Broken(13 Reasons Why)

10.5

~Althia~

I got woken up by someone shaking me. I kicked the blanket off of me as I quickly sat up, alarmed, and looked around at my surroundings
I rubbed my eyes as I realized I was in Jessica's bedroom
Alex was gently waking up Jessica as I looked at him in confusion
"It's just me, it's just me, sorry" Alex quickly told Jessica as she sat up abruptly and yelled out
"What the hell?" She looked at him then at me
"We need to get to the hospital" He told us as he gently grabbed Jess' arm and helped her off the bed
"What? Why?" I questioned as I slowly got off the bed
"We just need to get there right now" He answered
Before Jessica or I could question him any further, he threw us each a random sweater
"Put these on and then meet me in the car, I'll go start it" Alex told us as he raced out of the room
Jess and I looked at each other, totally confused, as we heard Alex racing down the stairs and then the front door being opened then slammed closed
"What the actual fuck is going on?" Jess spoke our thoughts out loud
I quickly pulled the hoodie over my head before I looked around and saw our phones on the nightstand
I grabbed them and handed Jess' hers as she put on her sweatshirt
I unlocked my phone to see a bunch of missed calls from Montgomery and Zach
"What the hell?" I mumbled
"Do you only have Mont and Zach too?" Jess asked me
I nodded as Alex honked the car horn outside, making us both jump
I dialed Zach's number as Jessica and I made our way down her stairs to her front door where we quickly put our shoes on
"Zach, what the hell is going on?" I asked him as soon as he had picked up after a few rings
Jess and I walked out her front door and she locked it behind
"Are you with Jess and Alex?" Zach questioned
"Yes" I answered him "What's going on?" I asked him again as I opened the car door and got in
"Just get to the hospital as fast as you can" He told me
"Wait, no, Za-" I went to say but he had already hung up "Ughhhh" I groaned as I closed my phone
As soon as Alex saw that Jessica and I were settled in the back seats, he backed out of the driveway
"Are you getting any luck?" I asked Jess as I saw her texting Monty on her phone
"He's just telling me to get to the hospital" She sighed
"Alex, what the fuck is happening?" I asked him
"Look I know just as much as you two do" He told us "I got woken up by a phone call, it was Montgomery and he told me he needed all of us to get to the hospital as fast as we could and then he hung up" He added
The car fell silent as Alex raced down the streets getting us to the hospital the fastest he could
I looked back down at my phone to see that it was 2:07 am as I tried to figure out why we needed to get to the hospital

Jessica grabbed my hand and I looked at her as she looked at me, worry and concern obvious on her face
We were walking up to the main entrance of the hospital and I could feel my breathing getting tight
"This way" Alex led us to the elevator
We moved up all the way to level 7 and as we stepped out, I could hear my heartbeat beating quickly in my ears
One look around the main area of the floor and I saw Zach sitting down on a waiting chair with his leg bouncing up and down while Montgomery was leaning over the desk talking to the head nurse.
Everything got quiet and slow as I realized that something had happened to either Justin or Jeff, or both, since they were the only two not here
I could see Jess' lips moving as she looked at me but I couldn't hear what she was saying. Zach slowly got up and made his way over to us, as if he was walking in slow motion, once he had noticed we arrived
Suddenly the noise of everything came back as Montgomery yelled "Bullshit" to the nurse as he hit the desk
Immediately Alex left our side to go see Monty and pull him away from the desk
"Zach please tell us that what we're thinking is not true" Jessica looked at him as she realized what I just did as well
Zach opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out
"I'm sorry" He finally said in a weak voice
"No" I shook my head "What happened? Who's in one of these rooms" I asked him, fearing the answer more than anything
"I-I, uh-I got a from an officer or paramedic or whoever telling me that they were on the scene of a car accident. He told me that I was the last contact on the phone and that's why he had called me. He told me to get down to the hospital as quickly as I could and we could discuss more from there" Zach said
"Zach, who is it? Who got in the accident?" Jessica questioned
I took a deep breath as I waited for the answer
"It's Jeff" Zach finally answered
I felt my heart sank as I bit my inner cheek to keep from crying
Jessica gasped out loud as she started to cry
Zach took a small step forward as he gently touched her arm but she flinched away
I slightly shook my head no at him as Jessica stumbled back, tears coming down her cheeks
Jessica bumped into Alex, who was joining us again, which made her turn around quickly where she let Alex wrap his arms around her to comfort her
The main nurse, who had been watching us carefully, got up from her desk and made her way towards us as Zach's words echoed in my head
