Call Me Twisted

That night Mason didn't say a word to me. He sat quiet at the dinner table, but otherwise acted as though nothing was wrong. When Mom asked him to meet her upstairs, I took it as my cue to go in my room and fall asleep to my ipod. I was so tired I actually fell asleep on top of my blankets.

The feeling of my phone vibrating woke me up. It was still dark out so I knew it was ridiculously early. I didn't even bother looking at my phone to answer it. I just pressed the answer button and held it against my ear, with my eyes still closed.

"Hello?" I murmured quietly.

"Avery wake up, you need to get in your car and meet me right away." Mason's voice sounded distressed.

I jumped up and opened my eyes. "What? Why?"

"It's your mom, she's been in a real bad accident."

My heart dropped in my stomach and I felt like I was going to throw up. This had to be a bad dream. Mom should have been asleep in the other room. Was this Mason's way of getting back at me? Was this some kind of sick joke?

I jumped out of bed, allowing my ipod and headphones drop to the floor. As soon as I opened Mom's door I found an empty bed.

"Where?" I asked.

"Avery just go to the hospital and I will meet you there." Mason tried calming me down.

"No, I need to see her now. Where is the accident site?" I asked as I felt tears stream down my face.

Mason stayed quiet on the other line.

"Where are you?" I whispered.

"You really shouldn't-"

"Please Mason." I began to sob. "I need to see, I need to know, please."

"It happened right in front of your school, she went into a head-on collision into a tree and she wasn't wearing a seatbelt so she went flying-"

"Oh God, stop talking." I wiped my tears away. "I'm on my way."

I know it didn't sound right but I had to see for myself. I had to know that it wasn't a dream or some sick prank. Even on the drive to the accident I kept waiting for someone to wake me up so I could give my mom a hug and tell her I love her. Even after I saw the red and blue lights flashing, I still sat silently in the car begging for someone to wake me up. It couldn't be real, it just couldn't be.

Mason approached my car in a white shirt and dark blue jeans that had his badge attached to it. I lowered my window and looked up at Mason. He leaned against the car and looked down at me.

"Are you okay?" Mason asked.

"What happened?" I asked unbuckling my seatbelt.

"We found pills in your mother's car,I think she went out, popped too many and crashed her car." Mason answered.

I tried peeking over Mason's shoulder but he wouldn't let me see anything. Mason's theory was a shit storm. Mom didn't like pills at all. She only had a few drinks every now and then, that was all.

"Pills? Mom hated pills!" I stepped out of the car.

Mason backed up a bit. "Listen, we found some in her car. I'll order some tests and find out what happened."

"We'll just ask her when she wakes up." I tried to walk around Mason but he blocked my path.

"Avery-"

I ignored his words and walked around him. The sight before me made my body practically freeze. Mom was spread across the road on her stomach. Her face was completely covered in blood and she was basically unrecognizable. It looked like her face was shredded.

"MOM!" I screamed as I dropped to my knees.

Mason wrapped his arms around me, catching me before I fell to the ground.

"Oh God No!" I cried out loud as my watery eyes landed on her black car.

It looked like the front end had swallowed the thick trunk, her windshield was crumbled, and the hood had been popped up. I wasn't necessarily worried about the car, I just couldn't watch the police picking my mother up off the road like she was a dead animal.
My mother was dead.

Words could not describe the devastation I felt. There was this empty void in my chest and I couldn't hear what Mason was whispering in my ear, I couldn't hear what the cops were saying, and I couldn't hear their questions. All I could hear was my heartbeat echoing in my ears.
Everything was a blur after that. I didn't know how I ended up laying on Mom's bed, but that was where I came back to reality. A white thin sheet was covering me and there was a soaking wet pillow under my head. I could only guess that was from all my tears.

A light knock came to the door.

"Avery, how are you doing in there?"

I didn't answer him I just picked up the soaked pillow and threw it on the floor. I was so tired and I just wanted to go back to sleep. I didn't care if a day had passed,a month, or even a year. At the moment I didn't want to be back in reality.

Mason barely opened the door and peeked in. "Can I come in?"

"Please do." I looked down at myself and noticed that I was in a big white baggy shirt.

Mason slowly walked in the room with a glass of water. "I hope you don't mind, I changed you because your clothes got really dirty and put one of my shirts on so you would at least have something on." Mason approached the bed. "You should have some water." He held the cup out for me.

I grabbed the cup and took a small siop. The nausea was almost clouding my vision, I couldn't imagine what would happen if I dared to eat anything. Honestly, food was the last thing on my mind. All I could think about was my mom and how much I missed her already. I didn't know what to do, where to go, or who I should go to. Everything came to an abrupt halt and I felt like I couldn't breathe. At the time I wasn't even sure if I was breathing or just dead and didn't know it yet.

"Thank you." I placed the cup on the nightstand and looked up at Mason.

"I called out of work so I can take care of you. Is there anything else I could do for you?" He asked.

"Why are you here? I'm not your family and my mom's dead." I questioned.

"I'm here because I love you, Avery and I will do anything for you. Your mother just passed and I know that must be so hard on you. I know you need me now more than ever."

He was completely right, I needed him now more than ever. I reached out and grabbed ahold of his arm with tears starting to swell up in my eyes. Before words could even form in my mouth, Mason crawled on the bed, positioned himself behind me, and wrapped his warm arms around me. I blinked back tears and rested my head against Mason's chest, hoping there were more moments to come like this.

Oh the moments that would soon follow. They would haunt me like an evil spirit. Perhaps it would be because of the evil spirit that was hiding in plain sight.