House of Night: My Story Joanne Clarke

I woke up the next morning with a weird, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was as if something was wrong. That shiver that I had felt last night had crept me out. It was a Friday – thank the Goddess. I went about my normal routine although today I got up at my usual time. I beat Kelsey to the bathroom and sorted myself out; I didn't bother with my make-up today; mainly because I couldn't be bothered. I scraped my hair up into a messy but cute pony tail. I walked out and Kelsey ran in. I went to my wardrobe and pulled out a short black skirt, white blouse and deep purple jumper. I pulled on my black converse today, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs for breakfast. Kelsey arrived in the kitchen not long after I had left the room. I was sat at the table just staring into space with a plate of toast in front of me. I didn't pay any attention to it though; I still had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was getting a bit scared as to what had gone wrong but what could have gone wrong. I broke out of my trance and started to slowly eat the toast that lay in front of me. The Twins and Craig wandered in and started to sort out themselves. The Twins grabbed a bowl of cereal each and Craig having an apple. We ate in silence, which was a first. After we had all finished our breakfast we still had forty-five minutes until first hour; we decided to put on the TV for that time. We all settled on watching the news. Just after we had put the TV on Blair strolled through the door and situated himself next to me giving me a chaste kiss. I smiled and snuggled into him, we watched the news getting interested in what was happening in the world.

Although my world decided to come crashing down at the next bulletin. It was about a hit and run, I was shocked as to how someone would be able to live with themselves with doing something like that. That wasn't what crushed my world; it was when the news reporter revealed who had been hit. I listened intently to find out all the information about this.
"We are here today at the scene where it all happened yesterday afternoon. It was three o'clock and this local elementary school was just letting out." The school showed up in the background and that's when I started to feel sick; it was my old elementary school now my brothers' school. "The young boy was crossing the road when it happened. His name is Cameron Clarke and at three o'clock yesterday afternoon he was hit by a car. He was rushed to hospital and his parents were contacted but we have no news on his condition as of this moment."
I almost collapsed right there; my baby brother had been hit by a car. I could feel the sick travelling up my throat.
"Someone get me a bucket please!" I shouted as I tried to stop the sick from rising. Kelsey ran to get a bucket and shoved it under me just in time for me to empty the contents of my stomach. The words kept running through my head as I continued to empty my stomach. Cameron, my baby brother was hit by a car. He had to be ok. He was going ok I knew it. If I knew he was going to be ok why did I still have that weird feeling in the bottom of my stomach? I finally stopped puking my guts out and wiped my mouth. Craig handed me a glass of water for me to swirl around my mouth, once I had done that I spat it out into the bucket and made a face.
"Can someone please take this away from me?" I said. Craig smiled sadly at me as he grabbed the bucket and took it away. I took a shaky breath and sat up, the whole room started to spin a bit. I closed my eyes tight and started crying. I had to get out of there; I couldn't take the silence any longer. I rose from my seat, grabbed my bag that had my phone in and my iPod and ran from the room. I didn't bother about all the shouts of 'come back'. I kept running until I reached my car. I knew I had classes so I text Blair to ask him to tell Fiona what had happened and that I needed to be alone for a while. He text back saying ok.

I had climbed into my car, put on the cover up for my mark and started to drive away from the school. I would have driven to the hospital to see Cammy, but I hadn't listened long enough to what hospital he was in. I just drove and drove until I reached where my parents' house was. I smiled as I saw my childhood home. I didn't bother stopping, I drove past it and towards a very special place to me. I reached the lake which was about five minutes away from my house by car. I parked and climbed out; I walked towards the edge of the lake and sat down. I had discovered the lake when I was thirteen; I had a huge blowout with my parents because of something I don't even remember. I had ran to my room and packed a backpack planning on running away. It's silly now I look back at it, but I had left the house dead silent and just started walking after about a fifteen minute walk I had found the lake. I had sat at the edge and skimmed stones, but as it got darker I started to think just to get up and go home. I did. My parents had said they were worried sick about me. I covered up saying that I had gone to Ellen's house and that I didn't have a charge in my phone. They believed me and were just glad that I was safe. After that I had always came to the lake when I needed to be alone. The clean fresh air always helped to clear my head. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my calls. I saw that I had eighteen missed call either from my mum or my dad and a few from Blair that had been from today. Mum and Dad must have been calling to tell me about Cammy. I went to my phonebook and scrolled down until I found my mum mobile number; I hit call and put the phone to my ear listening to the dial tone. She picked up on the fourth ring.
"Joanne! Oh my goodness, I was trying to call you all of last night. Cameron was hit by a car. He's in the hospital." I could hear her trying to refrain from crying.
"Mum, I know I saw it on the news this morning before classes." I choked out. "Is he alright?" I asked. When I asked that she couldn't control herself she started sobbing and I could hear the phone being passed to my Dad.
"Joanne. It's not good news; the doctors say that he isn't looking to good and that things are worse than they thought. Come to the hospital you need to say goodbye to him in case he doesn't make it." His voice was thick with tears and just listening to him made me break down. My dad never cried, he wasn't like that; sure he would get sad and stuff but he would never cry.
"Ok daddy." My voice was shaky as I responded. I also called him 'daddy' something I hadn't done since I was a kid and only done when I was terrified. I hung up the phone after saying I would be there as soon as I could.