"Are you all here for Mr.Atkins?" She asked once she had joined us
Montgomery mumbled something underneath his breath as the rest of us nodded
"I know this is the last thing you want to hear when a loved one is in deep care but I'm afraid that none of you will be allowed to see Mr.Atkins or know anything about his state, due to the fact that you are only friends of his and not family members" She told us "However if his parents agree and sign a couple extra papers, you will be allowed to see him" She added
"How many times do I need to tell you? I can't get a hold of his parents" Montgomery told her "He can't get a hold of his parents" He pointed at Zach "None of them will be able to get a hold of his parents" He pointed at the rest of us "Not even the goddamn cops can get a hold of his parents so I highly suggest that you stop telling me that I won't be able to see Jeff unless his parents agree or else I'm going to storm down that corridor and go in each and every room, disturb every single patient on this goddamn floor, until I find my best fucking friend" He finished
The nurse looked at him in shock as she searched for words while Zach put a hand on Monty's chest telling him to take it easy
"You won't be able to get a hold of his parents" I finally spoke and everyone looked in my direction "His dad had an international business convention that he needed to go to and his mom joined him on the trip. They had to go-They had to go Florida, I think, and they weren't leaving until later in the evening" I continued "Which means that they're still on their flight to there" I finished
"Which means they won't get any calls until they land and they won't be able to make it back here for at least a couple more hours and that's if they get back on a flight here immediately" Alex said
"Are you sure about this?" The nurse looked at me
I nodded
"I'll see what I can do but I know that the cops will want to talk to each of you soon" She informed us before walking back to her desk, not giving us anymore details
"The cops?" Jess questioned
Before any of us could respond two officers walked out of the elevator and made their way over to us as if on cue
"Hi there, I'm officer Parrish and this is my partner officer Stiller" The taller cop introduced himself and his shorter partner "We're the corresponding team that was on scene of your friends accident before anyone else and we'd like to ask you some questions so we can figure out exactly what happened" He added
"Why are you spending time asking us a bunch of questions, when you should be interrogating the person who hit our friend?" Montgomery asked him
I looked at him and gave him a 'chill out' face to which he shrugged in response, making me soften my eyes at him to make him understand we all wanted to see Jeff just as much as he wanted but there was nothing we could do about it for now
"We understand that this is a sensitive time for you all and we understand that none of you were in the car during the accident but any information you have can make us understand the situation better and figure out exactly what happened" Officer Stiller told us
"We'd like to start with the one who got the call from the paramedic first..." Officer Parrish trailed off
"That would be me" Zach lifted his hand slightly
"Come with us, son, we just have a few questions" Officer Stiller said as he led the way to an empty room
We watched as Zach followed the officers into the room until the door closed
Alex, Jessica and I went to the seats to sit down as Montgomery paced in front of us
"Mont, come sit please" I told him as I tapped the seat beside me
Montgomery sighed in frustration but still sat down beside me
"This is fucking bullshit" He groaned
"Mont, there's nothing that any of us could do right now" Jess spoke
"Yes I know that" He said "The cops should be doing something but instead they're investigating us and that stupid nurse over there should just let us fucking see him because we all know that once his parents land, they'll let us see him so why not just do it now" He continued
"Monty, the cops are only doing their jobs" Alex tried to reason with him
"Well they're not doing a good job at it" Monty shot back
"We don't know the full story, maybe Jeff is the one who caused the accident. Maybe he blew through a red light or wasn't paying attention and hit someone else. We don't know and that's just what they're trying to figure out" I told him
"And the nurse told us that she'll figure something out for us so we all just need to hang in there and be calm" Jess added
Montgomery sighed again but didn't argue back this time
"Jess, I'm sorry, I didn't even ask you how you're doing?" Monty asked her, changing the subject "I know asking 'are you ok?' is dumb but are you ok?" He added
"I will be" Jess answered and gave him a small smile "And thank you to all of you for what you did" She added as she looked at the three of us
"We're always going to have your back, love" Alex reminded her
Jessica nodded and didn't reply with anything
We sat in silent as we watched the door, waiting for Zach to come out
