Dare || m.c.

➵ 0.7 - michael

Michael didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Seeing Jade like that scared him more he thought was possible. He didn't like this Jade. She was supposed to be strong, feisty, and witty. She was supposed to talk back to him and irritate him. She shouldn't have been shaking with fear like this.

"Michael, please," she whispered again and it broke Michael's heart.

"C'mon." He went inside the trailer and couldn't believe this was where she slept every night. It was small and suffocating. There was a woman laying on the too tiny couch.

Her skin was sickly pale, and as Michael touched her forehead, it was also ice cold. She wasn't breathing.

She was dead.

But Michael didn't say that to Jade.

Wordlessly, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the car, laying her down carefully in the back seat and Jade sat with her.

Michael texted his stepdad quickly, hoping he would still be at the hospital.

I'm coming to the hospital I need help.

In the back, Jade's phone rang and she answered it.

"I'm going to the hospital... It's my mom... Michael... Please be there, Ash. I need you."

Michael tried to tune her out and focus on the road because he knew that it was a private conversation, but the pain and desperation in her voice was so tangible. Michael just wanted to hug her and make it go away.

"It'll be okay, Little Mermaid," Michael said gently as Jade ended the call with Ashton. He kept his eyes on the road. He couldn't bear to look at how small and breakable she looked.

After a few seconds, he heard her take in a breathless gasp. "Michael," she barely managed to say. "Michael, she's not breathing."

Shit shit shit.

How the hell was he supposed to tell her she was right?

"We'll be at the hospital soon. She'll be-" he was cut off by his phone ringing. It was his stepdad. He answered right away.

"Son, is everything alright?" Richard asked. He was the epitome of calm, while Michael was anything but.

"No, I'm almost to the hospital," Michael answered. "One of my, um, my friend's mom needs help."

Michael and Jade were not friends, but he didn't know how else to explain it at the moment.

Richard started to say something, but Michael cut him off. "I'm driving, Dad. I'll see you soon."

He was already distracted enough because of Jade, he didn't want to lose any more focus.

Once they got to the hospital, Richard met them at the entrance and rushed Jade's mom to the emergency room. But Michael could tell from the look on his stepdad's face that he knew there wasn't anything they could do to save her.

She was already gone.

Jade sat down in one of the chairs along the wall and Michael sat next to her. Her face scared her. She was blank. There was no emotion in her, it was like she wasn't even there.

Michael didn't know what to say to her. He had never been in this situation. Michael slowly took her small hand in his and she didn't resist.

But she did close her eyes. "Not now, Michael. Please."

"I just," Michael tried to tell her that he wasn't doing it to get anything in return, but gave up and let go of her hand. If she needed her space, then Michael wasn't going to push her.