With Every Strike Of Lightning.

“Claire, would you stop walking back and forth!” Joe said from his place on the couch.

“This is my fault I should be there.” I mumbled.

“It wasn’t your fault; she was getting slight contractions all day. It was bound to happen sometime.” Joe said placing both hands on my shoulders to stop me from pacing.

“But Joe, the baby can’t arrive yet, it’s too early! What if he or she has a serious illness, or what if they ..they. die!” I said tears coming to my eyes.

“Don’t say that Claire, the baby will be happy and healthy. It will just have an earlier birthday.” Joe said just as lightening flashed lighting the room up for a second before disappearing again.

“Kevin and Lauren shouldn’t have gone, the paramedics told them not to.” I said shaking my head before going to clean up the water on the floor.

It had been almost two hours and we hadn’t heard nothing from Lauren, Kevin, Nick or the hospital. The storm had gotten heavier, I had made Joe close the curtains to stop the lightening from scaring me.

Both Joe and I jumped when my phone started ringing. “Hello Ms.Sparks this is Los Angeles central hospital.” The woman on the other end of the phone said.

“Has she had the baby, is she okay?” I asked quickly. Joe running his hands up and down my arm.

“I’m sorry Ms Sparks, there must be some sort of misunderstanding. I’m calling about Lauren Friend, you were down for her next of kin.

I frowned. “No, her husband Kevin is. What’s happened?” I asked worried.

“I’m sorry to tell you, but Lauren is in a very critical condition. Now, I have to advise you not to travel in this weather.” She continued before I dropped the phone from my hand. Joe picked it up seeing my sudden change of mood walking into the kitchen talking to the woman. I sat there trying to take in the information. Lauren had been hurt badly, where was Kevin? I grabbed my coat just as Joe walked out of kitchen looking pale.

“Claire, where are you going?” He asked worried.

“To see Lauren.” I said making my way outside.

“Claire, you can’t travel in this storm!” Joe shouted chasing after me into the rain.

“What do you expect me to do Joe, sit in there waiting for news?” I shouted over the sound of the lightning. Unlocking Joe’s car.

“Do you want to be here for Lauren when she recovers?” He asked slowly walking towards me.

“Of course I do!” I said defensively.

“Well, you can’t do that if you are dead Claire. Please don’t get in the car.” He sounded like he was begging.

“Joe, please we have to go. She is my best friend, I can’t just sit around whilst she is in the hospital fighting for her life.” I cried, tears pouring down my already wet face. “If anything happened to her and I was here just sat there, I would never forgive myself.”

“Okay, okay. Get in the car.” Joe said taking the keys from me.

The drive to the hospital was torturous. We were pulling into the hospital when Joe’s phone rang. I answered it.

“Hello.” I answered.

“Claire, I have some news to tell both you and Joe.” Denise was crying.

“We are at the hospital now Denise, what’s wrong?” I asked, but before she could answer the phone line went dead.

Joe grabbed my hand as we walked into the hospital. We didn’t need to go to reception, because Denise was waiting for us. Running over she hugged Joe.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Joe asked letting go of my hand to comfort his mum.

“It’s Kevin, he’s – he’s dead.” She cried harder.

Joe stopped dead in his tracks; he was silent whilst I sniffed back my tears and tried to comfort Denise. “What happened?” Joe asked no emotion in his voice, it scared me.

“They were driving here, Kevin and Lauren. The paramedics think that the lightening hit a tree and it fell into the car, smashing the windscreen and Kevin’s window. He was pronounced dead as soon as the paramedics arrived.” Denise managed to explain before sobbing again. We were now walking down a corridor; I could see Paul and Nick standing outside of a room.

Suddenly I had this feeling wash over me, I knew I had to see Lauren. “Where is Lauren Friend, I have to see her.” I grabbed a passing nurse.

“Sorry mam, Lauren is in surgery at the moment. We will tell you when we hear any news.” She said pulling out of my grip.

“Claire, calm down stop making a scene.” Joe said grabbing my arm roughly, looking around the hospital.

