ILLICIT

~PROLOGUE~

Huff.... huff.... huff....
My lunges were burning.
The muscles in my legs were in pain.
Everything was a blur.
I couldn't  see anything.
I couldn't  hear anything.
I couldn't  think anything.
...except for the phone call i got three minutes ago.
                            .    .    .    .

Unlocking my phone, I checked the notifications to see if I've got any message from Sofie, saying whether she was coming , or going to be late , or not coming at all.
Nope. No message. None at all.
I had tried calling her but she didn't pick up.
Guess I was going to have wait for another, uh, four more minutes.  If she didn't come by then, I'd be happy to get on a bus and go home by myself.
In the first place, picking me up wasn't Sofie's duty.  It was definitely my mom's. But today mom was going with Aunt Khloe on a shopping trip to the mall. And so she asked Sofie, my best friend, to pick me up to and from school.
But now the four minuets of waiting time was up. So i guess, i was going to serve myself.
Sofie was definitely not a person who forgets to do her stuff, like picking her best friend up from school when her mom most definitely requested her to do so. She just got a crush on Kevin Miller, the cute captain of the baseball team of our school. And that was making her forget other things whenever she saw him. I was pretty sure that right now she was probably sitting on a bench outside the field and cheerleading for him.
Good for her. At least, she got someone she likes.
I sat on the bench of bus stop as it'd take another eight minutes for the bus to arrive.
My phone in my pocket started ringing. Thinking it was probably a call from Sofie , I took my sweet time to get it out.
It was an unknown number. I debated on  taking the call but then it stopped. So swiping the screen, i called back the unknown number.
A calm female voice answed it.-“Hello, is this Miss Willaims I'm speaking to?”
-“Yes.”
-“Ma'am, I'm calling from Bellevue Hospital. Mrs. Charlotte Williams was in a car accident this afternoon. She came in a very critical condition. We tried calling Mr. Willaims but we couldn't reach him…..”
I didn't hear what she was saying anymore.
My legs started moving on their own and before i knew, I was running. I was running like my life depended on it. Because it did. Because in that moment i felt like If i couldn't see my mom with my own eyes , I'd die.
My lunges were burning.
                             .    .    .    .
The muscles in my legs were in pain.
Everything was a blur.
I couldn't see anything.
I couldn't  hear anything.
I couldn't think anything.
But i didn't matter.
Nothing mattered. None of these mattered except mom.
If i could see her right now. If i could see her smile . If i could hear her telling me everything was going to be alright, I'd be alright.
I didn't know how i reached the hospital or how i asked the receptionist or how she led me to my mom.
My mom, Charlotte Joan Willaims, a loving , caring, full of warmth woman was there, on the table covered with a white sheet. She looked peaceful, like she was sleeping but would wake up any moment. I stood there. I waited for her to wake up.
It felt like hours but it probably was three minutes at most.  Those three minutes felt like three hours. Like I had been waiting there for forever.
A loud creak echoed in the room along with a loud pained groan. Like when someone was stabbed.
“Char” -the familiar voice of dad said behind me.
My head whipped toward him. He was looking at mom like he saw a ghost. And he couldn't believe ghosts were real. The thought made snicker and the receptionist looked at me.
Suddenly, I felt a chill. Was mom feeling it too? Was she cold?
I reached out and caught her hand. Her hand was colder. Like ice. Like the ice cream she made the last sunday. But it didn't feel sweet like the ice cream. It didn't make me happy. It made me think of the thing I was trying to ignore. It made me believe it. It made me lose my mom.
A scream followd by a groan echoed through the cold room. And I realized it was coming from dad. In my whole life, I'd never seen him break. James Elijah Williams wasn't  a person like that. He was person who made people break. He was strict, logical, uptight. He was a believer and a deliverer of justice. He was a lawyer, for gods sake. He was also very loving and caring to his family. He was all that. And that person was infront of me, infront of his dead,cold wife broken and shattered into thousands of pieces.

I couldn't see him like that. I felt like i was invading something personal between him and mom. Like I wasn't supposed to see that.

I opend the cold metal door and went ouside without turning back.

Even the lobby felt cold. I sat on a steel chair and unlocked the phone in my hand. And called the only person who could make me feel better, who would make everything alright.

A rough husky voice came through the other side, “Ana?“
It took a couple of moments to answer him. I didn't know what to say or how to say it.
”El, mom left us. Come back. I need you.“, my voice broke.