Always (Short Story)

So this was originally a school project and I loved it so much that I wanted to put it on here! Hope you all like it! Enjoy.xx -Macey <3

A grunt escaped my lips as my knees slammed onto the volleyball court for what seemed like the thousandth time of the game. I knew that the bruises that were sure to cover my knee’s the next day would be worth it if the team won. The volleyball slammed off my arms and through the air and with a smack landed across the net and hit the other side of the court giving my team the point

            “Get up Jonathen, save nap time for later!” Coach Runsford shouted from the side lines, his face getting redder by the passing minute. His harsh tone made me scramble to my feet even faster.

            The opposing team, Richmond Prep, called a time out and I took the opportunity to scan the crowd for my parents. A familiar head of sandy blonde hair caught my eye. Tyler Ranson, he was three years older then me and the absolute best friend that a girl could ask for. He was funny, smart, sweet, caring and the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous just added on to it. Tyler had always been my rock and I was his, we depended on each other and that wasn’t a bad thing. But the one face that I didn’t expect to see is the teary eyes face of my brother that burst threw the gyms doors just as the game resumed.

            The world seemed to stop and I knew in my gut that the news I was about to get was going to be bad. My brother never cried! The whole team took notice of Luca and turned to watch him approach coach Runsford and tell him something. From where I was at back middle I could only hear snippets of the conversastion.

            “It’s mom..”

            Those words were all that it took to shatter my world. The players closest to Runsford and Luca turned to look at me with sympathy and pity. My stomach clenched and turned as tears started to obscure my vision. I took off sprinting across the gym and out the doors into the cold October night air, just as I made it to the end of the parking lot my knees buckled and I collapsed into a sobbing heap not caring who saw. I heard people calling my name and pounding footsteps growing closer just as black started to ring my vision. The last thing that I saw before everything faded away was the beautiful but worried face of Tyler asking me if I was okay.

            It turns out that complications had risen during her operation and she died on the table. The following weeks that passed were awful, Luca went off to live with Grandma Jonathen, and my dad went off the deep end. He barely ever got out of bed but when he did it was always to get drunk. I didn’t talk to any of my friends except Tyler, I didn’t care about school and I didn’t care about volleyball. Most of my days and nights were spent in a drunken haze, or when I was sober enough to feel anything, crying.

            Tyler thought I was self-destructing and truth be known, I was. Tyler wasn’t happy with me about how I was handling my mother’s death. He had tried every and I mean every way in the world to get me to see the error of my ways and to stop but you can’t change a person that doesn’t want to change. Drinking was the only thing that kept the pain and the guilt away.

            I honestly think that Tyler’s scared of seeing me wind up like him. When Tyler was 13 his dad committed suicide. Tyler had been the one to find him and he automatically began to blame himself. His father had been his best friend, they did everything together and when Tyler lost him, he lost his self as well. Tyler turned to drugs and alcohol to sooth his pain. He soon got hooked on pills and he fought a long hard battler with his addiction that almost killed him. He was in and out of rehab up until he was sixteen and here he is seven years later and he’s terrified of taking a Tylenol for the fear of getting hooked again. He was trying his hardest for that not to be me, but I wouldn’t listen.