Those Worse Off Than You

As much as Jayde and her family had tried to get me out of the hospital for my last week, I was forced to return at eight o'clock that night. I had really appreciated everything that they had done for me, even though they hadn't really cared much for me. Before I left Monday morning, I had 3 more sessions with Jeff that had to go smoothly, or I would be thrown into a program the first second I got to Ohio. The first would be tomorrow morning.

My second issue: those CD's weren't good enough of a gift. I needed to buy something special. My father's money had been left in my name, and I had more money in my bank account then I had ever seen in one time. It would be enough to buy something special for Jayde before I left. I decided I would talk to Jeff about it tomorrow. Maybe he cou;d get me out of here for a couple hours and be a nice guy long enough to help me pick out something nice.

***

When I arrived back at the room, I put the shopping bags under the bed and collapsed on top with a heavy sigh. I turned to Jayde who smiled from the doorway. It lit up the room in a way that made me question previous events. I sat up and called her over to sit next to me, but she shook her head and stated, "I should go. I havn't seen my parents since yesterday."

I smiled. "Ah- okay..."

She nodded. "I'm going to go call my dad to come pick me up, okay?"

I nodded before I watched her leave the room, leaving the empty echo of the quiet click of the door for company. I sighed again and groaned loudly. What if my grandparent's didn't like me? What if they blamed me for the death of my parents. What if they thought I was just a screw up. I wouldn't be surprised because that would almost be an understatement.

I guess I'd lost track of the time, because it had to have been almost ten minutes before my dream world was demolished when Jayde re-entered the room, followed by her parents, suspiciously holding their hands behind them as they said with wide, friendly smiles," Hi Ace!"

I suspiciously stared at them before they took a suitcase from behind their backs. "This is for you."

I smiled and quietly said, "Thank you." I took the dark blue suitcase and placed it under the bed. I knew they were trying to be nice, but couldn't help but wonder if maybe this were a sign that they were anxious to see me leave. Jayde smiled, hinting that they were just trying to be nice.

"Jayden told us about you're little move, so we thought we'd drop in with a little gift."

"Yea," I repeated. "Thanks."

Jayde's mom looked at her family, a hint of worry in her eye before her husband remarked, "Nice haircut by the way. Makes you look more mature."

I chuckled lightly. "Yea... I could say otherwise."

"Alright, we should go," Jayde's mom said to her family in a sigh, turning uneasily towards the door. She didn't trust me.

"Alright," I said quietly, waving at them as they turned towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jayde said.

"No- uh, actually, don't come right in the morning.... I've got a session with Jeff. I'll call you when I'm done."

She smiled and nodded through her diapointment and said, "Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye," she said quietly before leaving the room empty.