Wounded
Grace felt the beating of her heart increase as she walked up to Adrian and Ben's condo. She knew Adrian's condition already. She knew she was depressed and she was becoming more and more unsure of if she could say anything to make Adrian feel better. But before she arrived at their condo, she realized that she alone couldn't be of much help, she needed someone else to help Adrian, someone who was more mature and could be of some type of help to her.
She knocked on the door, taking into account that Adrian might not even answer it. She waited patiently, trying to cool herself down and eliminate all of the doubtful thoughts that were in her head. She prayed silently in her head, that her plan would work. As she messed with her buttons on her white blouse, she heard the squeak of the door. As it opened she looked up to see Ben. His eyes were filled with grief. They were bloodshot, and she could tell that he hadn't been getting much sleep.
She smiled sympathetically at Ben, "Hi Ben." She didn't bother to ask him how he was, because she knew that wouldn't be of much help.
"Hi Grace," Ben forced a tired smile onto his face, "Adrian's sitting down on the couch...just walk right in and don't take no for an answer. I have to get to school."
"Bye Ben, and thanks for letting me come over."
"No thank you...I can't help her," he said, lowering his voice, "As much as I try to help her, to show her love, she just won't accept anything from me right now...and I really don't know what to do."
His voice cracked when he said that, and Grace wondered for a minute if Ben truly loved her like he seemed to. He seemed to feel more grief for not being able to help Adrian, than feeling grief for himself.
"I'm going to get her feeling better again Ben ok? Don't worry about a thing, I'll take it from here."
All he could do was nod as he made his way outside the condo. Grace stepped inside, and closed the door. As she walked inside she looked over at Adrian. Grace's first thought was that Adrian looked like a mess. Her hair was all over the place and there was food everywhere. She looked like she hadn't showered, and her clothes were raggedy.
"Hi Adrian!" Grace tried to be as cheerful as possible.
Adrian looked back at her with dead eyes, "What do you want Grace?"
Grace took a seat on the couch, still smiling, "I just wanted to see you...I've missed you and I feel terrible that I wasn't here when you needed me."
"You have a life. I don't expect you to be here all the time. Now what are you really here for? As if I don't know already," Adrian sneered, rolling her eyes. She bit into her doughnut, "Just go away Grace. You know you're my best friend, but I know you're here to try and get me to go to school. I know Ben's been asking people to come over and I told him that I wasn't going to go yet! I'm going to go when I want to go!"
"...Adrian, I really did miss you. I really felt like I should have been here even before the incident because you were going through something really important. You're my best friend, can you just hear me out?"
She groaned, but she waited patiently for Grace to continue talking.
"Adrian...I can't tell you what went wrong, or why any of this happened...All I know is that everything will be ok. And today I would really appreciate it if you would come outside with me, and we can take a trip to go see Rev. Stone," Grace said a little nervously.
Adrian glared at her, "Are you freaking kidding me right now! Eres un idiota!¿Crees que quiero ir a ver a un pastor?"
"Ok you know I took French freshman and sophomore year Adrian."
"Ugh, Grace are you really trying to convert me to Christianity right now? What the hell is wrong with you? Don't tell me you're back to being a strict Christian again. I don't need this right now."
"Adrian wait ok? I'm not trying to convert you to anything...Rev. Stone is more than just a pastor. He's been through a lot and I think he can really help you in your time of grief right now...If you can't do this for me, or for yourself, then do it for Ben."
At this she actually started listening whole-hardheartedly, "For Ben?"
"Adrian...You weren't the only one that lost a child," Grace paused for a moment, to see how Adrian would react, but when she didn't say anything she kept going, "Ben lost a daughter too...and he's in pain not just because he's upset about it, but because he's upset about how you're taking this...I know it hurts Adrian, but don't you think it hurts him to see you depressed everyday? Don't you think it hurts for him to go to school and have to face everyone at school who probably heard about the incident? Don't let him feel like he's going through this alone."
Adrian's first response was to scream at Grace and tell her that she would never understand her pain, because she hadn't lost a daughter after carrying her for nine months, but then when she really thought about it, regardless of her liking what Grace said, she realized that it may be true.
"...I know this Grace. I already know."
She sighed, "You know when my dad died...I kept thinking about what a horrible person I was, and how much pain I was in, that I hardly ever stopped to think about what my mom and Tom were going through...I just don't want you to do the same thing. And I don't want you to feel like there's nobody that you can talk to, because that's how I felt, like I was completely alone because nobody understood what I was going through...But Adrian you're not alone."
She didn't say anything.
"So will you come? Or will you at least think about?"
Adrian stared at the TV screen but muttered to Grace, "I'll think about it."
That was enough to bring a smile to Grace's face.
A/N: This is probably going to be a three-shot but yeah it's been stuck in my head for a while and I needed to get it out. Thanks for reading.
