"Mom, I'm going to my room." Emma excused herself from the dinner table.
"Okay honey."
It was only the day after Rick had tried to shoot himself. Snake was upstairs in bed. He and Emma still hadn't really made up over that incident about Rick.
"Rick…" She plopped down on her bed and sighed. He was still in a coma and didn't appear to be coming out of it anytime soon. Because he was officially an orphan, doctors at the hospital had been trying to locate other family members that could make decisions regarding his treatment options. Emma, however, wasn't holding her breath. If he did have any other relatives, they were probably as screwed up as his parents.
Emma picked up the remote control to her stereo. She turned the radio on. A country song started playing. Though Emma was definitely not a country fan, she didn't bother to change it.
It was just another story
Printed on the second page
Underneath the Tiger's football score
It said he was only eighteen
A boy about my age
They found him facedown on his bedroom floor
There'll be services on Friday
At the Lawrence funeral home
Then out on Mooresville highway
They'll lay him 'neath the stone
How do you get that lonely?
How do you hurt that bad?
To make you make the call
That having no life at all
Is better than the life that you have
How do you feel so empty,
You want to let it all go?
How do you get that lonely,
And nobody knows?
Did his girlfriend break up with him?
Did he buy or steal that gun?
Did he lose a fight with drugs or alcohol?
Did his mom and daddy forget,
To say I love you son?
Did no one see the writing on the wall?
I'm not blaming anybody
We all do the best we can
I know hindsight's twenty-twenty
But I still don't understand
How do you get that lonely?
How do you hurt that bad?
To make you make the call
That having no life at all
Is better than the life that you have
How do you feel so empty,
You want to let it all go?
How do you get that lonely,
And nobody knows?
"And nobody knows…" Emma repeated the last line to herself.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Emma's head. Not even bothering to turn her stereo or lights off, she ran upstairs.
Spike was in the kitchen washing dishes when Emma ran over to her.
"Mom! Mom!" Emma was panting by the time she whipped around in front of her.
"Emma, calm down. What is it?"
"Mom, can we adopt Rick?"
Gotta leave a cliffhanger! Stay tuned…
Song credits and the title go to Blaine Larson "How Do You Get That Lonely"