Sunday
Picture 2
Destiny Cullen’s Choice: both
Title:
“Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!” The boys chanted loudly.
I tilted my head back to get the last drop of beer from the can, crunching the can in my fist when I finished. “Woo-hoo! I am the champion and all you are my bitcheeezzz!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Everyone cheered and clapped for me. This was it. I was on top of the world. The happiest I ever was at that very moment. Freeze the moment in your brain and look at it like a snapshot. Look at it hard. All my friends and I hanging out enjoying a few beers and smoking a couple joints. Laughing with not a care in the world. This will be the last moment you’ll catch me smiling. Unfreeze time.
“Oh shit, I forgot who the designated driver was!” I yelled over everyone.
“Dude I can’t believe we’re fucking alive!” I heard a guy yell from the door as he walked in. “We just totally fucking drove on the sidewalk, like the whole way here! I think we hit a dog or something outside your house, Kevin!” Cory was the one at the door. He was a friend of mine, we blazed together a lot. He was like a brother to me.
I laughed. “Probably that damn dog next door that never stops barking! Good riddance!”
Suddenly I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket, I pulled it out thinking it was Rachelle, my girlfriend, but it was my mom’s cell phone instead. Quickly I ran outside where it was somewhat quiet and answered. “Hello?”
That’s when I heard her crying on the other end. I plugged my other ear so I could hear better. “Mom? What’s wrong?”
“Anna,” she finally choked out. “We’re in the emergency room.”
I hung up and ran back inside. “Jake!” I ran up to my best friend while he was busy making out with a random chick. “Dude, drive me to the hospital!”
Jake shoved me away. “Not now, dude.”
I yanked him up by his shirt and shook him. “Take me to the hospital now! It’s my sister!”
Jake looked back at the girl and shrugged, running out to the parking lot. “Fuck, dude, where’s my car?”
I couldn’t believe it. I was spinning from the marijuana and beer, but I could at least think straighter than him. “Just give me your fucking keys.”
Jake handed them over and walked back inside. “Let me know if she’s alright!” he yelled behind him.
I felt angry at him for not caring. I didn’t know what was wrong with my little sister, but emergency rooms were never a good thing. I sped down the road, my foot hitting the floor, going as fast as I could. The hospital came into view and I hit the brake right outside the emergency room entrance.
As soon as my mom saw me, she broke down crying again. “Oh my god, Kevin!” She fell into my arms and I didn’t know what was happening.
“Mom what the hell is going on? Where’s Anna?” I pulled her to the nearest chairs and grabbed her hands. “Mom!”
She bowed her head. “My baby… my poor baby girl… why?
I groaned. “Goddammit does anyone know what the hell is going on with my little sister?!”
A nurse came towards me with a sad look. “You’re with Anna Gonzales?”
I nodded. “I just got here. What happened? I need to know what happened to her.”
“It was a hit and run. The cops think a drunk driver drove over onto the sidewalk and hit her. She’s in critical condition…there’s so much blood loss and nerve damage. We don’t think she’ll make it through the night. She’s in room 212, you can go in and be with her, she’s conscious for now.” The nurse bowed her head and apologized multiple times before walking away.
I felt weak in my knees and empty inside. How could this happen? Who would do this to my little sister? I looked at my mom still crying, standing outside the door. Tunnel vision started to happen and I couldn’t hear anything outside my own heartbeat.
My brain went into auto mode and I felt my legs moving towards Room 212 where she slept. She had so many tubes hooked up to her and bandages all over her small frame. I walked to the side of the hospital bed and touched her hand. Her eyes fluttered and she struggled to look at me.
“Kevin?” she whispered, her breathing hoarse.
I nodded, tears falling down my cheek. “Yeah Anna, it’s me.”
“You smell like you’re high.” She tried to give me a stern look.
I shook my head. “No I’m fine.”
“Kevin, I’m dying. Don’t lie to a dying person.”
“You’re not dying. The nurse said you’re gonna make it, I just talked to her out in the hall.” I tried to clear the lump in my throat and not burst down crying. I was supposed to be strong for her.
She closed her eyes and a tear fell down her cheek. “You remember when I was five and you taught me how to play chopsticks on the piano? And when I was ten you taught me how to do an Ollie on the skateboard?”
I laughed, trying to hide my tears. “How could I forget, you broke my skateboard.”
“And my leg.” She laughed with me, but it came out a whisper. “Remember my first crush? When I told him I liked him and he laughed at me in front of his friends?”
“I beat him up the next day for making you cry.”
She nodded. “Remember when you lost that bet and I made you dye your hair?”
“Hot pink. I rocked that look.” My voice quivered and she heard it.
I took the seat by her bed and wiped my eyes. “You’re gonna make it out of here. You’re only thirteen, Anna. There’s so much we haven’t done yet.”
She smiled softly. “Look on the bright side. I don’t have to worry about getting old and smelling of weird soap.” She tried to laugh, but couldn’t find the will to do it. “Where’s Mama?”
“She’s in the hall… I’ll go get her for you,” I stood up, but she grabbed my arm.
“Wait, I have to tell you something. I looked at her and a tear escaped her eye. “Be good for Mama. No more drugs or alcohol. You’re all she has left, Kevin. Everyone gets a dying wish. This is mine.”
I shook my head. “You’re not dying.” I refused to listen.
“Promise me, Kevin?” she whispered, wiping her eyes.
My brows furrowed in anger. “When you get better, I’ll make that promise.”
Another tear escaped and she smiled. “Where’s Mama?”
I walked out of the room and looked for her. “Mom, she wants to talk to you. I have to take care of something, I’ll be back.” She ran into the room and I heard a new wave of sobs come from her.
Maybe I was thinking better being high. Maybe it was something more telling me to go. Instinct or whatever the hell you want to call it. I went to Jake’s car and started it, driving back to the bar where I was earlier with all my friends. One thought played in my head over and over again. Jake kept a gun in the glove compartment. There’s a gun in the glove compartment.
We just totally fucking drove on the sidewalk like the whole way here! I think we hit a dog or something outside your house, Kevin!
I was on the road towards the bar with one thought on my mind. Cory was the drunk driver. He’s responsible for what he did to my little sister. She’s only thirteen for Christ’s sake! What did she do to deserve this?!
All I could see was a red hue of pure boiling anger. My phone buzzed and I hesitated on answering it. I pulled it out and saw it was my mom’s phone.
“Mom?” I answered.
“She’s gonna be okay, Kevin.” She cried, but they were happier tears than before.
“What?”
“The doctor said her readings just took a turn for the better. She might actually pull through,” she started to mumble prayers to herself.
“I don’t understand, they said she won’t even make it through the night.”
“It’s a miracle. I swear to God she’s been saved by a miracle.” She hung up and I stopped the car right in the middle of the road. I stumbled out of the car and fell to my knees, praying. “I promise you, Anna. I will be a better person. For you.”
Freeze this moment in time. Look at me. On the ground, gun in hand, tears in my eyes. Look at that picture and just think about it. Anna was an innocent child in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of my friends was responsible. I was on the road to kill him for what he did. You still looking at that picture in your mind? This is quite possibly what a miracle looks like. This is going to be the happiest I ever will be. For the rest of my Earth-bound life, I will never be as happy as I am in this snapshot. Unfreeze time.
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