The next day, I walk into the cafeteria of the school, my mom still in my mind. I sit down at the closest table to the door, my back facing towards the rest of the people. I try to avoid anyone, including Nicole and Joseph.
Gabe sits at the table behind me, and I can tell because he laughs so hard, I’m not sure how the people in here can tolerate him. What he’s laughing at, I don’t even know, and I don’t even wish to care.
He reaches over, tapping me on the shoulder. I ignore him, trying not to start any trouble, like the other day. Suddenly, I hear him yell at me across the tables, in an annoying taunting voice, “Hey Ralph where is that group of hippie freaks that you’re always with?” I ball up my fist, knowing that there is going to be some trouble soon!
I turn around calmly. Enough is already on my mind, with my mom in the hospital and now he’s doing this to me. “You know, there must be something better for you to do than to insult us!” He shakes his head.
“Maybe if you would have stuck with us, then yeah. But now you’ve gone and found yourself some other friends who will accept you.”
“Let’s get one thing straight,” I say, “I didn’t leave you, I found a place that will take me in and help me, so…” I pause. “So yeah, I left you, but you have to admit that was a good reason.” I say.
He’s obviously angry, and I can tell because he jumps to me, grabbing me by the collar, holding me close to him, where we’re only four inches away from each other. His eyebrows point down, showing anger in his face. His face starts to turn a blushing red from the anger.
I twist around, ruining the grip that he has on my shirt, and as soon as I lose him, his free hands force their way on me, pushing me over. I fall down and land on the table that I was sitting at.
I stand up as he tries to push me over once more, but I block both of his hands by throwing them off to the side. With both of his hands out of the way, I am able to kick him, knocking him over.
A teacher runs over to us, trying to stop us. Before he gets here, however, Gabe gets up, spinning me around, putting me in a choke lock from the back. With his arm around my neck, I start to lose oxygen, and I can’t breathe. I must be turning purple, or blue, or something from lack of air.
I can’t hear anything else, but the only thing that I can hear is Gabe yelling as loud as he can, “I’m going to kill you!” I try to get out, but it’s no use, because I’m too weak. I know this one pressure point, I think it is, under the chin, but I am too weak to even get my hand up.
As I start to feel even woozier, I feel Gabe being separated from me. I can’t see anything, but I figure that it is one of the teachers, or one of the students that realize what he’s doing.
As they pull Gabe out of the cafeteria, I can still hear him yelling, “I’m telling you, you better watch your back, because I’m going to kill you! You’re going to be dead! You hear me? DEAD!”
Those are the last words as I get too weak and just collapse on the floor.
I wake up a few hours later, according to the clock on the nightstand beside my bed, it’s three forty-five. I don’t know how I got in my bed, but I’m sure that the school called my parents to come get me. Although, it’s just Steve! Mom is still in the hospital.
I stand up, grabbing my shoes beside me, walking down stairs.
I walk out to my car, heading on my way to mom.
I sit on the side of her as she lies on her hospital bed. I sit there, holding her still hand. A monitor next to her bed beeps, and that continuous beep is the only thing telling me that she is still alive! A tear drop runs down my face, bringing back memories of when dad was in this bed.
I watch as my dad falls down on the truck.
“DAD!” I yell, throwing myself down to his side, grabbing him and holding him in my arms.
“Dad?”
The car drives off as I hear my dad’s last words. “Ralph, I love you.” His body becomes limp as the breath leaves his body.
“Mom,” I say, “I sure hope you’re okay.” I don’t know what I would do if I lost her. She is the only one that I have left!
A knock at the door makes me jump as I turn to see who it is. Joe stands at the door looking down on me.
“Oh, Joe.” He nods his head as a form of hello as he asks, “Is now a bad time?” I shake my head. “No, It is okay,” I say.
He walks in and sits down in the empty chair right next to me. He looks over to me as he smiles in an attempt to get me to cheer up. “I’m sorry,” he says, “about your mother, that’s just a horrible thing to hear about.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s just that you never think that something like this would ever happen to you.” I can see Joe out of the corner of my eye nodding in agreement to my comment.
“Yeah, I know,” he says, “It is just crazy how things can change that fast.” He says. He stutters, although, that is normal for him to do. He stutters every time during service.
“Can I ask you something?” I say, looking up to him and away from the floor.
“Yeah, sure anything,” he says, encouraging me to feel free to ask him anything that I need help with. “Well,” I say, “I start coming to church, I start living right, I remodel my entire life, I do a complete change, and this happens, why?” I ask, looking back down to the floor.
“Well,” He says. “I don’t know why anything happens the way that it does, it is sort of like that kind of stuff is only for God to know. People have been wondering that for years and years, but we’ll never be alive to know. Probably God is putting us through a test of faith, to see what we’ll do in a certain situation. Perhaps it happens and it will soon lead to something better and deserving.” What? How can this lead to something better? “Maybe,” he continues, “He’s doing it to get your attention on something. Trust me. God would do anything to get your attention. In ‘Numbers 22’, he gets a donkey to talk to someone.
But he might want your attention, have you been praying?” he asks, looking over at me.
I shake my head. “No,” I say, “But, I…” I let the air out of my mouth, before I say my last, “No.”
“Well maybe that’s it.” He stands up out of his chair. “Pray tonight and see if that helps any.” He shakes my hand as he walks through the wooden door and out into the hallway, where I can hear the doctors talking.
I’m woken up by the nurse shaking me awake. “Sir? Sir!” She says. “I’m sorry, but the visiting hours are over.” She says walking out of the room.
I stand up, stretching as I check my watch for the time. Eight o’seven. Four hours after Joe left.
I walk out of the hospital and out into the nice warm spring air. I walk down the road towards my house. I don’t have my car, I asked Steve if he could take it home with him when he stopped by to visit mom.
I love walking, so it doesn’t bother me that much. The nice warm air feels so good. The wet ground, that glosses in the light below the moon. and the street lights, which lighten my way down the dark sidewalk. If it wasn’t for the light, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a tree and a person.
I think about what Joe told me.
“Maybe it’s because you’re not praying.” I hear his voice in my head. “Pray tonight and see if it helps.” He says.
I stop dead in my tracks! I feel something strange. The feeling that you get when it’s like you’re being watched. I turn around, however, looking for someone to be around. All I see is an empty sidewalk and trash cans out by the road, ready for the garbage truck to pick them up in the morning. Bushes move as the wind blows, but that’s about it. Nobody is around, no cars, no animals, no living creatures to be seen.
I continue on my way down my street.
I walk into the house, shutting and locking the door. I walk up the steps to the second floor of the house, walking into my room, lying down on the bed.
I stay down for a total of five second before sitting up and thinking of my mom.
She’s in the hospital right now, and Joe says that praying would help in this situation, and I haven’t been praying at all.
Well, that is about to change!
“Here you go, God.” I say as I bow my head. “God, I need your help. Please get me through this! My mom doesn’t deserve to be in the hospital with a stroke. She doesn’t deserve to be suffering, but I know that if it’s your will, then we should not argue! But please God, please help her! Please.” I bring my head, hoping that it worked.
I lie down on my bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my clock says, 11:11PM. All I can think of is if it worked or not, but I have faith that it worked.