She told me

Chapter 13

Mia hasn't said a word since Cory handed us the keys to his dad's car and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable because ever since the day we became friends, Mia has never been silent around me. She's always talking, making fun of me, bitching about the coursework, or telling me about how I could make my life better by listening to her.

"So where does your mom work?"

"The hospital in the next town" she taps her fingers on the window, "she should have been home three hours ago".

"Maybe there was an emergency at the hospital".

She stops tapping, "she always lets me know when she's going to be late, and if she can't, she tells Mary to call me instead".

"Mary?"

"The receptionist"

"Well, you may get the call in a couple of minutes and you're going to have to tell her that you're out alone with a boy."

To my relief, she chuckles, "you know I've had guy friends before, right?"

"Wait, you had friends before you met me? Are you being serious right now?"

She laughs and I grin. Mission accomplished.

I swerve as a car comes a bit too close for comfort. Mia slowly slides her seatbelt into place, and I give her a dirty look, "hey, I got us this far".

"I'd like to go further while still breathing" she says, "so I really hope that learner's permit is valid".

"It is" I say, accelerating, "next stop, the hospital".

Mia bites her lip, "do you think something bad happened to her?"

"I think you're spiralling, there are a lot of perfectly valid reasons for her not to call".

"She's not like your parents, okay, she cares about me" she snaps.

I open my mouth to say something and close it back again because honestly there's nothing left to say.

"I'm sorry" she whispers, "that was uncalled for. I just meant that it's always been just the two of us, she would never willingly put me through this. She knows how much I need her. If she'd been able to call, she would" she paused, "and she hasn't."

"We'll find her" I say, although I'm not sure whether we will. I have no idea what's going to happen, just that Peyton probably hates me now cause my phone hasn't buzzed since I sent her the apology text.

"STOP" Mia yells suddenly and I slam on the brakes, my heart thudding in my chest. She points shakily to a car parked on the other side of the road, "that's her car".

"Mia, wait" I say, but she's already out the door, running across the road.

I grab the umbrella from under my seat and follow her. When I reach the car, she's already banging on the glass, "mom, open the door."

I peer inside and see a woman asleep in the backseat. I press my face against the glass to get a better look, "oh shit".

"What?" Mia stops hitting the window, "what happened?"

"She's shivering" I look at Mia, "I don't think she's asleep".

"Mom" she yells, she resumes hitting the glass, "wake up" she sobs "please".

I run back to our car and pop open the trunk, hoping Cory's dad was a responsible car owner. He wasn't but he was a hoarder and that worked too. I grabbed the hammer, that was half hidden under some loose newspapers and dead flowers and ran back to Mia. She wasn't even trying to wake her mother up anymore; she was just hitting the glass more out of frustration than a need to break it.