Disclaimer: The 7th Heaven characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them to tell a story. Please don't sue. All non 7th Heaven characters belong to me. Please remember this is a work of fiction. All similarities to persons or events is purely coincidental. That said, it's time to begin.
Author's Note: This story will be told from multi-person points of view. Whenever a new person takes over narration, their name will be set off in brackets () so that the reader will know who is talking. At times I may also use a non-character, or third person, narrator. This will be noted as (3rd Person Narrative) or (3rdPN)
Author's Request: Please read and review. Constructive criticsm welcome. Please don't flame.
The Road Home
By Dark Inzanity (c) 2002
Chapter 1
Everyone Has To Know
(Lucy)
Kevin offered t make the calls for me, but I couldn't pass that off on him. They were my parents, and I had to take the responsibility of letting family and friends know what had happened.
The task seemed so overwhelming that for several minutes I could only flip through Mom's address book, looking for a place to start. Matt, and Mary. They should be first on the contact list. How could I just call my brother, or my sister, and tell them Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident last night?
I had to call my grandparents too, and tell them their children, my parents, were dead. Then Aunt Julie needed to know her brother was gone.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. Tears sprung to my eyes and I felt like screaming.
Kevin rubbed my shoulders. "I'll get it." He reached passed me to pick up the receiver. "Camden residence."
I cringed at his words. Camden residence. My father's house.
Kevin put his hand over the phone and held it down to his chest. "It's Robbie. Do you want to talk to him?" I shook my head. "Do you want me to tell him?"
I shook my head again and reached for the phone. Robbie was practically my brother, after living with my family for...how many years? I couldn't remember, and I didn't have the energy to try to think about it. I couldn't even say for sure how long he had been gone. A month? Maybe two, since he went to Florida to be with his mother.
I always wondered if he really went to give it another shot with Mary, but I couldn't think about that now.
"Robbie?"
"Hey, Luce. What's up?"
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about kissing Robbie. At least my parents were alive then. "Robbie, there was an accident last night."
"An accident? What kind of accident? Lucy, is everyone okay?"
I shook my head and took a deep breath to try to steady my nerves. I opened my mouth to say it, but the words wouldn't come. I tried again. "My parents..."
"Your parents? Lucy? What happened?"
"I can't...I can't, Robbie. I'm sorry." I shoved the phone back to Kevin. I had to walk away when he started talking. I couldn't listen to that conversation. I didn't want to hear him say the words.
I started upstairs to check on the kids, but only stood at the bottom of the steps. Kevin found me there, just looking up to the hallway above. I felt like I was frozen there, unable to move.
He put his arms around me and kissed the side of my face. His lips felt so warm on my skin. I wanted to melt into him.
"Robbie said he would call Mary."
I nodded. I wasn't sure I could do it, after the way I fell apart with him. "Matt!" I yelped. "I have to call Matt."
"I'll do it."
"No. I have to. I have to tell him. He's my brother..." I went back to the kitchen phone and sat on one of the bar stools. My hands shook as I dialed the number...
(Matt)
My parent's number came up on the caller ID, and I almost didn't answer it because my parents can talk and talk and talk, even when I try to tell them I have to study. But I'd been feeling uneasy, that odd sense that something, somewhere, is wrong, all day. So picked up the phone, expecting Mom, and hoping she would tell me everything was fine back home.
"Hello?"
"Matt? Matt, it's Lucy." I was glad she identified herself, because her voice wasn't quite right.
She sounded like she was crying, I realized suddenly. "Lucy?"
"Matt..." She made some kind of strangled sound and the phone seemed to fall and hit the floor.
A moment later Kevin spoke. "Matt, hey. Sorry about that. I knew she couldn't..."
"What is it? Kevin, what's going on?" My heart jumped into my throat, or something like that. I could feel it beating wildly, as if I had just run a ten mile marathon.
I guess it was my tone that caught Sarah's attention. She came ou of the bedroom with a puzzled look. I could only shrug my shoulders, since I didn't know yet what was wrong.
