Before the Storm

"No!" Althea couldn't believe what the doctor had just told her. Something in her brain just wouldn't let her process the words correctly. Her fight or flight instinct had kicked: she was going with fight.

"Miss, I'm very sorry, but we tried everything. We had our best doctors working to save her. I'm sorry," the man gave her shoulder a light squeeze before walking off to where Althea knew her mother's body was waiting to be taken to the cold morgue.

"No, no, no," she managed to get out between sobs as she slid slowly to the floor. Paul watched her as he struggled to compose himself. As much as he tried to be a badass, he still had a hard time seeing someone else in pain.

"Thea," he said quietly as he grabbed her arms and tried to pull her up. She waved and flailed her arms as much as she could, tears cascading all over her body as she struggled to keep Paul away from. The look in her eyes was maniac as she tried to keep herself to herself and not let him get her, "let me help you."

"No! Just leave me alone," her voice was already hoarse from her crying, "please. Don't touch me!"

"You can't stay here! It's not good for you to be stuck in the hospital," Paul insisted and tried to pick her up again. As he bent down he managed to pin her arms behind her back so she had no choice but to let him carry her. She had resigned to sobbing quietly instead of denying the death of her mother, because no one had come out and told her it was a joke. She figured if she held out long enough, everyone would tell her it's some sort of a cruel sick joke. But then-

"This isn't a joke, is it?" she asked quietly as Paul carried her over his shoulder. He paused for a moment before continuing on his way.

"No. You know none of us would ever do that," his voice had regained some of its sarcastic nature that Althea remembered.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered, "I have no other family, and I'm still in school and-"

"Don't worry about that right now," he insisted as they got to his car. He placed her gently in the passenger seat of his old, beat up truck and quickly walked over to the other side, "we'll figure it out."

"I don't know how life can ever go on. I never did understand how anyone got over death and now, having it at my own doorstep, I don't understand it anymore than I did before," she sighed and crossed her arms and pulled her knees to her chest.

"It's hard. My mom died too, remember?" he shrugged and stared ahead at the wet road rather than meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I-I-I forget," she stuttered and mentally slapped herself.

"No, don't worry about it. It's not good to dwell on death or what could have happened, or whatever, what you need to do is to celebrate the person's life. Remember them as they were. That's what they would want," Althea stared at Paul from the corner of her eye. What happened to the normal Paul? The one she had known her whole life?

"Paul? Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he smiled slightly.

"Something else, then?"

"Shoot,"

"What happened to you? You usually can't stand me,"

"I never hated you, Thea. And I don't now. Maybe I'm trying to be nice," he shrugged, a slight blush creeping onto his face.

"It's working," she yawned and leaned her head against the window. The next thing she knew was sleep.

_____

Althea found herself in her bed again, this time wearing some warm pajamas. She looked out the window and realized it must have been pretty late at night. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror and saw that the day's events had taken their toll on her. She looked how she felt. She walked down the stairs and saw the light in the living room and kitchen on.

"Hello?" she called out softly.

"It's me," Paul's voice rang back to her.

"What's going on?"

"I'm staying the night here to make sure you're okay-"

"So nothing comes back again?" she guessed correctly.

"Well, that too. I'm just here to...help you with whatever you need. Emily stopped by and brought dinner and brought some clean pajamas. The food's in the oven,"

"Thanks," she sighed slightly and opened the door, only to be bowled over by the delicious scent of Emily's casserole.

"Hey, Thea,"

"What?"

"It's gonna be okay. Everything will be okay," Paul promised as he took out a plate and put dinner together for her.