Gabby sat by the fountain in the park a long way from her school. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed quietly to herself. Drake, the first person she had ever loved, had just dumped her for the head cheerleader, Tracy. After telling her he was just using her in front of the whole football team she ran from the school. She ran until she couldn't run anymore and found herself nearly 8 miles away from the place where she had just been humiliated. Sitting with her head in her hands she just cried a river of tears. Since it was the middle of the school day, no one was at the park except for the occasional elderly couple who didn't even glance in her direction. She wanted to die at that moment, swallow herself into a dark hole and never see the light of day again.
Climbing off the bench she sat down with her back up against the tallest wall of the fountain and wrapped her arms around herself. She remained like this for hours and stared into space as she thought back to when her heart had been broken in pieces and pretty soon she had fallen asleep.
Gabby walked up to the lunch table where Drake had sat with his team every day. All conversation had stopped when she approached her so called 'boyfriend'. She was upset because he told her that he would eat lunch with her today and had waited for him by the picnic tables for 20 minutes.
"Where were you?" she asked him with an angry look on her face.
"With my friends…" He didn't even look guilty for standing her up.
"You said you would meet me for lunch today!" All of his friends were giving him looks as Gabby crossed her arms.
"Well I changed my mind. Now, go away, were done. I was just using you anyways." He then put his arm around Tracy and kissed her. Then out of nowhere Tracy got up and punched Gabby right in the face with full force.
"That's to remind you of your place here, slut."
Her stomach dropped and watched as all of his friends laughed at her. Turning on the spot she ran out of the cafeteria and into the street. Her mind was all over the place and she didn't even notice how long she was running. Her legs were fueled by her embarrassment, humiliation, and pain. Nothing else mattered other than the fact that she had to get out of there.
Gabby suddenly woke up and saw that it was pitch black out. She reached into her pocket and saw that she had 20 new text messages, 16 missed calls, and 4 voicemails. The wind picked up and she wrapped her arms further around herself trying desperately to block the cold air from her jacketless body. She opened her phone and saw that it was 10pm, she had been gone for over 10 hours.
Gabby, where are you? The school called and said you skipped your afternoon classes. You are in so much trouble young lady! (11:24 am) ~Mom
Gabriela Elizabeth Dawson! Call me this instant! (12:02) ~Mom
Gabriela, Where are you? (12:30pm) ~ Antonio. She felt sick; Antonio only ever called her Gabriela when he was angry with her.
Gabriela Dawson! This isn't funny! Call me right now! (12:44pm) ~ Mom
Gabby, please, I'm not mad, I just want to know you're okay. (1:02 pm) ~Antonio
She had 13 similar messages with in the 3 hour period after that and she knew she would be in huge trouble.
Gabs, I called the police. Antonio is helping search for you. Please call me honey, I'm not mad at you (5:04 pm) ~Mom
Gabby, baby, if you can read this don't turn off your cell phone, okay? (8:25pm) ~ Antonio
After she went through the text messages she dialed her voicemail and listened to them.
"Gabriela Dawson! You get your ass home right now young lady! You are in so much trouble it is unbelievable." (Mom)
"Gabs, mom just told me you skipped school. What the hell are you thinking? Go home before I send the Chicago PD out to drag you to the precinct. I'm so disappointed in you" (Antonio)
3 hours passed before the next voicemail was recorder.
"Baby, I need to know you're okay. I'm not mad honey, please just call me back." (Mom)
There was a 4 hour break before the last voicemail and she heard Antonio's frantic voice on the line.
"Gabby, honey, my squad and I are out looking for you. You're going to be okay, Squirt. If you get this message I need you to leave your phone on. I love you so much." (Antonio)
She felt her heart start to race. Everyone thought she was missing. Her mom and Antonio must be so worried right now.
At this point Gabby didn't know what to do. If she called her mom she would be mad at her for making everyone look for her and if she called Antonio he would be the same way. She figured her safest bet was to call Antonio since he was already out looking for her. Dialing the phone she put it to her ear and heard it ring once before he answered.
"Gabby!? Honey, are you okay?" He paused waiting for her to answer, but when she didn't his voice quieted down a bit.
"Honey I need you to say something, okay?" Gabby finally found her voice and sobbed out
"Antonio" And once she started crying she couldn't stop. The humiliation, pain in her face, and her broken heart were all pulled to the forefront of her mind and the wave of tears didn't slow down.
