The rest of the week went by fast. I wasn't late for class, Jonathan came over everyday of the school week , he sat with me at lunch, sometimes would hold my hand, not in school though. Then lastly the new kids got well adjusted to the school so we didn't have to guide them anymore , and Bella and Edward didn't look at me much anymore it seems. When I would walk down the hallway , if they caught glances , they would turn away fast. It seems as if I scare them.
It was Friday and Jonathan was over. We said our usual 'Bye' 'See ya' to Eric as he drove away . Jonathan and I headed inside. We worked on our short amount of homework and finished it just as the phone rang , "I got it!" My Mom yelled from upstairs in her bedroom.
Letting her answer it we decided to go upstairs to my room.
Reaching up to the top of the stairs, I look down the hall to my left and found my Mom seated on her bed with the phone in her hand crying. She grabbed for a tissue and began to talk in a low murmured voice. All I could make out was "How could this happen Annie..." She blew her nose again.
I turned to Jonathan and said, "Annie is my aunt, my Mom's twin sister...what could have happen?" I became worried and walked over to her room, stopping at the door. Jonathan followed slowly behind.
"This can't happen...no...ooh I feel so bad, I'm so sorry." She whipped the tears falling from her eyes and sniffed. "Is there anything I can do?" She asked my aunt on the phone. "Bye, I love you so much." She hung up the phone and looked at me. I was standing still at the door looking at her questionable. "Britta..." She said getting off her bed and walking over to me.
"Whats wrong? What happen?" I asked.
She just shook her head.
"Mom, please tell me." I pleaded.
She blew her nose with the clean tissue in her hand and put it in the trash beside her, then said, "It's Eric." She said quietly. Her words crackling. "Your cousin."
"What about him?" Jonathan shifted beside me.
My Mom sighed.
"What about him?" I repeated worried.
"He's dead." Her voice trying to stay flat and even like reciting the multiplication table but yet her voice still crackled as tears rolled down her eyes.
I looked at her shocked and said, "Dead?What? No,no...no...no..." I repeated over many times. "This is too sudden, too unreal. No , no.. Mom! Don't lie to me!No,no..."
She shook her head and spoke. "Britta, I would never lie about this. I will never lie to you. I know this is horrible... its worst than that. But its true."
I shook my head over and over , tears falling down my eyes quicker than anything. It felt like the world just ended. My best friend , gone , forever. My Mom moved over and hugged me for a moment and then said , "I know.I know. Horrible."
"How?" I asked. I toke my hands and rubbed my eyes with them.
She toke a deep breath and said, "Car accident. He was going to hockey practice. He decided to stop at the store and get something, then when he was leaving, he back out fine it wasn't that, it was just when he came to the end of the street…another car came and hit his."
I gasped then let out my breath slowly. She wasn't finished.
"The driver was drunk. He was driving an SUV." An image got put in my head. I could see Eric's black Honda being hit, just like that, bam, by an SUV. I closed my eyes trying to get it out of my head. "A car behind his…bumped in him unable to stop quick enough. Only he didn't get killed, but he was seriously injured. The drunk driver…well he got arrested right away as the police showed up. Aunt Annie said that when she showed up at the accident, Eric was already in the ambulance. She said that when she got into the ambulance, she wished she had not because all she saw there was well her son covered in-"
I held my hand up for her to stop.
"Eric's car was destroyed. Destroyed." My Mom finished.
My breathing was heavy as I felt a cotton ball form in my throat, making me unable to speak.
She patted my shoulder and said, "I'm going to head over there now to see Aunt Annie and Uncle Tom. I will be back later , around dinner. Unless you two want to come? She said that was fine." She asked calmly.
I shook my head and let the cold salty tears run down my face again.
I saw the blur of my Mom walk down the stairs.
I turned and looked at Jonathan. He stood there shaking his head and then said, "I'm so sorry Britta."
I closed my eyes not wanting to cry in front of him , hoping the tears would stop but they wouldn't. They continuously rolled down my face even harder as I walked over to Jonathan, he wrapped his arms around me as I put my arms around his neck, putting my head on his shoulder and cried. I felt bad for getting his sweat shirt destroyed in tears but I don't think he minded because he kept me held tight against him. It felt like forever before I toke in a deep breath and we broke apart. Not wanting to, I put my hands down at my side as he did too. "He was my best friend." I began. I looked up at him. He nodded and said, "I know."
"He was more than that actually. More than a best friend, more than a cousin, he was like a brother, a brother always there for me. When we were little, we use to go over each others houses and play games that we made up or had sleepovers, ran outside in the rain screaming saying 'Run way from the monster in the trees!' as we edged around the woods around my house saying that it was after us. We were known as the best friend cousins even though Eric didn't live in Forks his whole life. Just the little few hours that we were together, were the best! The best! None of my friends here in Forks would do the same games Eric and I made up or my friends here we would have those 'good times' moments. It meant the world to me when he moved here! During school I used to run up to him and remind him of the so much we had last weekend at my house. See I always wanted that. And I got it, but now its lost...forever." I toke in a deep breath and held it in for a second before I let it out making more tears to my eyes.
"You were very lucky to have him. I wish I had a cousin like that. I have a very large family but they live all over the United States and in parts of Europe! My family is huge! But I don't have a favorite cousin, I can't even name all my cousins! I went to my every 3 year family reunion and got lost."
He made me smile as I whipped the tears off my cheeks.
