doctor to come and check me out. A doctor flew in, as fast as Stephen ran back to me. He was holding my hand while the doctor checked my heart, my breathing, everything. Looked at Stephen, then at me.
�Amerikis, you�re going to be fine. I�ll call for your doctor to come and talk to you. You�re a lucky one.�
Stephen was there with me. I was out of my coma, and things were going to go back to normal. Stephen looked great. I guessed I had been in a coma for a while. He looked even better from when I remembered him. I tried to talk, but nothing was coming out.
�They said once they took out your breathing tube, it would be hard for you to talk at first. Your throat would be getting used to breathing on it�s own first, so it might take a couple of hours.�
I didn�t have a couple of hours, or days or weeks, or how ever long, it was going to take my throat to let me talk. I needed to tell Stephen how I felt right now. I pointed to my water. It was sitting next to my bed. Stephen didn�t even get up to get it for me. He just reached over me, and got it. Put the straw in my mouth, and let me drink some. Then I attempted to talk again.
�Stephen, I love you.� Stephen�s eyes just widened.
It was almost as if he was in total shock. That he had never heard that before. It was a first time he had ever heard anyone say that to him. That�s when he got this phone call. Took one look at me, and then back at his phone.
�You don�t have your phone with you, do you?�
I looked at him so weird.
�Why would I?�
�I�m not exactly sure. But the number it says is calling. Is well�yours.�
I thought he was joking, but then he got up and showed me. I thought I was still dreaming. I didn�t want this to be reality. I just told the man I�ve loved for over three years, I loved him. Now someone was using my phone to call him. It didn�t feel real, nothing felt real. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. Making it feel like I just woke up, when really, I�m still in my coma.
�Amerikis, I love you too.� My eyes went really big now.
I wanted it to feel real. So badly. However, it didn�t. Me just waking up all of the sudden, getting the courage to tell the man I love, that I loved him. It felt so much like a fairy tale. Stephen turned to me again. His hand was still holding mine. His cell phone in the other hand. I didn�t know what day it was, if I was awake or asleep. If Meliza was taken away from him. Where Zach was, if Emma got married to Theo. Everything felt so confusing.
�I�m guessing, you want to know what day it is. How Meliza is doing, how Zach is doing? Where Emma, Theo, Chet and your parents are�huh?�
Stephen almost looked puzzled as to what he was saying. However, he wasn�t puzzled. He knew exactly what he was saying to the woman of his dreams.
�Amerikis... Meliza is fine. Zach is with her right now, their in the waiting room. I called Zach an hour before I got here. The doctors said they saw a lot of brain action and wanted to take the breathing tube out. So I came to be with you. Emma and Theo broke up; right after you went into a coma. Your parents are divorced. I know this is a lot to take in at once. I�m really sorry.� Stephen stopped after he said he was sorry. Almost as if he was hesitant to say anything at all. However, once he got started he didn�t stop. I knew I was awake then. Because in my dreams he talked very slowly.
�I love you.� That�s all I could say.
I didn�t care about my family or about Meliza or Zach. All I wanted to do was be held in Stephen�s arms forever. Everything was starting to feel real now. I liked that feeling. All of my focus was on Stephen now. I felt warmth on my other hand, it was a smaller hand. I didn�t turn my head. I didn�t want to. I knew I was awake and I didn�t want to lose another moment without Stephen in my eyes. However, I felt the warmth get warmer. So I decided to turn my head. It was MELIZA! She was HUGE! I couldn�t believe it. I turned to Stephen in shock�
�How old is she now?�
�She�ll be three on February 12th. So, then she will be three in 10 days. Can you believe it?�
My mouth was wide open now. I had missed three years, I felt so worthless. I was supposed to be graduating this year and I wouldn�t know anyone in my senior class. My body had grown while I was in the coma. They said that wasn�t usual, but it happens. I would be 17 in May. I could remember so much. My family, my friends. Stephen and Meliza. Nevertheless, what I remember is Meliza as a baby. She was becoming a toddler now.
