Call me selfish, call me a brat, in fact, you can call me whatever the hell you want, but one thing I am not is a daughter that abandons her father when he’s hurt. I went to all of my teachers and gathered the work for the day, left a note in Jack’s locker, and then went outside to meet my mother, who was taking me to the hospital my father was in. You could put my parents in the same room and listen to them argue at all hours of the night, but when it really came down to it, they still loved each other enough to care if one got hurt. My mom’s eyes were bloodshot and watery as I got in the car. Normally, I would have offered to drive us up there myself, but considering my dad’s accident had just occurred, I wasn’t willing to tempt fate by driving.
“I’m so sorry to bother you at school dear, but I thought you should know. The doctors that called said he wasn’t doing so well and that he might need surgery because a major artery was hit. Do you have all of your school things? I packed you a bag of some things for overnight. Are you okay? If you need to stop just tell me and I’ll find somewhere for us to stop along the way.”
Typical mom, rambling on and asking about me to cover up her own pain. Too bad I could see past the fake smile. The worry lines were so evident on her face right now. And the way her knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel also told me how worried she truly was. I gave her a small smile and then pulled out my ipod and put my headphones in, cranking up the volume until my mom turned to give me one of her looks. She mouthed something, and I didn’t even have to hear her to know that she was making some comment about how I’d be deaf by the time I hit 30.
Somewhere between putting my headphones in and our arrival at the hospital in Baltimore I had fallen asleep. My mom shook me to wake me up, and I looked out the window of the car, not sure what to think. I was back in my hometown, and my dad was in the big building in front of me. I bit my lip and grabbed my purse before following my mom into the hospital with chills running up my spine.
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