"Matt, your parents...last night...they were on their way home..."
"Kevin?" I knew what he was getting at, and I couldn't believe it. No. Not my parents. Please God, not my parents. "Kevin, no." I wanted to cry. The tears filled my eyes and I tried to fight them back.
Sarah came to me and put her arms around me.
"I'm sorry, Matt. It was a drunk driver. He crossed the line and...and they never had a chance. They didn't suffer, Matt. They died instantly."
"Both of them?" I asked, holding on to a small, impossible hope, that one of them might have survived.
"I'm sorry." I had never heard Kevin's voice falter. He always seemed so unemotional, no matter what was going on. Until now, until this.
My parents...dead. How? How could that be possible? Car accidents happen to other people. Not my family. Not my parents. "I...I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell Lucy, tell all of them I love them and I'll be there as soon as I can."
Sarah looked up at me, her eyes bright and innocent, full of love and concern. She had no idea what Kevin had just told me. I closed my eyes and shook myhead. I would tell her when I hung up.
Kevin took a deep breath, audible over the phone line spanning thousands of miles. "I will. Matt, I'm sorry."
I wished he would quit saying that and the only way to make him stop was to hang up. "I'll call you with flight information as soon as I get it booked. Take care of my sisters and the boys until I get there."
"You know I will."
I hung up the phone and looked down at Sarah. "They're dead." The words fell out of my mouth, as if I said them every day.
"Who?"
"My...My parents..." I fell apart, right there. Right then and there, as I said those words. 'My parents'. The tears came full force, and the reality of I hit me hard in the chest. Right in the heart. My parents were dead.
Sarah must have guided me to the couch. I don't remember getting there, but I was laying on it, curled up on my side, and Sarah was there, sitting with me holding my hand and stroking my hair. Taking care of me.
Sarah made the flight arrangements. Sarah called the school, all our professors and the hospital where we both worked, to schedule a family emergency leave. She called Kevin back, to let him know when we would be in Glen Oak.
I don't know what I would have done without her.
*.~.*
Author's Note: This story will be told from multi-person points of view. Whenever a new person takes over narration, their name will be set off in brackets () so that the reader will know who is talking. At times I may also use a non-character, or third person, narrator. This will be noted as (3rd Person Narrative) or (3rdPN)
Author's Request: Please read and review. Constructive criticsm welcome. Please don't flame.
The Road Home
By Dark Inzanity (c) 2002
Chapter 1
Everyone Has To Know
(Lucy)
Kevin offered t make the calls for me, but I couldn't pass that off on him. They were my parents, and I had to take the responsibility of letting family and friends know what had happened.
The task seemed so overwhelming that for several minutes I could only flip through Mom's address book, looking for a place to start. Matt, and Mary. They should be first on the contact list. How could I just call my brother, or my sister, and tell them Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident last night?
I had to call my grandparents too, and tell them their children, my parents, were dead. Then Aunt Julie needed to know her brother was gone.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. Tears sprung to my eyes and I felt like screaming.
Kevin rubbed my shoulders. "I'll get it." He reached passed me to pick up the receiver. "Camden residence."
I cringed at his words. Camden residence. My father's house.
Kevin put his hand over the phone and held it down to his chest. "It's Robbie. Do you want to talk to him?" I shook my head. "Do you want me to tell him?"
I shook my head again and reached for the phone. Robbie was practically my brother, after living with my family for...how many years? I couldn't remember, and I didn't have the energy to try to think about it. I couldn't even say for sure how long he had been gone. A month? Maybe two, since he went to Florida to be with his mother.
I always wondered if he really went to give it another shot with Mary, but I couldn't think about that now.
"Robbie?"
"Hey, Luce. What's up?"
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about kissing Robbie. At least my parents were alive then. "Robbie, there was an accident last night."
"An accident? What kind of accident? Lucy, is everyone okay?"
