Healing

To say it had been a long day would be an understatement. My mind went back to what had happened as the tears fell again down her cheeks. God, why did this have to happen, I thought for the millionth time.

~~Six hours earlier~~

"Anna! If you don't get up you'll miss the bus and I'm sure you don't want to walk in the rain today." Yelled my mother at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm awake mom!! Just give me a second." I  was getting really tired of my mom telling her what to do. I  looked over to my calendar. 2 more days. Two more days until she could get out of the house and forever be on her own. Of course, I loved my mom, but lately all she seemed to do is nag me and I hated it when mom did that. No I haven't picked a college yet, but I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what i wanted to be and i'm not in the mood to  rush myself into choosing either.

I looked up into my mirror and smiled. Every time I would get upset my eyes would wander to the one picture that she would never let go of. It was Papa. He was sitting on the side of the boat with a fishing pole in one hand and Anna on the other. I could easily remember that day like it was yesterday. Papa was about to throw me into the lake. Not long after that h--, I looked over at my clock to keep myself from crying, it became a habit. I had ten minutes before she had to get to the bus stop.

I looked into my closet and pulled out a black lace shirt and some light blue jeans and threw it on. I put on some slightly worn  out black flats and grabbed my book bag. Half way down the hallway, I turned around, realizing that school had some stupid rule where they couldn't bring their bags or "big" purses. Quickly going back to my room I grabbed a smaller bag, put all my school junk in it and ran down the stairs. It was a good thing that the school served free breakfast. I ran out the door and ran to the bus stop. It was a good thing that the bus had to turn around or I would have missed the bus and walk.

~5 hours earlier~

"Anna! Stop walking so fast!"

"Sorry Carrie but I don't want to be late for Mr. Tom's class."

"Yeah yeah. You just want to see Kyle before he skips class." Oh that girl! Seriously. The fact that she talks about everything I've said to her as if she was some little kid wanting to tell everyone what was going on.

"Carrie! Shut up. Seriously. You said you weren't gonna say anything."

"I only told a few people." Carrie confessed as I froze in my steps. She stopped as well as of she realized what she said and that I was mad because she ran to class with a look of terror. The nerve of that girl. I walked the rest of the way to class and sat down in my seat. Two away from Carrie.

The teacher walked into the room and started class. The lesson was beginning and Mr. Tom was starting to talk about world war two. It was a blur and easy for me to ignore him. Something didn't feel right in the bit of my stomach. Next sound I hear, not my teachers voice but the kids in the class, screaming and running to the side of the classroom. I don't remember much, but the only thing I remember after that was a gunshot, people whimpering quietly hugging onto friends and praying or, as most did, just cried. I tried to move, but for some reason I was frozen. Fear seems to do that to you. It hurt too much to move and it was all I could think about. The pain shooting down my arm and all around my shoulder.

"Anna, get over here!" Mr. Tom hissed as quietly as he could.

"M-mr. To-om I can't ---" I tried to breath but I couldn't. Kyle looked over at the door and then crawled quickly over to my desk. As he was about to grab to take me over to the side wall another shot went off. I pushed Kyle to the floor as I felt something pierce through my skin, the burning sensation almost unbearable. I felt the blood run down my leg from below my knee and I looked down at Kyle. He gently grabbed my shirt and dragged me over to the wall closest to my seat. His best friend, James crawled over and looked at me. Both of their parents were doctors.., I think. My eyes started shutting close and Kyle, James and Carrie fought to keep me awake. I couldn't remember, but I was feeling tired. Carrie, i could feel her crying, held me in her arms.

Another shot and someone slumped over. Pain shot through me. I heard another shot and the everything went black.

~Three hours later~

My body hurt everywhere. My eyes fluttered open slowly and I looked around. My mom was sitting asleep in a chair tear dried on her cheeks from where she was crying, I could tell. For some reason James and Kyle were there as well.

"W---" My throat was took dry to speak without it hurting. Kyle looked up and I pointed to the water jug. He smiled, got up and grabbed a cup filled it up and handed to me. I tried grabbing it with my right arm bit pain shot up my arm. I gasped, trying to say something, but couldn't. His smile faltered a bit as he took ahold of the cup and held it to my mouth,  as I took a small sip and smiled my thanks to Kyle and looked over at my mom.

"She's worried about you. She'll be happy to see you're awake." He whispered. Was she really worried or was she just pretending in front of other people? I looked at him while he said something to James. I couldn't say that I was really mad at Carrie. Carrie! What happened to her? Is she okay?

"Ca-r-rie" I struggled. Kyle looked back up at me. His face changed, much sadder now. He looked back at James, who shook his head.

"Dude no. Don't tell her yet. Wait till her mom's awake." James said quickly. He must have seen my big eyes. "I mean it may be best if you just wait." He said, trying to cover himself. I could see in his eyes, he regretted saying that.

"W-w-h-a-t-" I started coughing. Kyle looked up and grabbing the cup of water, happy for the distraction. I took a drink, and laid my head back. This was going to be a long night.

"I guess I should tell her now." Kyle said very quietly. "Anna...uh....Carrie died saving you. She-" he paused and looked towards my mom who had gotten up and walked over and grabbed my hand. She nodded at him as if to say it was okay. "She died. She said ...." The room got really quiet. I didn't realize that I was crying till my mom gently wiped the tears off my face, Kyle and James stood there quietly with their heads down.

"Wh-at di-d sh-e say?" I whispered with great struggle. My right leg was wrapped up from my mid-thigh to my mid-calf. Blood was seeping through the bandage from the wound by my knee and my thigh was burning in pain. My throat and shoulder burned immensely from pain.

"Uhh she said" Kyle whispered, bringing me back to reality. "She said that she loved you and she doesn't want you to hate yourself." He looked a little puzzled by this part. I frowned softly to myself and nodded. Carrie usually knew more about myself than I wanted to admit.

I must have fallen asleep because when someone touched me with their cold hands, re-wrapping my bandages and I jolted and gasped in pain. The nurse looked at me apologetically. She smiled and asked if I was okay and I nodded. She left and for the first time I cried. No one was in the room. I looked at the clock and saw it was three in the morning. I started to sob. My best friend was gone and I didn't know what I was going to do anymore. Why did this have to happen? Why did it happen to me of all people? All I could think about was my father. The pain in my heart was almost unbearable.

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Personal note: sorry this is so sad. I hoped that you liked this. I'll try to update as much as I can but I'm not sure how good it'll be. Please tell me what you think. The first thing I hate I get I will delete this and not com back. I don't need that. Thanks

Oh and one more thing. I don't know how to continue the story. If you have any ideas that would be helpful. I have a few ideas but I'm not quite sure.

Thanks again.

Althea Heatherly

I have edited the book to the best of my ability. Thank you all for reading my book. I hope you like it.