She Used to Be a Pearl

I woke up from a deep sleep when I heard my phone ringing. I reached for it and answered quickly.

"Hello?" I asked in a groggy voice.

"John Cornelius O'Callaghan! Why did my roommate show up at my door last night in tears and cry herself to sleep?" Amanda's loud voice cried.

"I- I can't talk about this right now Amanda."

And with that I hung up the phone.

The rest of the guys were asleep. If that would have been a normal phone call, then I might have been able to go back to sleep as well, but no. It was about Caty. She was home. Now there wasn't any chance of her coming back and saving me from my personal hell.

Despite what my head told me, I grabbed my phone and quietly escaped onto the hotel balcony that overlooked the city in Maine. It was thunder storming. Of course.

I scrolled down through my contacts until I saw the name that made my heart thump in my chest. I hit 'send' and held the phone to my ear.

It rang and rang and rang.

"Hey, it's Caty. Sorry I missed you, leave your name and a message and I'll get back to you!"

I heard the beep go off after the recording of her angelic voice, but then I realized that I didn't know what to say. I immediately hung up and called again.

"Hey, it's Caty. Sorry I missed you, leave your name and a message and I'll get back to you!"

"Caty... It's John." Then my voice hitched again.

I realized that I couldn't say what I needed to over the phone. I hung up again and sighed.

"Come back to me, Caty." I whispered as if she could hear me somehow.

My phone rang again. I answered it quickly, almost knocking it off the railing in hopes it would be Caty.

"Hello?"

"John, it's Doctor Martin." The old man greeted. "The specialist looked at your x-rays today and it seems we're going to need you to come back in. He thinks that you'll need surgery to reconstruct the broken knuckles."

"Surgery? Um, when should I come in?"

"As soon as you can. Let's try for nine?" He answered.

"Okay, thanks."

"You're welcome. See you soon."

Surgery? I've never had surgery before.

I walked back inside and showered and got ready.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kennedy asked when he woke up and saw me getting ready.

"I have to go back to the hospital. I might need surgery." I told him.

"Dude! Are you okay? Do you need a ride?"

"Yeah, I could use a ride, thanks."

He nodded and got dressed. We walked to the car and drove to the hospital in silence.

"Are you okay?" He asked suddenly.

"No." I answered quickly. "I miss her, Kenny."

"That's hard. Amanda says that Caty thinks it's her fault..."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "It's all my fault! How could she even think that?"

Kenny shrugged in return and kept driving.

How could she think this was her fault? Any other girl would blame this all on me.

We arrived at the hospital and I told the receptionist that I needed to see Dr. Martin.

"Oh, he's expecting you. You can go straight back." She said pointing to the door.

"Thanks." I nodded as I walked through the door, leaving Kennedy in the waiting room.

I walked into the room and sat down on the bed.

"John, how's your hand?" The doctor asked as he came through the door.

"It's a little sore." I answered honestly.

"Well, first we're going to cut that cast off. Then I'll have a look at it and we'll probably need to operate. Is there anyone you'd like me to call?" He asked.

"Nah, one of my friends is in the waiting room."

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to call anyone else? I think your girlfriend might like to know what's going on." He suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea..." I said shaking my head.

"Are you positive?"

"I wouldn't want to be bothered if I were her." I sighed.

"Well, if you change your mind just let me know."

"Thank you."

They took my cast off and got me ready for surgery. The last thing I remembered was counting down from 100.

---------------------------------------------------

When I woke up I saw a blur of lights and heard muffled voices.

She suddenly appeared wearing a floral print dress with her hair in perfect curls. She gazed down at me lovingly and smiled.

"Caty?"

"John, how do you feel?" She asked as she pushed my hair from my forehead.

"I feel great now that you're here. I missed you."

"I missed you too, sweetheart." She said kissing my cheek. "I'll never leave again."

"John? John!"

I opened my eyes and saw Kennedy hovering over me.

It wasn't real.

"Yeah?" I slurred.

"Caty's on the phone. She wants to talk to you."

"What?" I asked, hoping and praying that this wasn't another dream.

Kennedy handed me the phone and I reached out with my hand that wasn't wrapped up in bandages.

"Hello?"