"Gabby, baby, I need you to tell me where you are. We have a general location on you from your phone, but not enough for an exact location" The emotion she heard in Antonio's voice was both relieved and worried.
"I'm in a park, I don't know what one though. I've never been here before." He sighed and said,
"Are there any landmarks? Can you see any street signs?"
"Yeah, there's a fountain with a really tall wall and a swing set. Antonio, I want to go home" She started crying again.
"Honey, you're going to be okay. I know what park you're talking about and I'll be there in less than 15 minutes, okay?"
"Okay. I'm so sorry, Antonio" Gabby said in a tearful voice.
"Honey, you don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm just glad that you-." The line cut out and she looked down and saw her phone had died. As if enough things hadn't gone wrong already today.
It started to drizzle and the wind picked up. Gabby was freezing, but at this point she didn't care. She still wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Drake had broken her heart and she didn't think she would ever love anyone ever again. No one knew it yet, but that day a part of Gabby was lost. Her heart was in pieces and a few were missing.
She heard the screeching tires of a car in the distance and knew it was Antonio. He had always been a reckless driver. She heard the slam of a car door and her brother's voice.
"Gabby?!" He yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice.
"Over here." She said quietly, but just loud enough for him to hear and start running over to where he heard her voice. He knelt down in the wet grass and gathered her in his arms and breathed into her hair.
"I was so scared... Are you hurt? You're freezing!" he took off his jacket and helped her put it on. The wind picked up and she shivered.
"Come on honey, let's get you home" He didn't wait for her to reply as he picked her up like a baby, carried her to the car and placed her in the front seat. He tried to get her to talk to him, to tell him what happened, but she just stared out the window and said,
"I don't want to talk about it." No matter how hard he tried to get her to speak to him, she had shut down.
The rest of ride home consisted of Antonio casting worried looks at Gabby and rubbing small circles in her knee. They pulled up in front of the house where she knew her mom would be and sunk into the seat. Antonio got out of the car and walked around to open the door for Gabby, but when she didn't get up he crouched down in front of her.
"She's gonna be so mad at me. Please don't make me go in there Antonio, please." His heart broke for her, but he knew this had to be done.
"Honey, she won't be mad at you, okay? We're just glad that you're home. And I'll tell you what, if she is really mad at you I'll let you stay with me and Laura tonight, okay?" He stood up and offered her his hand.
Gabby hid behind her older brother as they entered the house. Their mother was on the couch and her head snapped up when they came in.
"Gabby!" She ran forward and grabbed her youngest into her arms and kissed her head repeatedly.
"I was so worried about you. Where have you been? What happened?" When Gabby didn't answer she looked to her son who had as much of a clue as she did.
"She said she didn't want to talk about it, mom. Gabby, let's go take care of your face okay?" Antonio placed a hand on her back and guided her to the kitchen where he lifted her onto the counter by the sink. Grabbing a wash cloth he wet it and started to wipe the blood from her split lip.
"Honey, please tell me what happened?" His face held so much emotion that Gabby finally broke.
"Drake was supposed to eat lunch with me today, but he stood me up! I went to talk to him and he started kissing this other girl and telling me that he was just using me." She started to cry and leaned into Antonio's shoulder.
"And then I got punched and I ran and I didn't know where I was going. I just ended up in the park and fell asleep, honest! When I woke up I didn't know where I was or how to get home. I didn't mean to worry everyone so much. I'm so sorry!" She managed to say through her sobbing and he rubbed her back and whispered soothing words into her ear.
"Who hit you? Was it Drake? I'll kill him…" He said angrily.
"No it was that girl he was kissing. She called me a slut too! In front of everyone!" Gabby continued to cry and Antonio did his best to sooth his sister, but he knew it was a lost cause.
"Shh, it's going to be okay, Squirt" He didn't know how to heal his sister's broken heart.
Her mom, having heard everything, came into the kitchen and grabbed her daughter into a motherly embrace. The last thing she wanted for her daughter was for her to have her heart broken. The first heart break is always the hardest.
A part of Gabriela Dawson, once innocent and full of spirit, died that day. She built a wall around her heart and refused to let anyone in. She didn't depend on anyone anymore and she threw herself into her school work. Gabby became closed off and remained broken until she started working at Firehouse 51 and her life was changed forever.