Underneath

3

hunter

"I'm Delilah."

"I know," Hunter said, before realizing how creepy that sounded. He tried to backtrack. "I mean, I heard people mention your name at lunch."

"People were talking about me at lunch?" Delilah's asked, craning her head forward to see more clearly as she exited the neighborhood.

"Yeah," Hunter said. "You're all the school has been talking about for the past week."

Delilah gave a long, weary sigh. Hunter arched an eyebrow in surprise; he had assumed that she was the type of girl who loved attention, no matter the kind. Now, looking at her more closely, he noticed deep bags underneath her green eyes.

"Can you type your address into the GPS on your phone?" Delilah asked.

"Oh, yeah," Hunter said, pulling out his gold colored iPhone 6 and opening up Maps.

Starting route to 8531 Calverton Pines Lane.

His phone vibrated and a text message from his dad popped up on the screen.

Did you check up on grandma yet?

Not yet, but I'm on the way home now, Hunter sent. His fingers hovered over the text message box, waiting for a reply. He was anxious to get home and check up on his grandma. Ever since his parents divorced and his mom moved away to Florida with her new boyfriend, his grandma had served as a mother figure to him. She had been having chest pains for the past few months even after the doctor had prescribed various medicines for her to try. When his dad had called her this morning to check up on her, she didn't answer.

"So, what's your big emergency?"

"My grandma has been sick lately and I just need to make sure she's okay," Hunter said.

"Oh no," Delilah said. "Have you taken her to a doctor?"

"Yeah, the doctor says she has heart disease," Hunter said. He could feel his stomach knotting up just talking about his grandma and her health. "Hopefully, she's fine right now."

"Hey," Delilah said. They were at a stoplight and she had turned her head towards him. Her green eyes were sparkling in the light of the sun like a fresh sheen of morning dew. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

He couldn't help but be comforted by her words, but deep down, he knew that something had to be wrong otherwise she would've answered her phone.

"By the way," Delilah said hesitantly. "Sorry about the way Parker treated you at lunch today. It was mean."

"It's fine," Hunter said. It wasn't actually fine, but at the moment, he was preoccupied with the million thoughts racing through his mind as they turned into his neighborhood. He could see the bright red bench on his porch that his grandma and him had built and painted together as a summer project. He remembered his grandma arguing that they paint the bench red for good luck and him giving in even though he hated how obnoxiously bright the color was. He had spent so many evening nights on that bench with his grandma that he had grown to love it, with its flaws and all. God, if something had happened to his grandma...

You have arrived to your destination at 8531 Calverton Pines Lane.

Hunter bolted out of the car and headed straight for his front door.

"Nana!" Hunter called, bursting the door open. There was no response. He could feel the tension grow in his body as ran to her bedroom. He flung the door opened and saw his grandma sprawled on the floor and a cracked mug next to her.

For a moment, he felt paralyzed and his breathing came out in short gasps. His heart was racing faster by the second and he couldn't stop himself from trembling. He forced his legs to move to where she lay and tried to feel for a pulse.

He couldn't feel her heartbeat.

***

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