A couple of minutes went by before the door opened and he stepped out
"We'll take two this time" Officer Stiller said as he stood by the doorway and looked at us
Jessica and I exchanged looks before we both got up, ready to answer whatever questions we needed
"We'd like it to be one boy and one girl please" He told us
Jess and I stopped on our tracks as Montgomery and Alex stood up
"I'll stay behind with Mont, you two can go ahead" I told her and Alex
They both nodded and slowly walked to the room
Officer Stiller gave us one last look before closing the door behind him, once again
"What did they ask you?" I questioned Zach as I took a seat once again
"I was told that I can't discuss it until everyone has been questioned" Zach answered
"What the fuck does that mean?" Monty said, getting angry once more
"It means that the questioning is total bullshit" Zach groaned
"I could have told you that" Monty rolled his eyes
"I'm gonna go see if I can get a hold of Justin again" Zach said as he walked away from us, going to a quieter and more private corridor
Montgomery and I sat in silent as we waited for our turn
A couple more minutes went by before the door opened once again, this time Alex and a crying Jessica walked the door
"What the hell" I mumbled at the sight of my best friend crying
Monty and I got up and slowly made our way towards them
"I'm sorry once again" Officer Parrish told Alex and Jessica
We walked by them and Alex gave us an uncertain look
I slowed down as we inched closer to the room
I took a deep breath as Monty gently placed his hand on the small of my back guiding me into the room
We sat down closely beside one another on plastic chairs as the two officers sat in front of us
"You would be Althia and you're Montgomery, correct?" Officer Parrish asked us
We both nodded
"Last names?" Officer Stiller questioned
"Knight" I answered
Monty stayed silent beside me, making me nudge him slightly
"De la Cruz" He spoke
"What is your relationship with Mr Atkins? Officer Parrish asked
"We're some of his best friends" Monty answered for us
"How would you describe your friendship with him?" Stiller questioned, looking at me specifically
"We're really close. There's no better way of describing our relationship than comparing it to a sibling relationship because we tease and annoy one another but at the end of the day we're as close as we can get" I told him
He nodded and wrote a couple of things down in his notepad
"How about you, Montgomery?" He looked at him
"We're close too, I mean our whole group is close to one another but what we have is straight up brotherhood" Monty said
"Alright, where were you two this evening between the hours of 9pm to 1am?" Parrish asked
"Jeff and Jessica made me go to a party with them and of course the whole gang was there but Alex, Jessica and I left at around midnight, maybe a couple of minutes later than that" I answered
"Yeah and I left not that long after them" Monty said
Officer Parrish nodded
"Was anything unusual with Jeff at the party? Did he seem distracted? Not like himself? Did anything happen that could have sent him off into a binder?" Officer Stiller questioned
I furrowed my eyebrows at the word binder
"No, Jeff seemed like his cherry, happy self all throughout the night. The only thing slightly odd was that he was in charge of doing the beer runs, which is something he normally doesn't agree on doing" Montgomery answered
"When was the last time you saw him?" Parrished asked
"I saw him last, probably, around a quarter after 11:30" I said "He brought me my drink then told me that he was off to go do a run and offered to drive me and Jessica back home but I declined since I knew Jess would want to stay longer" I added
"Was he drinking at all?" Stiller questioned
"He told me that he had 2 beers when we had first gotten to the party and I had made him promise me that the rest of his drinks were soda to which he swore. I even made sure to tell him to text me when he got back from the run and when he got home but I, uh, never received those messages" I told him, my voice cracking a bit at the end
Montgomery gently placed one of his hands over mine as I took a deep breath
"Why didn't you stick around? Wait until he got back to leave?" Stiller pressed for more answers
"I had told Jeff and Jessica that I wanted to be home by midnight and it was already getting past that time so we just decided to leave. Jeff knew that we would be leaving shortly after he had left for the run so it wasn't like we were ditching him or anything" I told him, not bothering to mention what had happened with Bryce since it was none of his business and Jessica should be the one to decide who she tells
"Montgomery, you've got yourself some pretty bruised knuckles" Parrish remarked as he looked at his hands "What happened there, buddy?" He asked
"I boxe and I forgot to tape my hands before training which resulted in this" Monty lied
Parrish nodded
"Are you two sure that you're telling us the whole truth? There wasn't anything that happened that could have sent your friend on a binder? He didn't get in a fight with someone? He didn't get rejected? He didn't find out something he wasn't supposed to?" Stiller questioned, eyeing Monty's hand on top of mine as he asked his questions
