Still Here

My eyes averted over to Mikey. He was driving in silence, turning the five minute drive into three. Part of me wanted to open the door and jump out and run off. The other half had to know that Gerard was going to be okay. I pressed my forehead up against the glass of the window. Mikey turned to look at me.

“Sophie?” My head flopped backwards onto the seat. He must have seen the crazed look in my eye and said,

“Don’t do anything drastic. Please? We’re going to get you through this, alright?” I sighed as my house came into sight. It was on the end of the street.

“I’m staying in the car,” I told him. He nodded and opened the car door.

“Don’t leave, alright?” He added that at the end so he wouldn’t feel like he was bossing me around. I nodded and looked up the driveway. He did a short jog up to the back door.

My gaze veered over to the front window where a man was standing. My dad, a smirk plastered across his repulsive face. I slinked down in my seat to avoid him watching me. I didn’t want to let him see me cry. I didn’t want to let him win. But I pushed back the tears as I heard a knock on my window. I opened up my door, confusion obvious upon my face.

“I need your help.” His words puzzled me even further. I unbuckled my seatbelt and followed him back towards the garage. My arms wrapped themselves around my shivering body as it got colder once a large cloud covered the sun. It left a shadow across the city. I looked in at one of the windows on the side of the house and saw my mother in the kitchen, as if nothing had happened. Everything was fine. Her son wasn’t dead. No, oh heavens no. Because by now, my father had probably convinced her that she had never even had a son. He would warp her memories.

We rounded the corner and my feet could move no further. They had sunken into the cement of the driveway. All I could see was Gerard, or what looked like Gerard, and blood. Lots and lots of blood. My hand quickly covered my mouth as I tried not to gag from the sight and smell.

“Gerard? Gerard, can you hear me?” He grabbed a hold of something. I couldn’t tell what because I had ran over to the grassy patch and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the ground. “If you can hear me, squeeze my hand.” I turned around, my hands on my knees, a cold sweat covering my face and hands. I saw Mikey’s eyes widen. “Sophie, do you think you can come help me get him to the car?” I wiped away all the moisture on my face and nodded feebly, making my way over to the brothers.

“What do you need me to do?” I asked, trying my best to contain everything inside of myself. Mikey lifted his torso up into a sitting position.

“Can you drive the car up here so we won’t have to carry him?” I didn’t answer, just ran back into the car, to the driver’s side and did as he said. I ran around to the other side where Mikey had somehow managed to get Gerard onto his feet. “Do you still here me Gerard?” There was a low moan. I finally had mustered up the courage to look at the damage that most likely my father had inflicted. The bottom half of his face was covered in blood and his nose, I couldn’t exactly tell, was either smashed to the left or had completely sunken into his face. There was a large blue splotch on his forehead. That was all that I could see, but I knew there were more. I went to his side and helped Mikey get him into the backseat. We slowly lowered him onto seat and pulled his legs around in front of him. I got into my seat and turned around to look at him. His eyes were twitching.

“Don’t open them,” I said. He seemed shocked. “It’s me Sophie.” Mikey’s door shut and he started the car.

“We’re taking him to the Emergency Room.”