Just a Dare

Chapter Nine

I wanted to throw up.

No. No, no, no.

It wasn't true.

It couldn't be true.

I really wanted to throw the fuck up right then, but when I felt everyone in the room still staring at me, it brought me back to earth and I swallowed the bile that had begun to rise up in my throat. My mind zeroed back in to the phone call.

"Wh-what?" I finally managed to stutter out.

"Melody was in a car accident, Trey." Karissa whispered into the phone.

My heart pounded against my ribcage and my mouth went dry. "I-is she-?" Dead, I meant to say.

Is she dead?

But I couldn't find the strength to actually verbalize the word, so my voice faltered and gave out on me.

Mel and death, well, they didn't go well together. She was life itself-cheerful and optimistic, forgiving and gentle and careful; someone like that couldn't possibly be associated with death.

I refused to believe it, even as fresh tears sprang into my eyes out of nowhere, my chest tightening up. God, it was hard for me to breath because Melody couldn't be...

"I-I don't know," She said, and I could hear her voice begin to grow heavy again.

I gripped the phone tightly, agony and desperation beginning to make it difficult for me to keep my composure. I couldn't lose it. Not here. Not now. "Where is she now?" I hissed.

"The ambulance just got here a couple of minutes ago, so they should be arriving at the hospital-"

"Which hospital?" I demanded. When she didn't answer immediately, I snarled, "Tell me which hospital she's at!"

Karissa broke down again and I growled in frustration. She was an emotional wreck right now; how could I possibly rely on her for critical details like this? I honestly hadn't meant to come across as such a dick, but I wanted answers, and she wasn't giving them to me.

"I'll find out myself," I muttered into the receiver. "Thanks for calling." I hung up and stared at the phone for a long moment.

I had to find Melody. I had to see if she was okay. I needed to know that she was safe, and that she was alive.

I turned and looked at my mom, standing up. "Mom, I-"

Her blue eyes locked with mine and she gave me a soft, sad smile. "Go to her, Trey," she said quietly, her eyes shining with tears. She nodded to the sleeping man, "He would understand."

I smiled weakly at her, the only thanks I was capable of giving at the moment, and then, for the last time, I left that hospital room.

It was hard to leave knowing that I wasn't going to be there for him when he died, but he had been going down this road for years. If I really thought about it, I knew that it was goodbye when that ambulance drove away from our house that fateful night.

I wanted to crumple to the floor and disappear as I recalled how very much my fault it had been that it had happened at all, and I hated myself for it. But right now with Mel possibly lying dead somewhere on a stretcher because she ran away after I screwed things up, I had to force myself to keep moving because I needed to physically see her and know that she was going to be okay.

As soon as the door closed behind me, my adrenaline started pumping and blood roared in my ears. I began running down the hallway, hurrying as quickly as my feet could carry me to the area where ambulance patients were ushered in. As soon as I came in, I saw a handful of doctors in blue and purple scrubs talking to each other in hushed tones. I heard a snippet of the conversation as I jogged past, and it made my feet come to an abrupt halt.