Chapter 4:
The next morning, I woke up to the phone ringing and all I heard after that was Chris scream and he ran into my room.
"Get up and dressed, we have to go!" He shouted at me. I was afraid to question him after what happened last night so I just did what he said. I quickly put some clothes on that covered my bruises and cuts, covered up the bruise on my cheek, and brushed my teeth before hurrying downstairs and getting in the car with Chris.
"Um, what happened?" I asked.
"You're sister was in a car accident. A deer ran in front of her car on her way home so she swerved and crashed into an electrical pole. She died instantly." Chris replied. My hand flew up to my mouth and I burst into tears. We sped to the hospital and when we got there we were told to say our last goodbyes. Chris went first. After a couple minutes, he exited the room my sister's body was in and it was my turn. I took a deep breath and slowly entered the room. I closed the door and immediately saw her body. She looked like she was in a peaceful sleep but I knew she would never wake up. The thought of that made me cry. I walked over to her bed and sat down in the chair located next to her. She had cuts and bruises all over her head and arms. I grabbed her hand and held it in mine then started to talk.
"How could you do this to me? We were supposed to go to the final dress fitting today for your wedding. You were supposed to get married and live a wonderful life. You were supposed to watch me grow up and we were supposed to stay together forever. And you were supposed to give me advice on boys, especially Joe." I was sobbing at this point. After a minute, I continued, "Oh guess what! I know this doesn't mean anything anymore but yesterday I asked Joe to be my date at your wedding. And he said yes! That was the highlight of my week." I was then silent again. "Well I probably have to hurry up now so I just want to say thank you for taking care of me when mom and dad died. I don't know what I'm going to do without you now. Things are going to very different. I love you, I'll miss you but I'll see you later." I kissed her hand and stood up. I looked at Nina one last time before leaving the room. When I got into the hallway of the hospital, I saw Chris. His eyes were puffy and red and he looked like a wreck. I immediately went over to him and just hugged him. We just cried.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"I don't know. We'll find a way to make this work, I promise." He replied. Soon after, we left to go back home. When I got home, it was around noon and remembered that Joe was probably still at his photo shoot. I decided to call him anyway and let him know what was going on. I dialed his number and after a couple seconds got to his voicemail. After the beep I said crying,
"Hey Joe, um I know you're at your shoot right now but um, this morning, my sister was killed. So I'll be waiting at your house when you get home because I really just want to be with you right now. Okay, I'll see you later, bye." I hung up and for the next four hours, I didn't eat anything, drink anything, or get up to do anything. I just sobbed into my pillow.
When I looked at the clock for the first time since I got home, I saw that it was 4:15. Joe was probably home by now. Why hadn't he called me? Did he get my message? I got up and quickly drove over to Joe's house. I rang the doorbell and Joe answered.
"Hey- woah, what's wrong?" Tears were streaming down my face.
"D-Did you g-get my message?" I stuttered out.
"No, what happened?"
"My s-sister d-died. She w-was in a car a-accident this morning." Joe pulled me inside and hugged me tightly.
"I'm so sorry." He said. Joe carried me up to his room and layed me down on his bed, then sat next to me.
"I don't know what I'm going to do. I feel like I have no one left." I said.
"That's not true. You have me." I then hugged him and cried into his chest for a while. It must have been hours before one of us spoke again.
"Hey, what happened to your back?" He asked. I guess my shirt had ridden up and he saw the semi-bloody gauze. I wiped the tears falling down my face away and replied,
"Oh, um nothing. I uh, just um, fell down the stairs."
"Okay…" He said, giving me a questioning look. "But let me help you take care of that. Its starting to bleed through." I hesitated for a second but decided to let him help me.
"K." He grabbed some gauze, hydrogen peroxide, and Neosporin and had me lay down on my stomach on his bed. He unwrapped the gauze I had on previously and examined the wound.
"This looks like it needs stitches." He said. I became a little worried because I don't like hospitals. They remind me of when my parents died and now my sister.
"Can you sit up, though, so I can cover it please?" Joe asked. I sat up on the edge of his bed and he reached around my waist, wrapping the gauze around my back. I could smell his sweet breath and it surprisingly calmed me.
"K, let's go, I'll take you to the hospital." Joe stated.
"Nah, that's okay, I'm sure it will be fine." I answered, nervously.
"No, Kenz, we're going to the hospital. No buts. I don't want it to get infected." He then picked me up and brought me out to his car.
"Joe, really, I'll be fine." I objected.
"No buts, Mackenzie. I'm taking you to the hospital." He got in the car and we started our 10 minute drive to the hospital.