Alone Forever

So this is a short story I wrote about four months ago. I hope you enjoy!

I was so excited tomorrow was my 13th birthday and my mom and dad were letting my friends come over to spend the night.  I have spent the last two days cleaning the house so it looked perfect.  Right now, my mom is running “errands.”  I know she is just out getting me a present!  When I am almost done mopping the dirty floor, my dad sprints down stairs and he is panicking.  I try to get him to get off the clean tiles so he doesn’t ruin what I just mopped, but he won’t listen.

            “Nicki, we have to go now!” My dad said with worry.

            “What! Why!” I didn’t understand what the rush was. 

            “Nicole Elizabeth! Go and get in the car now!  I’ll be out in a minute.”

            My dad never uses my full name, so I put on my green converse and hurried to my dad’s old, black pickup truck.  The engine started with a nasty bark and we rushed out of the drive way barely missing our old green mailbox.

            “Dad, what is going on?” I shrieked.

            “We are going to the hospital!”

            My heart stopped, hospital, no my dad couldn’t mean someone was hurt!

            “Why! What happened?” I was so scared.  My dad is always calm and collected and now he is acting like a madman.

            “Your mo... mom is in t-the... hos... hospital.” He stuttered.

            No, you’re wrong dad, mom is fine, was the first thing I thought.  What could have happened to mom she was just out getting me something for my birthday! Right?

            Just to make sure I was right I asked, “Dad, what do you mean mom is in the hospital? Is she visiting someone else there?” 

Right then we pulled into the smooth parking lot and my dad parks in the front row, almost rear-ending a sleek corvette.  My dad still hadn’t answered my question and I was beginning to worry.  I couldn’t bear to have my mom be hurt.

My dad looks at me and says slowly as if he is talking to a three year old, “Nicole, your mom was in a car accident.”

I can’t breathe.  No, this couldn’t be happening; my mom means everything to me.  She couldn’t be in a car accident.  My dad has to be wrong.  They mixed her up with someone else.  My mom is probably still out shopping.

“Dad,” I said calmly.  “I thought mom was out getting me a present.  H... How cou.. could she be in th.. there?”

“Nicki, your mother was out shopping, but on her way home she was hit.  Now let’s go into the hospital and see how she is doing.”

I feel like a robot.  I can barely move my stiff legs, to get out of the car and go in the hospital.  As I walk in I see the clean white walls.  They look so cold and harshwhen I walk by.  As we approached the reception desk, my dad asks for Karen Meyer.  The grandmother-like nurse looks at us with sympathy and asks if we are family.

“I am her husband and this is our daughter, Nicki” my dad says. 

“I’m sorry to tell you, but right now your wife is in surgery and in critical condition.  We will keep you updated.” The old nurse then walked away with one more sad glance.

My dad and I went to go sit in the waiting room sitting on the hard, uncomfortable, plastic chairs.  I looked over to my dad who had his head in his hands clearly worried.  He looked ten years older with worry wrinkles covering his face.