Addictive minds (18+)

Mummified

Where the hell are you? Don't you have school?

I was sitting in class, kind of on edge. I hadn't seen Fede yet. Normally he would pick me up but he didn't show up this morning. If he started second hour it would explain if he didn't, normally he would have told me.
But now he wasn't replying to my texts and I was sitting in class ready to get on my bike and ride to his house. I was looking at the clock, fidgeting on my chair and hadn't listened to one word that came out of my teachers mouth. 'Jade, I'm standing right here. Stop staring at the clock'. She said calmly with a stern look.
I nodded at her and tried keeping my attention to her teaching. A few girls giggled when my teacher scolded me. I looked at Tilly who was sitting next to me. She whispered to asked me what was wrong with me. 'Have you seen Fede?'. She shook her head, not caring to much about his absence. It wasn't that she didn't care. But there could be so many reasons why someone wouldn't turn up at school. Maybe he overslept after bringing me home late, that was a good possibility. Or maybe Caleb told on him. Told the school principal what he did. Could they really suspend him for that? It didn't even happen at school. If this was Caleb's fault, I would punch him. I hated Caleb. I hadn't seen him in school, but I normally didn't look for him either.
I looked at my phone again and wrote down another text.

Just text me back, I'm worrying.

The door opened and I saw the school principal walking in, he stood by my teacher and whispered something in her ear. His face wasn't a cheerful one to begin with but he looked so gloomy when he spoke to her. I saw her face change as well. The school principal turned his body towards the class and with a mournful tone he started to talk. 'I have some bad news to report'. He said, I held my breath in anticipation. My heart was pounding but he hadn't even said anything. I felt it in my gut.
I had woken up with the feeling this morning and I couldn't explain what it was. I felt nervous, I knew something had happened. 'This morning, at 5:30 there was a big fire at the house of one of our students, Fede Jones'. Just like that the floor disappeared from under my feet. I barely heard him say the next few sentences. I felt like a was in a tube stuck with my own thought. I grabbed the edges of the table and just crumbled on my chair. My body didn't flinch and my eyes didn't blink. I just looked forward in to nothing as I felt a hand on my arm, it belonged to Tilly.
Her touch shook me awake and I wished I hadn't woken up from my thoughts. 'As we speak, they are still trying extinguishing the fire and Fede has been transferred to the ER. We don't know much but we have understood that he was inside the house when the fire started. I think I can speak for all of us when I say; we'll keep him in our prayers the coming hours'.
The first thing I did when I figured I could still move my limbs was pressing my hand in front of my mouth to hold back my screaming tears. I broke in that class. Tears rolled down my face and I let them. I didn't care who saw me cry. There was only one thing I cared about in that moment and that was Fede
The classroom was so silent and I could hear my crying echoed through the room. I wanted to ask the school principal so many things he himself probably didn't even know. But even if he knew I couldn't ask him. I had no words to give him. There was only my out of breath crying. My face felt soaking wet from tears and my fingers felt numb. 'Is he dead?'. Tilly asked, the question I needed to know so badly but could never have gotten out of my throat. Maybe I didn't want to know in case the answer would be; 'yes'. I don't know if I could survive news like that. 'No, but he is in a critical condition. Jade, why don't you come with me for a second to calm down'. At first, I didn't move. Then Inola softly squeezed my arm. 'Jade, go'. She whispered to me. I looked at her and listened without thinking about it. I went in to auto pilot somehow. I stood up and threw all my stuff in my schoolbag. Papers I had carefully typed got wrinkled in my back as I just shoved all of it in. What the fuck was I going to care about some stupid paper? I walked towards the front of the class without looking at any of my peer's. The school principal laid a hand on my shoulder and leaded me out of the classroom.
Once I got into the hallway and out of the crowded room, I still didn't feel like I could breathe. 'Jade, I know Fede has been a really good friend of yours for a long time'. He was more of then a friend and it annoyed me that he just called him my friend. Like he somehow could have known how much we meant to each other. He was my family. I knew he didn't mean it in an unpleasant way. I could see in his face how carefully he picked his words but I needed to be angry at something. Even if that meant I was being unfair to someone innocent. 'I always see you with him in and out of school. Maybe it's smart you go home and wait there for more information about his condition'. I wiped down the tears from my prickling eyes and nodded. 'Do I need to call your dad, ask him if he can pick you up?'. I shook my head. My dad was working at the bakery and if he had to pick me up, he needed to close down the shop. I didn't want to ask that of him. Besides, I wasn't planning on going home and my dad would definitely make me. 'No, I want to take my bike home'. I lied about going home but I had taken Fede's to school this morning. 'How did the fire start?'. He shook his head and looked clueless. 'Time will tell. It's too soon to know'. I pushed my hand in to my bag and grabbed my keys. 'I'm going home now'. I sniffed my nose and turned my back to the school principal; I didn't even wait for his response because I couldn't care about it right now.
I walked off to my bike and as the fresh air hit me in the face, I knew I wasn't going home. I was going to the hospital. I was going to see Fede.
I had never biked as fast as I had today. My feet kept slipping of the pedals because they couldn't keep up with the pace. I could see grey smoke hanging in the air like a cloud and was happy to drive away from it. But it didn't matter how fast I biked. From every place in town, you could have seen that thick smoke rise up. That's where it happened. That was where he got hurt.
The hospital smelled like bleach. I ran through the hospital and got held by a nurse. At first, I thought I would get scolded for running in the hallway. Then I recognized the nurses face. She was one of my dad's customers and used to earn some extra bucks babysitting me, back when she wasn't nursing. Her name was Sandra. 'Jade'. She called my name and ran towards me in a rush. I could see by the look on her face she knew what I was doing here. She gave me a hug as I looked around for any sign, of course this hallway wasn't going to give me answers. 'Is he going to die?'. I felt my throat cramp up as I spoke. She shook her head. 'Don't think like that, honey. Come I'll bring you to the waiting room. I'm not supposed to since you're not related but I guess he doesn't really have anyone else around here'. I looked at her. Something in here voice made me ask my next question. 'Where is his dad?'. She looked at me and shook her head. 'Sandra, do you know something?'. She sighed and looked embarrassed for gossiping. 'The people from the ambulances told us the dad was arrested for starting the fire. But it can be just gossiping; his dad seemed like a lovely man'. Just like me she thought he seemed nice. Only he wasn't; he was an evil human being. 'No, he isn't lovely. He's a monster'. She didn't ask why I said that. She walked me towards the waiting room, hand on my back. 'Go sit over there, Jade. When Fede is out of surgery a doctor will come and get you. But it can take a while'.
I sat down as the waiting began. I was an inpatient person. I hated waiting and I especially hated waiting when I was stressed. My mind went to the darkest of places. He was dead, this was taking too long. No, he couldn't be dead. He was alive and they were performing surgery on him. That could take a while.
5:30 the fire started. That was an hour before Fede's alarm should go off. He probably had been sleeping when the fire started. Why didn't he sleep at the shed? Why was he inside that house? My mind was buzzing with these questions. Minutes felt like hours and when I looked out of the window at the end of the hallway it was getting dark.
Every time a doctor came, I held my breath in suspense. But different names were being called that weren't mine. The waiting room got emptier by the hour until I was the only one there. My phone kept buzzing in my pocket. First it was Inola; calling me and then texting me to ask if I was alright. Then my dad called four times in a row. I couldn't imagine him not knowing what happened. Working at the bakery meant you spoke to everyone in town. I texted him. Not in the mood to talk to anyone but Fede.