“How can you be so calm, she could die!” As soon as the words left my mouth I cringed, Joe had just lost his brother.

“What like my brother did? Do you know how I feel right now?” Joe shouted in my face shaking me, tears now trailing down his face.

“I- I’m sorry, Joe -,” Joe pulled away from me.

“Just go see Lauren.” He seethed pushing me away. Nick and Paul stood up from their seats.

“Son.” Paul stepped forwards towards Joe.

“Don’t- don’t come near me. I need to be alone.” Joe said turning and walking away.

I went to follow him, but Nick caught my elbow. “Look Claire, I think- I think he just wants to be alone at the moment. Come on I’ll take you to see Jordan and our son.” Nick’s expression didn’t change, however I saw the sparkle in his eye.

I just followed Nick down the corridor in silence afraid that if I spoke I would upset him as well.

Just has Nick went to open the door to Jordan’s room, a nurse came up to us. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but you are Ms Sparks?” She asked her eyes reflected an emotion but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

“Yes, that’s me.” I nodded.

“Can I talk to you alone please, it’s about Ms Friend.” She said.

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Nick he is family as well.” I said as Nick let go of the door handle.

“We did everything we could, the surgery went smoothly but Lauren lost a lot of blood as well as two broken ribs. The baby unfortunately died with the impact from the car crash. I’m sorry but Ms Friend didn’t come round from anesthetic.” That was all I heard before I blanked everything out, I could still see the nurses mouth moving and that expression in her eyes sympathy.

The next thing I knew, I was being led into Jordan’s room by Nick. Jordan’s eyes were red and puffy matching Nick’s, but she had a small smile on her face as she leant over her baby boy. Looking up when we entered the room, she started talking to Nick. I blocked their conversation out, trying to come to terms with the news I had just heard. Lauren, the person who had been in my life since a young age was gone. We went through every stage in our life so far together, starting school, moving up to high school, we even got our first jobs together. Then of course we achieved our dream together, we became Forever True.

Suddenly Jordan stopped talking, placing her baby in his cot, all the color draining from her face. She opened her arms out to me, a single tear rolling down her face. I don’t know how I moved, but I was soon hugging Jordan whilst she cried. I had yet to cry. When I looked in the cot beside Jordan’s bed and saw Bradley Kevin, for the first time, his little hands and feet moving around, as he peered up through his brown eyes similar to both his parents. He had a little tuff of curly brown hair at the top of his head. He was so clueless to the drama that was happening around him. This was when I broke down.

I heard the door open again, but didn’t bother to look who it was. I saw Joe’s shoes before I saw him. I looked up to see that Joe had been crying his heart out, his eyes were bloodshot and red and his hair was all over the place. He prized me away from Jordan, who fell back into Nick’s arms.

I rested my head on his chest, still crying, I could tell Joe was trying not to cry again because his breathing was shaky. I could hear Jordan and Nick sobbing together. After a few moments everything went quiet, when suddenly Bradley started crying. Jordan quickly took him out of the coat, and began cooing to him, Nick gently stroking his son’s head.

I sat up slowly, looking over Joe’s shoulder, I realized this must be difficult for Jordan and Nick because they want to feel happy because they have just had their first child, but they want to cry and grief for the loss of their brother and sister. I knew Kevin and Lauren wouldn’t want us crying on a day like this.

I looked back at Joe, who was watching me. He gave me a gentle nudge. “Can I hold Bradley, in a minute?” I asked my voice sounding strained because of all the crying I had done.

Jordan looked up with a smile on her face, as Nick took Bradley from Jordan’s arms and placing him gently in mine. I smiled down at the baby in my arms; this little boy was going to grow up to be just like his father and uncles. Joe reached over and let Bradley hold onto one of his fingers, he chuckled when Bradley tightened his grip.

It was nice to sit there and pretend everything was normal, but we all knew this was the end of The Jonas Brothers and Forever True, life was never going to be the same ever again but none of us wanted to voice our realization.