This is the End

Chapter 2

My house came into view as I rounded the corner. The white Ford sat in the driveway. It seemed as if my stomach dropped to my knees. I hurried over to the tree by my window and tried opening it. Locked. "Damn. This day just keeps getting better and better." I jumped from the tree and sullenly walked up the sidewalk and to my front door. I took out my key and unlocked the door, opening it quietly.

"M-mom, I'm home," I said. I heard banging upstairs and ran up stairs. I reached the top landing and found my mother laying on the floor, beaten half to death.

"Mom!" I rushed over to her side. "Mom. Mom, what happened?'"

"Your father...he d-didn't find you here...so he came after me," she weakly said. My vision started to blur with the tears filling my eyes. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911.

When the paramedics arrived, they started immediate treatment. I just stood off to one corner of the room and watched.

"Son, you want to ride with your mother," one of the male medics asked. I nodded and they lead to the ambulance. I crawled in and helped lift my mother into the vehicle. We started driving, pretty fast, and soon got to the hospital. They took her out of the ambulance, wheeling her in on the stretcher with me following behind. When I walked into the waiting room, a doctor told me to stay behind. I protested but reluctantly obeyed. I sat down in one of the chairs and looked around the room. It was a creamy white and smelled of sterile. The chairs were locked together so I couldn't move away from anyone. I stood back up again and sat in a seat in the corner. The hospital was eerily quiet. The doors opened and a boy around my age walked in. His mom was standing next to him as they talked to a receptionist. The mother nodded and both walked over to the seating area. I looked to the floor to avoid any eye contact. When I moved seats, I had sat on a couch so it was easy to tell that someone sat next to me because it sank a just little.

"Hey," the boy said. I looked over at him and weakly smiled.

"Hey," I whispered, voice hoarse from the crying earlier.

"What's wrong? Some been hospitalized?" I nodded. He gave a look of sympathy, but I ignored it. No one really cared much about a mid like me. I moved a little ways from him so I was pressed against the arm rest. He seemed to get the hint and moved to his mother. The waiting room door opened and I heard the doctor's footsteps approach.

"Ashton Sawyer? " I looked up and nodded. "Your mother is in a stable condition. She should be fine, but things could possibly happen overnight. If you want to see her, you can. She has been meaning to speak to you." I got up and followed to doctor through the doors of the waiting room and into the patient hallways. It was the stereotypical white everywhere. He lead through another door and to room 297. The curtains where drawn back and my mother lay in a hospital gown with an IV tube sticking out of her arm. It was normal for patients like these to have an IV tube, but it was the machine for dialysis that made me stop in my tracks.

"It's that bad, huh," I whispered. The doctor nodded and I stepped around the machine to stand by my mother's side. She opened her eyes when she sensed my presence and she smiled.

"Ash, dear," she breathed. She motioned for me to lean in. I bent over and she whispered in my ear, "You need to prepare and protect yourself. I won't be there to help. Look in the chest under my the bed in the basement. Here's the key." She handed me a small key and continued. "The devils can never be trusted. They're all wanting you to become their." The heart monitor flat lined and Mom's hand slipped from mine.

"Mom?" My voice cracked. I started crying harder than I've ever cried in my life. No beating I have ever suffered amounted to the pain I felt when I heard the flat line. The doctor carried me screaming, tears running down my face, from the room. Nurses and other doctors came and gave comfort. I soaked it all up, glad someone was there. After I calmed down and the tears stopped, I flipped up my hood and walked behind the doctor back to the waiting room. I called one of my neighbors who I would stay with when things got bad. She picked up almost immediately.

"Ashton, what's wrong," she said.

"Can you come pick me up from the hospital," I asked trying to hold back my sadness. She asked why I was at the hospital and I said I would tell her when she came to pick me up. She hung up since she was pulling out of the driveway. I pocketed the phone and sat down in the chairs. The same kid from before came over to me again.

"What happened back there? I heard screaming and crying back there."

"Louis! Leave the poor boy alone," his mother scolded.

"But I want to know what just happened," Louis answered.

"My mother just died. The screaming and crying you heard was me," I croaked.

"You poor thing," his mother said. I started crying again. Louis put a hand on my shoulder which tensed under his touch. He pulled away and clacking shoes could be heard as my neighbor Carrie came in.

"Ashton! Thank God your alright. Where's your mother," she asked. This made me cry harder. Carrie understood and enveloped me in a hug. I cried into her shoulder.

"You can spend the night at my house, okay?" I nodded and allowed her to lift to my feet.

"Hey, what's your name?" Louis asked. His mother slapped his head.

"Ashton," I responded.

"Well, we're new in town. I was wondering if you went to the local high school." I nodded and he smiled. "Guess I'll see you at school, then."

"Yeah," I chuckled halfheartedly. Carrie led me out the front doors and to her parked car. She opened the door for me. I entered the vehicle and closed the door and Carrie was opening hers.