After the phone call I clambered back into my car and sped towards the hospital. I parked and jumped out the car running into the building. I went to the reception desk and reached it out of breath.
"Can I help you?" The middle aged receptionist asked.
"Yeah. What room is Cameron Clarke in? I'm his sister." I asked gulping down air, trying to catch my breath.
"Oh Cameron Clarke." She clicked away at her computer and looked back up at me. "He's in room 268 on floor 3." She gave a small, sad smile. I thanked her and took off again at a run for the elevator. I slipped inside and pressed the button for the third floor. I tapped my foot nervously as the elevator rose through floors one and two. I heard the ping when we reached floor 3 and ran out and searched the corridors for room 268. I found the room and entered slowly bracing myself for what I was about to see. My family surrounded the bed that Cameron was in. He was covered in wires and looked so small on the bed. His hair was matted with sweat and his face was a deathly white colour. It terrified me to see him like this. I cleared my throat to make my presence known. My mum turned to me with glassy eyes and gave a sigh of relief that I was ok and here. My dad walked over and grasped me in a hug; I let myself freely sob in his embrace. I couldn't keep it bottled up I had to let it out. I let go of him and looked towards Alec who was sitting in a chair by the window; he was sitting in silence staring out at the world. I walked over to him and lightly tapped his shoulder, he looked up at me a burst into tears and he gripped me tight.
"Please don't leave me too." He cried out. When he said that I knew what had happened. I turned to my parents and their looks just confirmed what I had guessed.
"I'll never leave you Alec." I kissed the top of his head. "Is he gone then?" I asked my parents.
"We tried to get him to hold on until you arrived..." My mum started saying but broke off in tears.
"Can I maybe have a few minutes with him alone? You know to say my own goodbye." I asked, my parents nodded and left the room, trying to get Alec to go with them but he was stuck to my side not wanting to leave. "Just leave him with me please?" I asked again, my parents nodded and left the room. I grabbed Alec's hand and we walked over to the bed where our brother lay. I sat down on the chair that resided next to the bed and pulled Alec onto my lap.
"Hey there Cammy. I really miss you, you know that! I just can't believe you're gone. I didn't even really get to say a proper goodbye. I love you, you're my baby brother and I always loved you even when we fought. You know I was jealous when you were born, because I wasn't the centre of attention anymore, but I learned to like you and soon I was so protective of you. No one ever tried to mess with my brother. Alec is here as well, we both miss you." I started to cry again. I stroked his pale, cold cheek. "You know I remember everything you ever told me. Everything that you wanted to be. You said you were gonna be a cowboy when you were three. You grew out of that though, you kept changing your mind over the years. When you turned eleven though you came to me and said that you were going to be a footballer and that you be the best footballer out there. Well you were the best footballer I knew, and you could have been a star. I'm going to miss you baby brother." I took a shaky breath and placed Alec back on the ground. I stood up and reached over to place a kiss on Cameron's forehead. Alec had done the same. I grabbed his hand after that and we left the room where our brother was. We went back to our parents and I explained that I had to get back to the House of Night. Dad said he would contact Fiona and see if I could maybe get out of classes for the next couple of days.

I said my goodbyes and told Alec I would see him real soon and left the hospital where my brother had died.

There is Chapter 13. A really sad one and I was practically crying just writing it. Chapter 14 will follow shortly hopefully if I get it finished today.

LiveLikeThere'sNoTomorrow (: