I'm 13 Years Old... And Pregnant?!

"Where's Brandon?" I screamed into the phone. My voice seemed the scare the answerer, there was a pause.

"Brandon... Brandon..." The answerer searched for the answer. "Brandon isn't here." The voice broke down into tears.
I stopped breathing.

My head started to turn, I felt like the ground was shaking below me. I fell to the ground; it felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach and tripped me. The phone went flying out of my hand. I tried to reach for it, but my arm was shaking so hard I thought it would fall off.

I heard someone crying, someone saying Brandon's name over and over again. It took me a minute to figure out that the crying person was me. I curled up into a little ball, trying to keep myself from falling apart. Slowly, my shaky hand reached for the phone. "Hello?" I whispered.

"Breagh? Breagh? Is that you?!" The answerer demanded. I froze again.

"Y-yes." I tried to whisper again, but it came out as some sort of whine. I wanted to ask how the answerer name my name, but my thoughts were interrupted.

"Breagh, listen to me. This is Brandon's sister." The answerer paused. "Can you hear me? Are you there?"

I gasped. "Celia!" I cried, trying to get to my feet. "Brandon-" "Brandon's fine, Bree. Listen to me, take a deep breathe. Brandon is fine."

I sighed a sigh of relief, and I tried to understand. "But... but you said... you said Brandon..." I gulped.

"Brandon's in the hospital."

I took the phone away from my ear, staring at it. At the hospital? And he's FINE? What happened? Was I mistaken? Maybe it wasn't Brandon calling. Maybe it was just a joke. No, Brandon was at the hospital. There has to be a reason for that. My thoughts went on, and I barely heard Celia screaming into the phone. "Breagh! Are you there? Listen to me!"

I took another deep breathe. "Celia. Where are you?"

"At the hospital, with Brandon," She said, calming down.

"Which hospital?" It was more important to find where Brandon was than to find out what had happened.

"Marie France. Do you know where that is? You have to get here NOW," She answered fast, her voice in a rush.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm on my way," I said, running to my bike. "What happened?"

This time she took a deep breath. "It's hard to explain... I'll let Brandon say it. Just get here fast."

I nodded to myself. "I will. Celia, I got to go. I have to call my aunt. Take care of him for me..." I trailed off, trying not to cry again.

Celia tried to say something, but I pressed the end button too quickly for her to get her final words out. I kept my hand steady on the bike, my other hand fiercely dialing Flore's number. It rang. Again. Again. Again.

Another 4 rings, and the answering machine came on. Hey, this is Florise Sanders! Leave a message! "Flore!" I shouted. "I'm on my way to the hospital, Brandon's there. Call me when you get this!"

I slammed the phone shut and forced it into my tiny jean pocket. I pedaled faster, nearly falling off the bike whenever I turned a corner.

After an extremely long 10 minutes, I finally arrived at the hospital. I drove my bike into a bush to hide it, jumped off and ran into the hospital doors. I almost ran down the hospital hallway before I remembered that I had no idea where in the building Brandon was. So I ran up to the front desk.
"Brandon! Brandon!" I gasped, searching for air.

My asthma has finally started to kick in, unfortunately. The secretary took a breath and slowly turned her head to me. "Who, sweetie? Who do you want?" She smiled. I knew the smile was meant to make me feel better, but it just looked menacing to me.

"Brandon Verro, where is he?" I cried.

"Shhh. Calm down, sweets." She smiled again, and turned to her computer to type in Brandon's name. I waited and waited for her to answer. Every second felt like an hour.

"Verro," She answered Finlay. "Room 307. Take the stairs or elevator."

"Thanks," I mumbled and ran to the staircase. The elevator would take too long. 307. 307. 307. I said the number again and again in my head, trying to remember. At the end of the staircase, I started to run to room 307.

"Hey!" Someone shouted at me. I turned myself around.

"What?" I shouted back. A woman at a small desk was staring at me.

"You can't go in any of these rooms, Miss."

"But I have to! Brand-" I said with a rush.

"Waiting room," She pointed to a door.

"But... but... Brandon!" I begged.

"I'm sure your Bradley is fine, Miss. Waiting room," She pointed again.

"It's Brandon," I mumbled, running to the waiting room. My stomach pulsed with pain.

"Ow!" I whispered, grabbing my stomach. "Ow! God, damn babies!"

I guess all that running was finally taking it's effect on the growing children inside my abdomen. I knew it wasn't the babies hadn't done anything, so I silently apologized and forced myself to jog the rest of the way to the waiting room. I opened the door, scanning the room for familiar faces.

"Breagh!" I heard a shout from the left side of the room. A woman with dark brown hair stood up.

"Celia?" I asked myself as she ran to me. She changed so much.

"Oh, Breagh! Wow, look at you! You've gotten so... BIG!" She smiled and sniffled, wiping away the rest of the tears off her cheeks. How could she be smiling at a time like this?

