Aly

November 13th, 1984

I dial in the last digit of Daria's phone number as I hold the phone to my ear and hear the phone ring. Suddenly, the ring stops and the phone picks up.

"Hi, Daria," I say, feeling upbeat and cheerful to know that one of my friends is on the other side.

"Hey," she says. She doesn't sound as cheerful as she usually does.

"What's up?"

"Dad got a phone call today. After answering it, he just put down the phone and sat down. It's been three hours and he still hasn't moved."

Daria's dad is trying to help her brother with this heroin addiction he has. He even tried to keep Nico from going back to uni so he could get treatment. Finally, Daria's dad gave in, but he made Nico's friend Eddie agree to keep an eye on him. Daria even says he goes to Edmonton every Saturday with his fiancée Nirvana to make sure he's doing alright. Daria and her sisters also go sometimes. From what I've heard, Nico seems to be recovering. He's suffering from withdrawal, but he's getting better.

"Do you think there's a reason for that?" I ask, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm worried it's about Nico. I think something bad has happened."

"You don't say..."

"I'll talk to you when I find out."


Three hours later

Mom and Dad are sitting on the couch, their voices low. Not that it changes the fact that I can hear them.

"-they said that there was a fire at the place Nico was staying. Not everyone got out in time because it spread very quickly. It took thirty minutes for the fire truck to arrive. Nico's alive, but he's in a coma. Fiddle and Nirvana said they're taking the girls to Edmonton to be with him. I don't know how bad his injuries are. Hopefully, he will recover fully."

I dash back into my bedroom and shut the door. I don't want to hear anymore.


Two days later

"Daria hasn't been responding to our calls for three days," Ellen says, after we finish telling Marco and Randy about what happened. I told them about that fire that happened, but not about Nico's coma. I'm beginning to worry about him. He's only a year younger than Josh...

I haven't spoken to Josh since I went back home...

How is he doing? I need to check.


Six hours later

"Yeah," I say, when I finish telling Josh what happened over the phone. "So Nico's in a coma right now. I don't know when he'll wake up."

"Oh," Josh's voice is unusually soft. "Okay. Let's hope for the best. I'll talk to you later. I've got some computer assignments to finish."

"Bye." I immediately hang up after I see Mom standing in front of me, with an expression on her face I don't really understand.

"Aly, sit," she says, her voice solemn. I take the first chair I see and sit in synchronization with my mom.

"Aly, you heard our conversation about Nico, didn't you?" she says. I suddenly notice her eyes are red, and there's stains under them. Almost as though she's been crying and wiped herself too hard.

"Yes." Why oh why do I have such a bad feeling about this?

"Nico wasn't going to wake up from his coma, Aly. They didn't have any other choice but to let him go." Then Mom stands up and leaves.

Say it ain't so...