Part Seven: Hospital
The ride to the hospital was much longer than expected. It was only five miles from the Denny's where we ate breakfast to the hospital where my destiny would unfold, but it felt like five light years. It didn't help that the car was silent the whole time. That silence fell upon all of us like the full weight of a sumo wrestler carrying a baby grand piano. It seemed like no one knew what to say or do. So they simply left it standing.
My eyes where to the paved rode the whole time we drove to the hospital. I didn't watch as Travis looked out the window thoughtfully. I didn't see Will bite his nails or Brendan bite his lower lip so hard he winced. I didn't even notice Jesse clutching the steering will so tight with every thought that popped in his head made his knuckles turned white. No, all I saw was those dark ashen pavements ahead that lead the way to my mother's cold dead body and the paper work that would seal her death. That would make it real.
I was staring so hard at that pavement that when we got there it took me a second to register why Jesse was poking me or even what Brendan was saying.
"We're here." His voice was blurred and far off.
"Okay." I heard my voice come out soft and shaky.
Yeah, I concentrated on nothing but the pavement and then the tile like floor in the waiting room; And then the deep sea green carpet in the coroners office. I couldn't hear or register what anyone else was saying. I didn't want to. All I wanted to do was lose myself in that ugly sea green carpet.
"Miss Rosen!" The voice was harsh; the voice from the telephone. "Are you there?! Is she even able to hear what I'm saying?!"
"Yes, she is." I felt a soft hand rub my back. "Mia?"
I bit my lower lip and finally turned to my assailant, the police officer that had informed me of my mothers passing. The messenger. Funny, I didn't think the messenger would remind me so much of James Stewart as a detective. Wait, did he play a detective? Or am I thinking of a mix of Harvey and Rear View Window? Oh, I always get these movies mixed up. They had gone through all the formalities and all that was left was the dirty work.
"Miss Rosen, are you ready to identify the body?" He pursed his lips and frowned.
I nodded.
"Okay, come with me." He stood up and walked out of the room, but before he disappeared completely he turned back. "Oh, and just bring one of your friends for support."
I slowly sat up and looked down at them. I didn't want them to see me like this let alone come with me and maybe see me break down again. But, truth be told, even though I didn't know them very well I needed them.
"I'll go." Jesse sat up and looked back at the boys as well nodding an okay.
"It'll be okay, Mia... Be strong..."
The ground was a hard marble. I noticed cause it was all I stared at the way into the room where they kept my mothers body.
"Mia?" Mr. Stewart's signature shaky voice came out. "Is this your mother?"
I looked up slowly at a silver table where a body laid covered by a thin blue blanket. The body seemed so small and frail as Mr. Stewart slowly lifted back the blanket to its neck. There I caught a glimpse of my mother. Her eyes were closed but there were several scratches on her cheek and a few bruises on her face. I couldn't bare to see her pale lipped and eyes closed. I slammed my head back into Jesse's chest and cried.
That was my mother... She's dead. She's really dead... Her bodies right there. A mixed feeling of rage and anger welled up in me. And someone did that to her... Someone hurt her badly. I swear if I get my hands on them-
"It's her..." I sniffed.
"Okay."
I could hear the blanket being put back over her lifeless face as Jesse wrapped his arms around me and rubbed his hands up and down my sides making me wince. I was still pretty bruised from the fight last night.
"Well, then shall we get with the paper work?" Mr. Stewart turned to us.
I slowly looked up and nodded. The dreaded paperwork... That paperwork felt like it would seal my fate as an orphan. Wait... I'm an orphan now. That sunk it deep. My mothers dead and I'm an orphan. I'm alone now. I don't have anyone in the world... no one... No one to catch me when I fall or dry my tears when I'm sad... or... or- just be there.
"Watch out." I felt a pair of strong arms pull me back as I was about to slam into the office door. "Be careful." Jesse scolded.
I nodded.
"No one."
"Hey guys..." We walked back into the office.
Brendan was sitting down in the chair closest to the door. He had his head down and his face in his hands, but he slowly looked up and smiled weakly. Will was leaning against to the wall farthest from me eyeing, and Travis was sitting next to Brendan leaned back and slumped over. Jesse and I slowly made our way over to the two empty seats next to the desk and the messenger walked abruptly over to his desk.
"So, are you ready to fill out the paperwork?" He sat down.
"W-What does the paperwork entail?" I took a deep breath.
"Oh, its just signatures to prove you are really Donna Rosen's daughter and to hand over all possessions and guardian ship of yourself to someone close to you." He nodded reassuringly. "That brings something up. Do you have any siblings or family you can stay with?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm an only child and my father-... well my father isn't around."
"Well, do you have any family? You're not legally an adult yet, are you?"
