the list { jace norman }

sixteen

I wait.

Ten minutes.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Restlessly, I tap my impatient fingers against the covers of the bed. I had thought he'd come back. Although, maybe he was giving me my space.

I trudge across the hall. Hesitating, but knocking to his door.

I wait. Almost an eternity.

Nothing.

The elevator ride down managed to be longer than eternity.

It was a gut feeling, like I had already known something was so painfully wrong before it was real.

I glance around the vacant lobby, finding nobody but a well manicured woman standing stiffly at the front desk, a piece of ribbon tied to her neck.

"Bonjour! How can I help you today?"

"Did you see a guy pass through here? A little taller then me, blonde hair. Would have been about a half an hour ago?"

"He is young, yes? Eighteen, Nineteen?"

"Yes. Could you tell me where he was going?" My accent clashes with her.

Her face screws to a question,
"He was asking about flower shops, I directed him to the one just across the street on the corner"

"Great thanks" I begin to walk away, stopped in my tracks at her voice once more.

"Ma'am?"

I turn to face her, waiting for her response.

"The front, there's an accident out there, yes? One of the worst I've seen. The front entrance is locked up until the responders give me the all clear. Would you mind waiting here? Should be no more then fifteen minutes"

"Sure that's fine" I glance around, deciding to take a seat by the large glass wall near the front. Much like everyone else in the surrounding streets, i was also interested in what was going on.

I was interested until I examined it more.

The loud sirens.

The dozens of responders leaking out the their emergence vehicles.

The bright lights leaving a glare in my sight.

It was him.

For a while, I freeze. I sit watching, not really sure if what I saw rang true. But the second his body was lifted effortlessly from the ground across a stretcher, his body covered with towels, I knew. His T-shirt no longer a soft blue, but red.

I get up, running the the doors, slamming them open on my way it. Behind me, the lady calling after me. Not realizing what was going on until my body screams to a halt just outside the doors. Watching from a close distance.

"Ma'am I have to ask you to back up" an emt pushes me back lightly. My eyes watch him into the ambulance.

"What happened" my voice stutters.