Nothing Left But Scars

The rest of the week dragged on with nothing happening at school or home. Saturday came, and I was thankful for a day off.

I woke to the phone ringing around 10:30 AM.

"Hello?" I asked without checking the number.

"Mindy?" It was Joe's voice. I hadn't heard from him in almost a year. "It's Joe Jonas."

"Hey." I sat back down on my bed. "How have you been?"
His voice was tired, weak, and lonely. "I'm alright. I'm sorry that it has been so long."

"Don't worry about that." I didn't want to rush the conversation, but I was dying to know why he decided to call after so long. "Do you need anything in particular, or do you just wanna chat?"

"We're in town," he said. I hadn't expected him to say that, and I also hadn't expected the intensity of my new longing to see him and Kevin.

"Let's meet up," I said, anxious. The doorbell rang. "One second; my parents are probably home from breakfast."

I carried the cordless phone up the steps from the basement to the front door with me. I opened the door and gasped; Joe was already here.

"Oh," I whispered to myself and hung up the phone. He walked in and down the steps toward our basement, and I closed the door, following him into my room. He sat down in my mushroom chair, and I sat on my bed.

"I'm sorry for not calling like I should have," he said. I looked at his hair; it used to be perfectly done, but now it wasn't done at all, and it looked strange.

"It's fine Joe. You're here now."

"No, you don't understand," he said. "I mean, before it happened. You should have known. He asked for you everyday, you know. Every. Day. I should've called so you could be there." I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, and one slowly ran down Joe's face. "I am so sorry, Mindy."

I stood up and walked towards him. Leaning down, I hugged him. By now, we were both heavily crying now. "Oh, Joe. I forgive you."

He hugged me tight, and I realized how much I missed those Jonas Hugs.

"I have something for you," he told me when the hug was over. I wiped my eyes, having stopped crying. Joe pulled a piece of wrinkled, folded notebook paper from his back pocket.
"We found it under his pillow."

I took the paper and read it, feeling more tears. "Thank you," I whispered.

Joe nodded and stood up to leave. "I'll see you Monday." The look on my face gave away the fact that I had no idea what he was talking about. "Kevin and I will be speaking at your school."

"Oh. Okay..."

I followed him back to the front door. "Goodbye, Mindy," he said, hugging me again.

"Bye, Joe."

When he drove away, I went back to my room. I felt the paper Joe had given me, heavy in my hand. I sat on my bed to think.

----

"This is getting ridiculous." I groaned and closed my cell phone. It had been two weeks without a call from Nick, and he had never gone more than three days without checking in ever since the Look Me In The Eyes Tour made the Jonas lifestyle even busier.

"Just call him," my mother suggested. I hadn't tried that.

After filling my mouth with a spoonful of Corn Pops for breakfast, I dialed his cell number. It didn't take even one ring before going to voicemail.

Chewing, I listened to the voice that I hadn't heard in weeks.

"Hey, it's Nick Jay. I am busy beating up Joe and Kevin-" Nick's voicemail said. You could hear Joe yelling something in the background about his muscles being bigger than Nick's.
"-Even though Joe thinks he's stronger than me. Leave a message, and I'll call you later, gator. Peace!" The phone beeped, signaling me to leave a message.

"Hi, Nick. It's Mindy. I hope you're having fun livin' the dream. I haven't heard from you, and I miss you. Call me!" I hung up and looked at my mom. "When are we leaving to shop for school stuff?" I asked. Tomorrow would be the first day of tenth grade, and we still had a few things left to buy.

"Now," she said, standing. I put my bowl in the sink, and we left for Kohls.

I turned on the radio in our car and started singing to All Over You by The Spill Canvas on our local station. It was interrupted by the DJ.

"We have been asked to announce breaking news immediately, and we are sorry interrupting. Nicholas Jonas, 15, of pop/rock band Jonas Brothers was pronounced dead at 6:42 AM this morning."

As I listened, my body became numb. The world around me did not crash and burn or even change pace. It continued to go on as if nothing were wrong. "Not everything has been released to the public, but the death is said to have been related to his diabetes." The DJ continued on, telling how Nick had been diagnosed with diabetes years ago. We were parked in a parking lot now, and I could hear someone screaming and sobbing. I looked around, seeing no one, before I realized that I was the one screaming.

----

I woke on my bed two hours later with an idea beyond anything I would have ever considered before I knew Nicholas Jonas.