"Brandon is going to be okay. Don't worry," She seemed to read my mind. "Come on, have a seat." She guided me to her place in the waiting room.

"Where is he?" I spoke for the first time.

"Brandon's in his room. The doctor says he'll be fine, and we'll be aloud in in a couple minutes. He just needs some time to...wake up."

Wake up! I said to myself. "What happened?" I mumbled. If I talked too much about him, I was sure I'd start to cry again. Celia stared at me.

"Breagh..." She paused, choosing her words. "Brandon really loves you. Do you know that?"

I looked up at her. "Yes," I whispered, though I didn't really believe it.

"He loves you a lot, Bree. And... you... you hurt him. I hope you know that, though I really don't want to to point all the blame at you. Brandon has been one to react very strongly." She paused again. "Breagh?"

"I don't get it," I said, trying to understand. "What happened to Brandon?"

She sighed. "He tried to kill himself, Breagh."

I froze. Even though I knew that it was true, hearing her speak the words to me pierce a hole through my heart. I broke down in tears.

"Celia! Oh, I didn't mean to do anything! I say him cheating on me, he admitted it... he didn't even look like he regretted it. Then he broke up with me. He told me that i was too much pressure on him, that is was too hard for him. It doesn't make sense. for it to be too hard on HIM? What's so hard on him? I'm the pregnant one!

And then he tried to take me back, he acted like it was nothing, like it was no big deal... I don't want that, Celia. I do love Brandon, I really do. But what he did... it was unforgivable. He can't just cheat on me, then make me feel like shit and then decide to take me back. He can't do that. He can find someone else."

I turned my head away, as did Celia. We sat in silence. I tried to figure things out, tried to find out what Celia was talking about. Brandon didn't love me, not anymore. I know what love is, and a person who loves another person doesn't cheat on them or break up with them for no reason. Celia and I sat, in silence, for a good 5 minutes. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know what had happened to Brandon anymore.

"Well," Celia said, breaking the silence. "I guess you should have this."

She took a piece of paper from her pocket. She didn't have to say what it was, we both knew what it was. She handed the suicide note to me, and my shaky hand took it from her. I forced myself to look at the paper.

Dear Breagh,

I hope you find this, or someone gives this to me. Because really, you're the only reason I'm doing this. Don't feel bad, though. It's not your fault. I shouldn't have done all that stuff to you. I shouldn't have cheated on you, or broken up with you. I really didn't do any of it to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you, never. I can't live without you, so I won't.

The letter didn't have a signature. I turned to Celia, I was surprised to see that she was already staring down at me. She took my head in her arms, and stroked my hair as the tears fell down my cheeks. We didn't say anything, we both just sat there.

For a moment; I thought that it was my own mother stroking my hair. It didn't feel right, like something wasn't right. She was comforting me, she shouldn't be comforting me. I pulled my head away and looked at her.

"What happened?" I asked. I knew this time she'd answer honestly.

Celia sighed, closing her eyes. "This isn't something that started this morning, Breagh. It's been going on for a while." She opened her eyes and looked at me. I didn't say anything, a sign for her to continue.

She took a breath. "Brandon has been depressed for the past few months. He didn't think he was good enough for you. He told me everything, as you know we've always been very close. But within the past few days, Brandon has stopped talking to anyone. He said he was feeling sick, so he didn't go to school. And then... today... I felt something wasn't right. It was too quiet in the house.

So I went to Brandon's room. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. He yelled at me to not come in. There was a certain tone in his voice... something was very, very wrong. I told to open it now, or else I'd call mom and dad. He said he didn't care. So I went to call my parents.

I called them, and they told me just to leave him alone. They said he as just being himself, but I know Brandon, he never acts like this. But I did as my parents told me, I ignored it and went into my room to listen to some music. After an hour, Brandon still hadn't come out. I decided to go check it out. I knocked on his door over and over again, but he didn't answer. I told him to open it, but he wouldn't.

I told him I was worried about him, but he wouldn't answer the door. I threatened to call the police. When he didn't answer the door after that, I knew he was in trouble. I ran to the phone and called the hospital, I told them that I thought something was wrong with my brother. Well, it turns out I was right. He swallowed two bottles of pills."

I stared at Celia, waiting for her to continue. She didn't this time. "Is that it?" I whispered. She nodded. I looked down at my shoes. "Is... he going to be okay?"

She took a deep breath. "To be perfectly honest, Breagh, I don't know. The doctors say they get kids like him all the time, but... I've been waiting her for a half an hour, and no news on him yet. And he was in there for an hour, with those drugs in his system... I don't know if..." She took another breath. "I don't think... that he'll make it. I hope they can save him, but... I have this feeling..."

She stopped talking. We both looked out the window. "Let's pray," I said quietly. She nodded, not turning around to look at me. We kept staring at the window, waiting.