I turned my head to the hall now. Thoughts were racing throw my mind now. I couldn�t believe so much had changed. I thought I had only been in a coma for a couple of days, maybe weeks. But never years, especially three years. Stephen looked a little different. Not too much.
Zach was a total change. Before he was the guy next door, now he was the Goth next door. He had grown out his hair, dyed it black and now spikes it. He looked GREAT! I never thought I would say that Zach was hott, but now I was.
Meliza looked amazing. She looked like a five year old, but she wasn�t even three. Her hair was in pigtails, she was a blonde. I couldn�t believe it. She was wearing overalls; they had little white flowers printed in them. Under that, she had on a purple shirt. She still looked her best, then again Meliza always did look her best, even when she was just an infant.
Everything looked like it had changed a lot. I even looked like I changed. My body had grown from a young teenager, to a woman. However, what scared me more, was I knew exactly what Stephen had learned in school. I was going to graduate this year, and I didn�t even have to make up all of the last three years. I just needed to pass a couple of tests and I was good to go.
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After I got out of the hospital, I needed to change something. I wanted to make sure I was going to be a new me. I went to the nearest Target, and got the weirdest hair dye they had. Even though, I couldn�t become someone else I wanted to try to. Just to be something different, anyone but the old me. I wanted to make something of myself; I wanted to make a solid decision for myself, for once.
The doctor said I woke up a couple of times while I was in the coma. Said I went in and out of it sometimes, he even said:
�You would wake up for a day. Go do something and then come back in a coma just instantly.�
My life was still a haze to me. However, I thought he was kidding when he said I would wake up to go do something. The evil part was, I wanted to believe him at those times. Yet, nothing made sense to me. Only had I found out new information on my family and friends, but also new information regarding me. Apparently, I had my license, Stephen and I were engaged, and Meliza was going to be my daughter. Zach had come out of the �closet� and told everyone he was homosexual.
So much had happened in three years, and I didn�t know any of it. The worst part about all of this, was I had only gotten five minutes from Stephen. While my mother sat there and watched him, tell me all of this. Still, I had no choice in any of those things that happened, it didn�t matter what I wanted. However, I was going to make my past not my problem and my future more about me and the best.
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The hospital requested that I go back there weekly; to make sure everything was going okay for a while. After many tests and examinations, they told me that my heart was doing well. And everything looked to be going good as well. I hadn�t seen Stephen in a couple of days. Once I found out all of that information, I moved out and got my own apartment. It just didn�t feel like I needed to be close to Stephen after everything I had heard from him the other day. But one day, I had gone to hospital to do weekly tests. But as I was leaving, I got a text message asking me to meet him at my mom�s house.
Right after I got that text message, I flew to my mom�s house. It was just that, I needed my facts straighten out with Stephen and my mother. From what I knew now, it all sounded so fake. As if, it was coming from a horror movie or something similar to that. However, it was real; it was my life while I was in a coma. Stephen replied saying he was sorry for not being there for me, through it all. That wasn�t something I was worried about. However, there was something, I had been thought about for a bit.
While I sat in front of my mother and Stephen. Thoughts raced my mind. That�s when they told me�
�Emma and Theo broke up right after you went into that coma. Your dad died too, about a month after you went into that coma. He died of a heart attack. They said it was from stress and worry. Don�t blame yourself though. It didn�t happen because of you.�
My heart started to pound. I couldn�t bear think about this, I didn�t want to think about it. My family had fallen apart in less then four years, I wasn�t even awake for most of it. The thought of everyone leaving me, put fear into my veins. I walked home from my mom�s house where Stephen was living with Meliza. Nothing made sense now. It started to when I got to my mom�s house, but now, it was so confusing.
As I was getting closer to my house. I got a call�
�Amerikis� RUN!� I looked behind me, and BAM!
A car hit me. This time, I didn�t want to go into a coma�Or anything like that. All I wished for was to die and never come back.
This time, my wish came true.
R.I.P. Amerikis Rachel Weld
Born: May 19, 1987
Died: December 2, 2004