"Nothing" Monty told him, irritation evident in his voice
"And what do you mean by going on a binder?" I asked him
The two cops exchanged looks
"We found Jeff crashed in the middle of the street, not responding, with a bunch of opened alcohol in his passenger seat" Parrish softly answered me
"That doesn't make any sense" I shook my head
"Couldn't the bottles have been opened because of the impact of the crash?" Montgomery asked
"Some of the bottles were cracked opened because of the crash, yes, but other bottles seem to have been opened beforehand" Stiller answered him
"Jeff would never do that" I said
"Ms.Knight we're just trying to figure out everything that could have happened" Parrish spoke again "We now know that Mr.Atkins had alcohol in the car for a party, but all we're really trying to figure out is how he came to crash into a stop sign to making it into the middle of the street. Our two theories are that he was either drinking and driving or texting and driving, maybe even both" He added
"I understand that but you don't know Jeff" I told him "I know that there's no way he would be on his phone texting whoever if he was driving, he's way smarter than that, and I know for a fact that he wasn't drinking and driving" I continued
"And how do you know that he wasn't drinking?" Stiller crossed his arms as he looked at me
"Because he offered to drive me and Jessica home" I answered him simply
The two cops looked at me as they waited for me to continue
"There's the tiniest possibility that Jeff would decide to drive under the influence but he would never never ever offer a ride to anybody if he was drinking because he knows the consequences and he would never want to put anybody else in danger" I continued "The simplest fact that he offered Jessica and I a ride back home makes me know that there's no possibility at all that he was under the influence because we aren't just anybody to him, we're his best friends and he would never purposely put us in such a dangerous situation" I went on "There's also the fact that he swore to me he had no other drinks but his first 2 beers, he would never lie to me about such a serious thing because he knows that I wouldn't have let him drive" I finished as I blinked a couple of tears away
"Well Mr.Atkins certainly lied to you somewhere and now his life and the life of someone else is in extreme care" Stiller said
My heart sank at his words and I could feel my breathing getting uneven
"Yeah, I think we're done here" Montgomery announced as he began to stand up
"Mr.De la Cruz, we decide when it's time to be done" Officer Stiller got up as well
Monty ignored him and grabbed both of my hands to help me stand up
"No, I'm not going to sit here and watch you question Althia about her best friend only to have you not listen to her and tell her that he lied to her. Althia knows Jeff better than anybody else and she knows what he would and wouldn't do so if you don't believe her than this little investigation of yours won't work out" Monty spat at him as he placed his hand on my back and guided me to the door where he opened it "Oh and that stop sign that Jeff supposedly ran over was down since the time I drove to the party which was at 9. I called it in and I know a couple other kids did as well but no one came to do anything about it. Jeff probably didn't see that the sign had been crashed into since it was dark and he probably forgot it was there at all, so he didn't stop at the intersection and that's most definitely why he crashed" He added over his shoulder before leading us out of the room
Behind us, I could hear the two officers stepping out of the room but they didn't say anything else as they made their way to the elevator
Once in the waiting room, we were greeted by complete silence and no sign of our friends anywhere
"Hi, I arranged to have your friends see Mr.Atkins" The nurse came up to us again "One more of you can go in right now and the other will have to wait until the others are done since there's a limit of visitors" She added
"You can go" I told Montgomery
He looked down at me in shock
"No, no, you go" He shook his head
"Mont, it's okay" I told him "I need some alone time to process everything and you need to go join the others, I'll be okay" I added
Monty sighed but knew he wouldn't be able to argue further more with me
"Thank you, I'll see you when we're done" He hugged me
I hugged him back and watched as he and the nurse disappeared in the corridor
I let out a huge breath as I took a seat on one of the waiting chairs
I put my head in my hands and for the first time since we had gotten here, I started to cry
I kept crying as my sobs became louder and longer
I felt someone sit next to me and slowly wrapped their arms around me
I leaned my head on their chest as I knew who it was and cried even harder as they rubbed my back up and down.
——————————
Second chapter!
Hope you enjoyed this weeks updates darlings!
I'm sorry I'm doing my baby Jeffy like this🤧
Much love as always xx