I shook my head and took a deep breath to try to steady my nerves. I opened my mouth to say it, but the words wouldn't come. I tried again. "My parents..."
"Your parents? Lucy? What happened?"
"I can't...I can't, Robbie. I'm sorry." I shoved the phone back to Kevin. I had to walk away when he started talking. I couldn't listen to that conversation. I didn't want to hear him say the words.
I started upstairs to check on the kids, but only stood at the bottom of the steps. Kevin found me there, just looking up to the hallway above. I felt like I was frozen there, unable to move.
He put his arms around me and kissed the side of my face. His lips felt so warm on my skin. I wanted to melt into him.
"Robbie said he would call Mary."
I nodded. I wasn't sure I could do it, after the way I fell apart with him. "Matt!" I yelped. "I have to call Matt."
"I'll do it."
"No. I have to. I have to tell him. He's my brother..." I went back to the kitchen phone and sat on one of the bar stools. My hands shook as I dialed the number...
(Matt)
My parent's number came up on the caller ID, and I almost didn't answer it because my parents can talk and talk and talk, even when I try to tell them I have to study. But I'd been feeling uneasy, that odd sense that something, somewhere, is wrong, all day. So picked up the phone, expecting Mom, and hoping she would tell me everything was fine back home.
"Hello?"
"Matt? Matt, it's Lucy." I was glad she identified herself, because her voice wasn't quite right.
She sounded like she was crying, I realized suddenly. "Lucy?"
"Matt..." She made some kind of strangled sound and the phone seemed to fall and hit the floor.
A moment later Kevin spoke. "Matt, hey. Sorry about that. I knew she couldn't..."
"What is it? Kevin, what's going on?" My heart jumped into my throat, or something like that. I could feel it beating wildly, as if I had just run a ten mile marathon.
I guess it was my tone that caught Sarah's attention. She came ou of the bedroom with a puzzled look. I could only shrug my shoulders, since I didn't know yet what was wrong.
"Matt, your parents...last night...they were on their way home..."
"Kevin?" I knew what he was getting at, and I couldn't believe it. No. Not my parents. Please God, not my parents. "Kevin, no." I wanted to cry. The tears filled my eyes and I tried to fight them back.
Sarah came to me and put her arms around me.
"I'm sorry, Matt. It was a drunk driver. He crossed the line and...and they never had a chance. They didn't suffer, Matt. They died instantly."
"Both of them?" I asked, holding on to a small, impossible hope, that one of them might have survived.
"I'm sorry." I had never heard Kevin's voice falter. He always seemed so unemotional, no matter what was going on. Until now, until this.
My parents...dead. How? How could that be possible? Car accidents happen to other people. Not my family. Not my parents. "I...I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell Lucy, tell all of them I love them and I'll be there as soon as I can."
Sarah looked up at me, her eyes bright and innocent, full of love and concern. She had no idea what Kevin had just told me. I closed my eyes and shook myhead. I would tell her when I hung up.
Kevin took a deep breath, audible over the phone line spanning thousands of miles. "I will. Matt, I'm sorry."
I wished he would quit saying that and the only way to make him stop was to hang up. "I'll call you with flight information as soon as I get it booked. Take care of my sisters and the boys until I get there."
"You know I will."
I hung up the phone and looked down at Sarah. "They're dead." The words fell out of my mouth, as if I said them every day.
"Who?"
"My...My parents..." I fell apart, right there. Right then and there, as I said those words. 'My parents'. The tears came full force, and the reality of I hit me hard in the chest. Right in the heart. My parents were dead.
Sarah must have guided me to the couch. I don't remember getting there, but I was laying on it, curled up on my side, and Sarah was there, sitting with me holding my hand and stroking my hair. Taking care of me.
Sarah made the flight arrangements. Sarah called the school, all our professors and the hospital where we both worked, to schedule a family emergency leave. She called Kevin back, to let him know when we would be in Glen Oak.
I don't know what I would have done without her.
*.~.*