CHAPTER 12: Abby
I took Friday afternoon off, because I was anxious to see how Karen was doing. You see, she'd come out of the coma on Tuesday afternoon, and Jason told us that she'd woken up while he was singing "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I can only imagine how Karen would've reacted if I'd been the one singing to her! Let me put it this way: whoever invented the saying "Don't give up your day job" must have had my singing voice in mind, if you could call it that.
As I rounded the corner to go down the hall to Karen's room, Kristy had run out with Jason close behind. I saw him grab her, but it looked like she was trying to fight him off. "Get the hell away from me!" she screamed. "Don't touch me!"
Uh-oh, what happened? I thought as I got a little closer. That's when I saw Kristy burst into tears, for what seemed like the millionth time in the past six days. Jason wrapped her in a hug and gently rubbed her back. I think it might have taken her, at the most, five minutes to calm down. As upset as she was that day, I thought for sure that she was going to have a miscarriage.
"Don't you realize that Karen and her friends could've been killed?" I heard her sob.
"Yes, I know," Jason said gently. "Kristy? Kristy, look at me, please."
Kristy raised her head. "I'm well aware that they could've been killed, love," Jason said, "but they weren't, and we should be thankful."
Kristy buried her face into Jason's shoulder and sobbed her heart out as Jason continued trying to comfort her. "Hey, what happened?" I asked.
"The police just stopped by," Jason explained as Kristy turned and hugged me. "They told us the guy who hit Karen and her friends had been drunk, and died as soon as he got to the hospital."
Now I understood why Kristy was so upset. She was thinking of Amelia Freeman. I know I was.
That had been such a horrible day, one that I don't think any of us would soon forget. In fact, I still remember the look on Mr. Kingbridge's face when he broke the news to the entire school. That's one image that I know will never leave me, as well as Grandpa Morris' face when he told Anna and me that our father had been killed in a car accident. To this day, I still wish I knew who was driving the car that killed Amelia, because I'd sure love to kick that guy's ass.
By the way, the Memory Garden that was planted in the SMS courtyard is still there. After ten years, it still looks as fresh as it did when it was first planted. I think the staff felt they owed it to Amelia, her family, and the student body, to keep it alive.
"How's Karen?" I asked as Kristy released herself from my grasp.
"Well, the doctor says that she doesn't need glasses anymore, except for reading," Jason answered as he handed Kristy his handkerchief.
"Really?" I asked.
Kristy nodded as she dabbed at her eyes. "When Karen came out of the coma, she couldn't see," she explained. "Everything was just a big blur, and when the doctor examined her, he told us that the accident had damaged her retinas. That's when he decided to do Lasik surgery, and that's why she only needs her reading glasses from now on."
That was good news, after everything that had happened this past week. And believe me, Karen's family sure as hell could use some good news.
I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and sent texts to Mom and Anna. I figured they'd want to know how she was doing.
As a famous person once said, all's well that ends well.
