Hero » l.p. au

Chapter 9

"He could have killed you!"

"Or worse, ra- ugh, attacked you!"

"You could have been lying at the mortuary or something right now!"

"All because of one damn energy drink!"

"Imagine carrying his ba-"

"Wait," Carolyn said, shutting Briana up. "How did you... How did you end up with a screwed up body?"

It took me a few seconds to process her question, and I made a mental note to ask if I'd had a concussion. "He fell on me."

"What do you mean, fell on you?" Carrie asked after a few moments of silence.

"He... Fell on his back, which I was on." I frowned at my dumb choice of words. "And then he just... Ran off."

I have no idea for how long the girls just sat there and gaped at me, but it ended when the door of my room opened. We all looked at it, and saw my parents walk in, looking stressed and scared, with another woman, who looked like she'd been crying eternity. I immediately recognized her; it was the woman I saved the previous evening. Oh boy.

"Oh God," The woman said, staring at me like I was Jesus or something. "That really is her, oh my God!"

As the words left her mouth, she turned to another man that I didn't notice walk in with my parents. It must have been her husband, since he looked middle-aged and hugged her back tightly. As she cried in his chest, he looked at me, the same way she did just a few seconds before.

I shifted in my bed; their presence was making me feel quite uncomfortable. As if not being able to tell that at all, Briana and Carolyn, the only people whom I actually wanted there, stood up.

"We're... Gonna leave..." Carolyn said in a rushed tone, tripping over her own feet.

"Yeah, I have to go to work and..." Briana started too but neither of them finished their sentences, as they both left after just smiling at me.

As soon as the door closed, the atmosphere changed completely; I felt incredibly uncomfortable. With my dad watching me sympathetically, my mum having a judgmental look in her eyes, and the man whom I didn't know was observing me like I was a reincarnation of Jesus... Well, I didn't like it, to say the least.

"What..." My mum started as she walked over to my bed, sitting on a chair on the side opposite of where Briana and Carolyn had been sitting. "... Were you thinking?"

I sighed as she took a breath to continue talking; here we go. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? You could have gotten killed, oh my God." My mum raised her arms in the air as she stood up, as if telling us she's giving up.

"Shane, could you, please?" She said as she walked to my dad, her hand covering her face.

My dad nodded and I rolled my eyes as he made his way toward me. He was never good at handling situations and giving inspiring speeches, but he was the only one who could replace mum when she was too shook up to handle it herself.

"Sally," He said through a sigh as he sat down. "Haven't we had this conversation before? You're not a child anymore, you're 19 and should know how to behave by now. If you ever see something like, like what you saw last night, don't try to stop it yourself. Call the police, whatever happens, just call the police. You wouldn't be lying here if you did that."

"I think..." I unglued my eyes from my dad's face, to look at the man who was still holding the woman from last night. Speaking of which, she finally let go of him and sniffled a few times, before looking at me with a small smile on her face. Before I could think of how to respond to that, the man spoke again.