"No, I'm 17 but my birthdays in a few weeks and I'll be turning 18. My- My mom was all I really had..." I looked down at my hands that sat in my lap as I felt the tense air and heard the uncomfortable shifts in the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..." The little sentiment made me not want to lean over and kill the messenger. "Well, none the less... Here it is."
He skid a small stack of inked out paper to me.
"Just sign here- and here- and here- and here." He pointed to a few lines.
I nodded and signed my name on each one with the signature my mom helped me perfect. She used to say that my cursive signature was so good it looked like a movie stars. She would save everything I signed my name on telling me that it was a good investment for when I was famous. That each signature with that magic ink would win her millions. And we laughed.
"Done." I took a deep breath and handed his pen and the papers back.
"Good." He nodded curtly. "Here are the possessions that were on her at the time of death."
The messenger, or Mr. Stewart, grabbed a small box from underneath his desk and handed it to me. I took its cold exterior in my hands and put it on my lap. Slowly I opened the lid and looked inside. There were car keys, her wallet, a scrunchy, and a few other little charms and bracelets. All was there but her clothes.
"If I may ask... how did she die?" I swallowed not knowing if I wanted the answer or not.
"I'm not sure I'm aloud to tell you that..." He replied.
"She deserves to know." Jesse piped up sternly.
"Fine... Your mother was sort of caught in between a murder that happened to be going on. She stopped the girl from being killed, but in the battle she got killed herself."
"Who was committing the murder?" Brendan looked up.
"Some loon we've been trying to catch for awhile now."
Will raised an eyebrow. "Some loon?"
"Yes. He calls himself The Marker. He'll pick a victim at random and learn everything there is to know about them. Then he starts stalking them slowly just to give them a scare. Then, when they're alone, he'll rape and kill them, and afterwards he takes on their entire family, every single living person in the lineage."
"Why do they call him The Marker?" Travis asked curiously.
"He leaves a sharpie marker next to each crime scene but it never has any finger prints on it." The messenger raised an eyebrow. "We caught him, thanks to your mother. He was in the process of the next victim of the Debreu family.... but she got there in time."
"In time to get killed." I mumbled.
I didn't even know it came out. I didn't know what I was feeling. If I was mad or sad or... or happy that my mother went out the way she wanted to- saving people.
"Look, do you need someone to stay with you or-?"
"No, I'm fine. I'm just going to go home... or... I don't know..." I bit my lower lip. "Thank you for everything." I stood up and shook the messenger's hand. Oh, how I loathed this man at the moment.
"Don't kill the messenger."
"I'm sorry we couldn't meet on happier circumstances, Miss Rosen." He gave a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah..."
I barely even felt my legs moving. All I know is I was slowly floating out into the hallway of the hospital and somehow Travis, Will, Brendan, and Jesse were following me. They didn't say a word. I didn't say a word. I just clutched the box with the reminisce of my mother and her things in it. The things she had when she died.
"Are you Mia?" A small shaky voice came from aside me.
I turned to see a girl not even one year older than me. She looked tired and warn out and frail. Her dark hair fell down in straight stringy waves and her pale skin looked even paler against her green eyes as she looked at me. She looked at me like she knew me.
"Are you... Donna Rosen's daughter?" She asked this carefully. Like if she where to say the wrong word I'd blow up, or worse, break down. "I'm Kelsey Daniels... the girl your mother saved."
"Sh-she saved you?" I looked at her almost falling back, but Jesse held onto me.
"Yes." She gave a small smile. "She did."
"Why are you-?"
"Oh!" Suddenly she reached down in the pocket of her big baby blue sweater. It was a wrap around robe sort of. "Here."
She handed me a locket. I knew that locket. It was my mothers. She wore it every day of her life and never took it off. It was a silver heart like locket that had a small chain. It was always so special to her. I remember once...
"When you're older and when I'm gone I'll give you this as my mother gave it to me. It holds a clue to one of the biggest mysteries. A secret to a woman's heart. One of the biggest."
"When she saved me and before she died." She put the locket in my hand and closed my fingers over it. "She said to give it to her daughter Mia."
"She did?" A small smile touched the tips of my lips.
"You know, your mother died a hero."
I looked up at her.
"She saved my life. I could never thank her enough, and you should know." Kelsey put her hands over mine and looked at me. "That she fought till the end. She was a great woman."
"Yes... she was..." I nodded.
"Thank you." She smiled and suddenly hugged me half way pushing Jesse back. As this girl I've never known began to cry on my shoulder and hugged me tightly I couldn't help but feel some tears slip from my own eyes. "Thank you so much."
"I didn't do anything." I cried. "I didn't do... anything..."