The Death of Me (COMPLETED)

Chapter Fourteen

Will

I rode in the ambulance with Tessa. The doctors said that she broke both her tibia and fibula.
"You can still stay with us," I assured her. "We'll take care of you. Heck, I'll even get Jessamine to pitch in a bit."
Tessa laughed. "That'll be a challenge."
"We can pay your hospital bills."
"Will, you don't-"
"I do have to. Who else is gonna pay them?"
She was silent.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for everything, Will. You've made my life better than I ever could've dreamed of it being. Without you, I would probably be sobbing in my room after being beaten bloody."
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I won't let anything happen to you," I told Tessa. "Never again."

. . . .

Tessa had to stay in the hospital that night. Cecily came by to pick me up. As I climbed in her car, she said, "Don't worry. Charlotte took care of your car. Is Tessa alright?"
"She'll be fine," I replied. "She broke her fibula and tibia."
Cecily winced. "Ouch."
She began pulling into the nearest Sonic. "You didn't get anything to eat, did you?" She asked. I shook my head.
She began to order.
"Hey, could I have a-"
"This is Cecily Herondale, isn't it?"
"Yep. Hey, Bob."
"The usual?"
"Of course. I need two, this time, though. My brother's with me."
If you haven't figured it out already, Cecily loves fast food. She's one of those people who can eat a lot of junk and still stay slim. It's unreal.
Our order was ready in minutes. As we drove back to the house, Cecily sang along quietly to the radio.
When we arrived, Jem and Charlotte ran out of the house to meet us. They both gave me a hug. "I was so worried about you," She said. "Something could've happened to you, Will, I was so scared."
Charlotte wasn't my birth mother, but she loved me like the woman who gave me life should've. Charlotte adopted me and Cecily when I was six years old. One night, my parents came over to Cecily, my older sister Ella, and I, and told us that they weren't fit to be parents. Then they left.
Yep. They just walked out.
In front of us.
I was only six, almost seven.
Ella was eight.
It was Cecily's sixth birthday for goodness sake. She now hates the day she was born.
We waited for them to come back, to change their minds, but they never did.
So, we ran away to avoid being taken to an orphanage. Cecily didn't like them because she used to watch the movie Annie on a loop. Plus, we would've been separated, adopted by different people.
It was extremely hard on all of us. One day, we were walking around, trying to find a place for the night, when there was a shooting. Ella was shot. Scared, Cecily and I ran away, sobbing.
Charlotte found us later that day. It was before she was married to our adoptive father, Henry. She was only seventeen.
She could've done anything wanted with her life, but she gave it up to take care of Cecily and I, two abandoned children.
We were the first she took in.
Then came Jem.
I remember being thrilled when she brought Jem home, because I finally had another boy to play with. I was eight at the time, and so was Cecily. We were born close enough together that we're in the same grade at school.
Jem was eight years old as well. We exchanged stories. Turns out, he was in foster care because his father was on drugs and his mother was dead. Charlotte ended up adopting him for good, though.
Jem and I did everything together. I loved him like a brother. Where one went, the other also went. What one did, the other also did.
Jessamine came when we were nine. She won't share her story, though.
"You must be exhausted," Charlotte said. "Go up to your room and get some rest."
Jem and I walked up to our bedroom and we both sat down on the bottom bunk. Well, more like he sat down and I collapsed. "Turn on the news," I said. Jem nodded and grabbed the remote. He flicked to the channel the news would be on.
There was a lady standing on the highway, in front of what seemed like millions and millions of flashing lights.
"Hello, my name is Belinda Belle. I come to you tonight with a report on this crash as well as the fight that went down at The Painted Horse tonight. I'm here with a witness of the fight, Lily Chen. Can you tell us what you saw, Miss Chen?"
A girl with sleek black hair that went to my school stepped forwards. It was Lily Chen.
"Well," Lily started, sounding a bit bored, like she really didn't want to be there. "I hanging out tonight with a friend, Raphael Santiago, and we were eating dinner at The Painted Horse, when I noticed the new girl, I don't know her name, I think it's like Tasha or something, running away from this other guy. I'd never seen him before, and neither had Raphael. We were watching the chase, kind of laughing about it because we thought Telina or whatever her name is had just gotten out of a breakup and was running from her ex. But then he started touching her in a possessive way, and we knew something was up.
"Now, we didn't get up to do anything because, let's be real here, neither of us are very nice people. Plus, we thought that Will Herondale, the guy who was obviously in love with her, would step in."
Was it really that obvious?
"Turns out, we were right, because Will was next to them in a second, flanked by two other kids, Jace and Clary, I believe, and started talking to the other guy. Then Will started yelling. The possessive guy then slapped Tia and she kicked him in the groin. The next thing you know, Will and the other guy fighting-"
I shut my eyes. I knew how this story went. I just needed to know if Nate was dead. I felt Jem's hand on my shoulder, his own way of saying 'I'm here for you.'
A couple minutes later, Lily was done speaking and Belinda Belle was talking about the wreck. I opened my eyes and stared at the television.
"Two men were killed. One of them was Nathaniel Gray, who, according to the witnesses, was the possessive man who attacked the other girl, who we believe was his sister, Theresa Gray. Nathaniel seemed to be drunk. The other man was Hodge Starkweather."
As Belinda droned on, my door cracked open. Charlotte was standing there. "Will," she said softly. "I know you're tired, but we have a visitor. She's demanding to speak with you and Cecily this instant. I told her you're exhausted, but she won't leave."
Jem and I stood up and followed Charlotte, who had already gotten Cecily from her room, downstairs.
Sitting on our sofa in the sitting room was a woman with black hair and blue eyes. She looked so much like Cecily.
It was my mother.