Taken - Jeff Atkins

Secrets

"All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you."

Sitting on the hospital bed, hoping I could leave soon. I hated hospitals. It's where I first found out the results.

I awake in the hospital bed after the accident, my body still sore. I could feel cuts on my forehead and my lip. My eye was puffy from bruising. Stitches were in my ankles from the glass. My hand in a cast from being lodged between the seats. A few cuts and bruises was all that I acquired from the crash.
As much as it hurt, I was turning my head around the room. Searching for my boyfriend. Instead, I saw his parents and my mom.
"Where is he?" I cough out, trying to sit up in the bed.
Their gazes turn to me, sniffling and blood shot eyes.
"I want to see him." I continue, trying to get out of bed.
My mother races to my side. "Baby, no. Stay in bed."
"Where is he?!" I yell before coughing, tears stinging my eyes as I dreaded the worst.
I saw Maria cry onto her tissue while Harris walks out of the room.
"He's okay right? Harris is just getting him, right?" I beg for that to be what I wanted to hear.
My mother tried to hold herself together, while she sniffled with tears in her eyes.
"Honey, Jeff...he didn't make it." She whispered as Maria wiped her eyes.
I shook my head, violently as I refused to believe her. Tears streamed down my face like a waterfall, stinging the cuts on my face.
"No, no, no, no!" I cried, trying to leave the bed. Fighting every bit of pain I could feel.
The last thing I remember, is doctors coming into the room to sedate me and calm me down.

"Looks like your wrist is a lot better." The nurse says, pulling me back to the real world. "Leave this on until you come back in two weeks, but everything seems to be healing fine."
I faked a smile and nodded. The cast on my wrist swayed by my side as I walked out of the hospital.
My legs didn't lead me home, they led me to a friendly neighborhood. My hand raised into a fist and knocked on a wooded door.
"Andrea, hey girl." Sherri greeted with a smile as she opened the door.
"Is this a good time?" I ask, glancing inside wondering if anyone was home.
"Sure, come in." She invited with slight concern in her voice.
I walked into the house that she calls a home; it was just like her, perfect. No messes on benches, no dirty dishes needed to be washed - just perfect.
"So what do I owe the pleasure?" Sherri asks as we take a seat opposite each other at the kitchen table.
"Funny, isn't it?" I start as she looks at me confused. "How someone so...perfect, can be hiding such a secret."
She changes her position slightly, trying to keep the same confused face. "I'm sorry?"
"I had just finished at the hospital, checking up on the healing of the bones in my hand." I continue as tears escape my eyes. "I got away with some broken bones, bruises and cuts from the accident. That's all. People say I'm 'very lucky' to be alive. Lucky? Lucky?! My boyfriend, Jeff Atkins, remember him? He died that night! He lost his life, Sherri!"
She couldn't meet my eyes, the guilt eating her away as I spoke.
"I didn't want to talk to you, see you or anything. They weren't my original intentions." I admit with a sarcastic laugh. "But after my check up, my feet just led me to your doorstep. You knew he wasn't drunk but you let every fucking person in this town believe he was! I tried to convince people he wasn't but you let me walk around; you let me look like a crazy person who was in denial about her boyfriend."
"Andrea-" Sherri tries to talk as she stands in her seat.
"You're the worst kind of person, Sherri." I glare, staying seated. "Knocking down a stop sign and not reporting it? All because you didn't want daddy finding out. Jeff is dead! You and I both know Jeff wasn't stupid enough to do something like that."
"I think you should leave." Sherri sternly suggested.
I rose from my seat, leaned forward toward Sherri.
"I hope he haunts you at night. I hope you get as many sleepless nights as I do." I say infuriated with her choice to keep her secret. "I hope the guilt literally fucks you up."
With that, I left. I wanted to hit her so bad for what she'd done but something was stopping me. I eventually made it to my street and noticed a familiar car outside of my house. That's when I saw Jeff's mother. My eyes furrowed in confusion as I walked over to her.
"Maria, hey." I smile softly as she wraps her arms around me.
My arms follow hers, giving her a comforting hug.
"Is everything okay?" I asked, pulling away.
She looked like she'd been crying, her cheeks and eyes were red.
"Do you have a minute?" She asks with a hopeful expression.
I nod my head up and down as I lead her inside. I make us both some tea while she asks how the appointment went at the hospital.
"That's good, sweetie." She sniffled, wiping her nose.
I smiled sadly as I placed the teas down on the table.
"So what's this about?" I ask as she forces a smile.
"I went through Jeff's room, the other day after you and Clay left." Maria admits, sipping her tea.
I look down, sighing softly. Knowing how hard that would've been for her.
"I wanted to tidy up in there. Straighten some things out." She laughs softly. "Even though he was neat."
I smiled to myself, remembering his clean room. He was organized with a touch of messy. He had his baseball things on top of his dresser, his clothes were either nicely hanging or folded or in a small pile by his wardrobe. The shelf above his clothes in the wardrobe was messy, yet he knew where everything was.
I wipe away the tears fighting to fall before sipping my drink, listening to her talk.
"I like to go in there. When I feel alone." She admits. "It feels like he's still there since his smell still lingers in the room."
I find it harder to sit in front of her, listening about him then actually talking about him. I chewed my lip as a tear escapes.
"I found something." Maria explains, meeting my gaze.
I look at her confused, while she takes my right hand in hers.
"You know he loved you, right?" She pushes. "More than anything, Andrea. You were special to him."
I nodded slowly, while I sat there confused and anxious at what she was going to say next.
"He sure was one of a kind." I softly laughed as I sniffed, taking another sip of my drink.
Her hands leaves mine as she rummages through her handbag. My heartbeats faster as I was curious to see what she'd found.
"I found this behind some things on the shelf in his wardrobe." She comments, searching her bag. "Up high, almost hidden."
Maria places a small black velvet box on the table. Causing me to stand in my seat; my hand covers my mouth as my heart stops.
"What the hell is that?" I ask, short of breath.
Tears seem to find their way from my eyes and onto my cheeks. Maria sobs silently, wiping her tears from her face.
"Is that...is that what I think it is?" I question, leaning against the wall out of breath.
"Jeff loved you, Andrea." Maria continues through the sobs. "He told me and his father that he was going to marry you someday."
Maria motions for me to sit back down at the table with her. I hesitantly do so.
"Take it. Remember him." Maria whispers, as she pushed the small box to me.
My hands shake as I take it in my grip, allowing the tears to slip my eyes as I open it. Revealing a diamond in the middle of the ring with three smaller diamonds on either side. As I lifted it from the box with my right hand, I noticed engraving in the ring band.
"Munchkin." I sob, my left hand covering my face as I breakdown.
We stay seated, the cries of Maria and I being the only thing heard in the house.
"How long has he had this?" I manage to ask through the sniffles.
"I don't know." She replies wiping her nose.
Eventually, we'd calmed down. Still sniffing, our eyes blood shot - but we were smiling and laughing. We were sharing our memories of you. It was the clarification we both needed. Once again, even with you gone, you are still making us laugh and smile.