It had been about an hour and a half since Mom and Dad got a call from Carol about her and Sandy being in an accident. They bolted out of here within two minutes of that. Thankfully, Dad just called me and said that Carol was unhurt and shook up but Sandy had more serious injuries and was staying for a few days.
Carol to me was they typical annoying baby sister, but I loved her. I would give my life to protect her if need be. Sure, I was a slacker, not academically gifted like her, but she's my sister. My life wouldn't be the same without her. I say a quick prayer, thanking God she was okay and even one for Sandy.
He was an okay guy, as long as he respected Carol, he was good in my book. I somehow knew it was going to be a difficult day. Sometimes I just had that feeling, and as always, it was dead on. Thankfully, Ben was at a friend's house and should be home soon. So he had no idea of what was going on at the moment.
Then, the phone rang, I pick it up thinking Mom and Dad were bringing Carol home. When Dad called earlier, he said that it wouldn't be long before she would be discharged. I was wrong.
A sense of dread filled me as I heard a male voice I didn't recognize ask if Carol was home yet. "This is Doug, Sandy's friend. Uh, could you pass her a message? Tell her that Sandy just died. He had internal bleeding that they didn't catch earlier and by the time the doctors found it, it was too late. Let her know I'm sorry for her loss. She's a good girl." I could hear the emotion in his voice, it almost sounded like he was about to cry. Then the phone goes dead and I hang it up.
I then hear the car come up the driveway. Now I had to tell them the news. Carol was going to be devestated with this. Getting up from the table, I hear laughter as they came in. That was what was going to make this even harder for me.
They joked about giving Sandy two hours before going back to the hospital so that his dad would have enough time to yell at him. Taking one deep breath, I come into the living room, a somber expression on my face. Dad was the first to notice me there. Then Mom and Carol seemed to notice something was up.
I told them about Doug calling less than two minutes earlier. That Sandy had just died because of internal bleeding. Mom and Dad were in shock, but Carol went from joy to anger in less than two seconds. She comes up to me, fists curled up ready to attack me.
"Michael Seaver, that is the sickest joke you have ever pulled!" She screams as I grab her arms. Then she pulls back after a moment, ranting about how unfair it was for Sandy to be taken. "Where was his second chance? He looked great, he was laughing, like nothing serious was going on. How is that fair?"
The four of us had a group hug right there, the only sound was Carol's agonized cries muffled by Mom and Dad holding her close. It went on for what seemed to me, an eternity, and we all stood there until she was all cried out.
I couldn't help but feel for her. Sandy had grown on me a little bit, that I had never said to anyone. But later, after Dad had told me about them drinking and him driving, all that changed. I became angry.
Angry at Sandy for letting Carol drink and at Carol for doing it. This wasn't her at all, the clean cut brainiac whose best friends were books. Then I shuddered at the fact of what could have happened if they didn't have the accident. They went somewhere and...I just couldn't think past that. Was he going to just use and dump her?
Later, I had to console Carol. So I brought her a glass of water that Mom told me to give. Maybe she was calmed down enough to talk to me. I stood at the door to her room and knocked, nervous. After a moment, she tells me I could come in. I was so nervous at how she was going to react to me and what I was going to say.
Opening the door, I find her sitting on the bed. She had a framed picture of Sandy in her arms, holding it close to her chest. I could see her face red and puffy from all the tears she cried. "It was all my fault, I should have made him call a cab. But he insisted on driving me back." She was muttering under her breath.
She hadn't grabbed a stuffed animal and hurled it at me yet. So hopefully that's a good sign. When it came to that, Carol was like a professional baseball pitcher. I sit down beside her and she looks up at me. The pain was as clear as day, and at that moment, my anger at her just dissolved.
Yes, she made a stupid decision, but she's the type to learn from her mistakes. Maybe the pressure of being a perfectionist pushed her to try alcohol, she was always uptight with being the best of the best. I also knew my sister was always insecure about not being able to fit in because of her being smart. That made her feel out of place.
I sit down on the bed beside her, extending the glass. Carol takes it reluctantly and takes a sip. "Wanna talk. Hopefully you won't try to bash my face in this time." I was nervous knowing her temper at times.
"Thanks Mike," Carol tells me in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry for earlier. I know you weren't being mean." She buries her face in my shoulder and I wrap my arms around her. "I loved Sandy, why did he have to die and leave me here alone? It's not fair. Not fair at all!"
"I wanted to impress him by cutting loose a little and having some drinks. Show him I was more than a bookworm." Carol confesses, "You're a slacker, you don't know how much pressure I put on myself to be perfect. Or at least close to it. Mom and Dad gave us the talks about all the pressure to do things we know we shouldn't do. I failed them."
She was right, all my life I never had really thought of her end. Just that Carol always put pressure on herself because that was a part of her personality. I had the same pressures, but had different reactions. Thinking back to when I went to that party where cocaine was being used. It didn't take very long for me to hightail it out of there. Just think, what if it was Carol there instead of me?
It took a few moments, but I finally said something. "The first thought I had was what if Sandy had taken you somewhere at or after the party and..." I had to carefully craft the words, "taken advantage of you while drunk?" There, I said it. Mom and Dad would have said something like that. Man, trying to think like them a little sure was hard to do.
"I see where you're getting at Mike. And I have thought of that sitting here. This was truly the stupidest thing I had ever done in my life. And I was supposed to be the smart one." My sister, little miss perfect, openly showed how flawed she was at last.
I could have ribbed her endlessly for that, but with her grieving, it wasn't right at all. So I just held her close and hugged her. Carol starts crying again, asking if the pain will ever end. That was one question I didn't have an answer for. "It will get better, you got Mom, Dad, me and Ben."
When she was all cried out, Carol thanks me for not making fun of her admission of not being perfect. "You know what, when Dad told me you and Sandy were drinking, I was angry. At him for drinking and driving and you for following his lead. I did kind of like the guy. I'm sorry he died, but I still have my little sister right here."
That was one of those moments where we were open and honest. Deep down, I actually envied her intelligence. I had a genuine respect for her, my little opposite half. Despite the names I called her throughout the years, all the things I did to irritate and annoy her, she was first and formost my little sister.