A 14-Year Old

In the car I whispered to Hannah, “I met Emily on the way to the ground floor.”

“Congrats, kid,” she whispered back.

“No, just shut up and listen. I told you about how I thought that Brydon was weird. Well, he is the guy Dad is switching places with.”

“What does that have to do with him being weird?”

“Nothing. But still, you know.”

Hannah finally gave up and whisper-shouted, “You’re not making any sense. That Brydon person is a normal human being and you should stop your detective agency right now. And I don’t care what you do but I don’t want any of this non-sense again!” Saying this she turned her back at me. I didn’t give up, I tried to talk to her and in this little fight I pushed her. Suddenly there was a jerk. I guess Dad must’ve noticed us. He looked back to set things right but was too late. The car door had already unlocked, it had already opened, Hannah had already fallen out, she was already lying there because a motorbike had already trampled over her hand and it was already bleeding like crazy. All because of me. Because I am nothing but a stupid and empty-headed ass.  All because I don’t think before I do something.

I put my hands on my mouth but quickly recovered and jumped out of the car to help her up. I think Dad was too busy trying to get her back in the car that he forgot to scowl or glare or even scold me. I very gently held Hannah’s wounded hand and helped her in the car. Dad made a U-turn and sped towards the hospital. When I looked back from the window I could see that people were crowded. Some were going back to their work but some were still standing there, either staring at our car or talking to each other. The whole ride I felt guilty every time I looked at Hannah. Dad was silent all the way. Well, only to me. He kept asking Hannah if it hurt much, if she wanted him to slow down the car, how it happened and if she would please wash the wound with some water. Hannah just kept nodding and in the end got courage enough to stick her wounded hand slightly out of the window and wash it with some drinking water. All washed we realized how small the cut was. Not actually small but small enough that it could be bandaged easily and could be healed. The cut stretched from her middle finger to her wrist. When we arrived at the hospital Dad rushed us to the emergency room. When we were inside, the doctors told Dad that Hannah should just rest for an hour or two in the hospital before going home. “It won’t be too healthy for her to travel right now,” one of the nurses had said. They also said that even though the scar looked small, it was pretty big as Hannah was young. She had lost some blood and they had to keep her in the office so they could keep an eye on her and give her the right food. When I inquired about the last part the doctor took off his spectacles and said, “Kids, you never know about them. Drinking or smoking or things like that. Not exactly pointing at your sister but in general.”

Since the emergency room was very crowded the peon told us that only one person should stay with the patient, the others should wait outside. So naturally, I ended up sitting alone in the waiting room. The only good thing that came out of it was that the waiting room was slightly warmer, which didn’t even begin to cover it up. I crashed down on a sofa nearby, took off my shoes and curled up on the sofa with my head buried underneath a pillow. I didn’t care whether I was at home or in a hospital, all I wanted to do was hide my tears.

In the same position I got a really good CRY!!

Suddenly, I felt it had become darker. I raised my head and saw Dad.

“What were the two of you thinking?” Boy, he sure looked mad!

“Nothin’ Dad, we were just playing around and somehow the stupid door unlocked.”

“Playing around in a moving car? You’re 14 for God’s sake! How could you do such a childish thing?”

“No Dad, it was nothing. Believe me, no harm done.”

“No harm done? NO HARM DONE? Look at what you’ve done. THAT is harm, kid.” Okay, so Dad was totally putting up a show. A woman and two men were already staring at us. Dad yanked me up and asked the doctors to excuse us. Then he drove me home and made me stay there.

Wow!

I have never seen Dad that angry. Never in my 14 years. At home I got some relief as Dad was still at the hospital, Mom wouldn’t talk to me. At least they left me alone. Rose and Jess listened to my story then went downstairs. They weren’t too happy with me either. I mean, yeah they shouldn’t be happy with me but why don’t they talk to me? Well, I wouldn’t talk to myself either.

Since I was really stressed and needed a break from myself I just updated Scott on the news. I was about to text Crystal too, but she replied me with a “Sorry. I’m at a funeral of my Dad’s friend’s father. Can’t talk right now. Will talk later. L” So I ended up talking to Scott for like half an hour. He said he was really sorry about Hannah and also gave me a lecture. He scolded me that I should at least have saved the push for later and did it at home. I told him about my Dad’s job and Brydon but very conveniently left out the part about my ‘weird’ feeling. I wanted to be sure before I broke it to someone else. Soon we had to put down our phones. Mom called me downstairs for dinner but the mood was gloomy. I didn’t enjoy dinner much, which is big because I like to enjoy my dinner. Rose and Jess were quite of course. The doctors had sent Dad back, I didn’t even hear him come. We ate in complete silence. The empty chair right in front of me kept reminding me of Hannah. The whole time Dad was frowning and shooting me dirty looks, at least Mom was not the same.