"Hey, its not funny.I will tell you the story. See I'm Irish, all of my ancestors ,including grandparents were born and lived in Ireland. So I decided walked around by myself at the reunion. I was greeted by a lot of people that I didn't know speaking Irish, pulled into crowds so I could be introduced to new family members and old family member that I didn't remember, once again they were all speaking Irish. I also got huged, kissed by grandparents but they spoke English although they had an Irish accent.I got pulled by the shoe by a 3 year old running away from my 3rd cousins aunts step-mom speaking German trying to catch up to him. Then I saw some of my cousins crowed around the food table talking , so I walked over to them and said hi trying to just act normal. No one said a word to me. I walked over to my 'closest' cousin that I see at almost every family party , he had someone next to him. His girlfriend. He introduced me to her. But that was the farthest we got into conversation before they started to make-out in front of me. I got grossed out and walked over to a group of my cousins that were around my sister. Once again, I never seemed to fit in. My sister got along with a couple of them but not as well as it seems as Eric and you. I yet again left that group because even my sister didn't say anything to me.So then I went searching for my parents to see when we were leaving. I got lost on the way. I couldn't find them until an hour later when I went up to my , explained to be, 2nd cousins grandfather who spoke English and told me were they were. It was horrible."
I looked Jonathan for a moments and then closed my eyes and smiled. Something about him always made me smile. Always.
"I'm serious! You know what , you don't believe me, you come to the reunion, its next weekend." He said making me look at him.
"What?"
"Yeah. You can come. My cousin had his girlfriend come." Girlfriend...
I shrugged and went into my room in search for a tissue. Over and over in my head played back and forth , girlfriend and Eric is gone...gone. I sat down on my bed, Jonathan sat beside me. "I don't know if I can. Plus with Eric...I don't know if I can. Just seeing all your family...I don't know. " I said whipping my nose with the tissue.
He looked me in the eyes as I looked up at him from my crumbled tissue. I felt another tear come down my face. "I want to but I myself can't handle it right now at least I mean...I just miss him so much already..." More tears. Just him gone makes the world seem pointless, pointless...pointless. I can't share anymore good times, I can't do anything that Eric and I did now because, it just won't work. If Eric was there, he always needs to be there.
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be. It's not like its your fault. For all I know it could be mine!" The rain started to pour harder. I looked out my bedroom window and sighed.
"Blaming yourself is the worst thing you can do."
I just looked out my window ,not responding, watching the rain pour and the trees sway as my rain poured on my face. Jonathan wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I swayed carelessly, like the trees, and put my head against him, letting my rain pour.
I woke up the next morning dreamless. No screaming. No nothing. Just sleep. I got out of bed and streached letting my arms reach as high as they could. I gazed at the clock , 10:58. "Haha if it were the school week, Eric would be so...Eric..." I couldn't bare to have myself think of that again. I tried to push it out of my mind but it didn't work. The person I knew best is now gone forever.
I looked in the mirror and pushed my hair out of my face putting it in a high bun. As I did I could feel my face dry, I touched it finding that it was tear marks streatched all across my cheeks. I toke a deep breath and said, "Its going to be ok."
I headed down stairs and found a note on the kitchen counter.
Britta,
I went to Aunt Annie's for the morning. We are leaving for California later today around 4 and staying till 6 Sunday.
I love you,
Mom
I looked up from the note. I had no plans for today. Jonathan was in La Push and im not going to California until later.
I decided to sit down at the couch and watch TV for a while. Plopping on the couch, I reached for the remote on the coffee table and pushed the red button to turn it on. The news popped up blasting off the weather report for Boston. I lowered the volume just as the weather reporter switched to a anchor women standing outside of a large building in New York. She talked about other places similar to that in Florida, Germany, and listed off many others. These buildings were known as Itexs , Schools, or just a scientist building. She also talked about that the workers these are scientists trieing to improve the world by reducing the population for some reason, I didn't pay much attention to this lady until she said that some scientist are relying on some bird kids to prevent global warming. I began to laugh but then stopped when they showed images of there wings. I sat up on the couch and just starred at the TV speechless. "What?" was all I could say.
The women went on about these 'bird kids' as she phrased it. Continuing on with her backround information about them , she then changed the subject and asked for our help.
"These amazing bird kids have no released our clutches and could now be anywhere over the U.S maybe even the world. We need your help. If you see these bird kids please identify us at this number--"
She continued on but all I could do was just stare at the TV speechless. They wanted us, to help them find bird kids soaring in the sky and contact them as soon as possible. They probably esacped becasue they didn't like being used by these scientist to help save the world. I thought but I didn't think I was right.
I turned off the TV and headed into the kitchen and made my self a bowl of ceral. I sat down at the kitchen table and at it slowly as I turned my head and glanced out the window , the one showing my front yard. I toke a long look at the misty rain and then got up from the table, went up stairs and threw on a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt, then came back down stairs , grabbed my coat and put on my shoes then headed outside were I stood edged at the woods. I toke a deep breath and stepped forward into it. I had a lot of adrenaline. This was something I would never do by myself but now it seemed I must.
Taking step by step, the only thing that seemed dangerous in this woods was the torns that got caught on your jeans or the sticks that almost made you fall. I toke another deep breath and continued to walk unsure why I was doing this and what had gotten into me, I just walked over coming my fear. Now was the time.
It was just then I had gotten a little scared and worried if I shouldn't be out here alone when I reached about a quarter mile in. I felt the wind shift and the rain start. I walked just a little further until I saw the fimilar faces of Bella and Edward just 10 feet away from me, starring intensely at me. I froze petrified.
I had to redo this chapter, because well I kind of forgot to put in the part about how he died...
