The Ring

twenty-six

            Two weeks and four days later, I was driving myself absolutely mad. I missed him like crazy and I felt extremely guilty for what I have done. Yes, he hurt me but it doesn't mean I should have hurt him. What I needed right now is closer. I needed him personally to move on. That's the only way that I can. I made my way over to his house hurriedly. I sloppily parked my car and went up to the door. I saw one of his cars here with the windows cracked so I figured he could be here. The other cars could be in the shop or in the garage or something. I stood there for a while but knocked again. I pathetically stood there. I noticed it started to rain but I didn't care. I knocked again and paced back and forth until I remembered where he kept his extra key. I ran to his lockbox on the side of his house and entered the combination. It didn't work. I tried a few different combinations until I got one right: 0712... my birthday. I took the key out and ran to the door to unlock it so that I could get out of the cold and rain. When I walked in, the sight in front of me was normal. It looked like nothing was touched. I quickly walked through the house for him but he was nowhere to be seen. I hurried to the room and that was his bedroom. I opened the door and was immediately confused. It was trashed. The bed was disheveled, the drawers were hanging open with clothes out of them and his books were lying on the floor. I was confused. Why would he do this? It was as if he was looking for something. I walked further into the room to get a better look at things. I scanned the room and my eyes landed on something. I walked closer to the left side corner of the room. I bent down and saw the framed picture of us on the floor. It was shattered and broken. I guess this is the closer I needed because I now felt broken. I held the picture in my hands. This is a representation of our crumbled relationship. I felt tears spill from eyes. We looked so happy in this picture. I was snapped out of my happy daze when my phone started to ring. I dug in my pocket and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mia." My dad breathed out.

"What's up?"

"You need to come to the hospital now." His voice was urgent.

"Why? What happened?"

"It's Channing." I didn't question it. I dropped my phone, ran outside and quickly made route to the hospital. I sped as fast yet as safe as I could. When I arrived, my head was spinning. I had no idea of what to think. What happened? And why is my dad there when he hates his guts? I stopped my thoughts when I found the main desk in the emergency room.

"Channing Wood. I'm here to see Channing Wood. Is he here?" I quickly asked. Before the receptionist could respond, my dad rushed over to me. "Dad, what happened?" I asked on the verge of tears. He took a deep breath.

"He was in a car accident. He drove his car off the road. They believe it was because the use of drugs." Oh my God.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"He's in surgery in critical condition." My heart dropped. "Did you know that he used drugs?" Great, now I feel horrible, worried and guilty.

"Yeah—But he told me he stopped, I swear." My dad sighed and sat down. I sat down next to him, covering my face as tears were easily falling from my eyes.

Hours later, Channing's mom and brother, Gage, came rushing in the waiting room.

"Mrs. Wood." I said as I stood up. She turned around and briskly walked over to me with worry splattered all over her face.

"Mia, where is he?" She asked.

"He's still in surgery. We haven't heard anything yet." I replied.

"Oh my... how did this happen?" She asked as she grabbed both of my hands.

"I-I don't know."