I Shall Believe

The death of a friend

While we were waiting for news on Danielle's condition Abby attempted to calm Amanda down as she was too busy crying and it didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon. I, having already picked up my phone, simply sat where I was at and stared at my phone which now had a decent sized crack in my phone's screen. Having not noticed when our parents showed up it caught my attention when I heard Jackie, who was already crying hysterically, talk to Abby asking her about what had happened. I looked up and watched as Amanda's parents and siblings went up to her to try and comfort her.

"It's ok Amanda, Danielle is going to be ok." Mr. Gilhooly told her hugging his daughter who was still struggling to calm herself down.

"I'm so sorry Jackie what happened?" Mrs. Gilhooly asked as she went up to her and hugged her.

"Oh mamm I'm so happy that you're here. Abby was just telling me that it was her dad who hit my husband's car." Jackie replied hugging back.

"W-What, what, WHAT?!" Mrs. Gilhooly yelled out in shock.

I hadn't been paying too much attention to what the parents were saying and I barely felt when my mom put her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

"I'm so sorry about your friend, Maddie. I'm sure she's going to be fine." She told me.

I wanted to believe her but I already knew that Danielle wasn't going to be ok. The only thought going through my mind was that I didn't want to know Danielle's condition because I was afraid that I would break down and cry and would be unable to stop. I didn't want to find out how much I really cared when this whole time all I've ever done was acted like I never did care. It was taking everything in my power not to start crying right there because Amanda was already crying and did not want to suddenly show that I was hurt about all of this. After about another twenty minutes or so the doctor finally came out with a sad expression on his face.

"Who here is with the teen girl and her father?" The doctor asked looking around the room.

"All of us are." Jackie replied motioning to Abby, me, my mom, Amanda and her family, "Is everything ok?" She asked worriedly.

Without even waiting for a response I got up and started walking away.

"Where are you going sweetie?" My mom asked worriedly.

"Bathroom." I said not even wanting to hear what the doctor was going to say to us.

"Goddammit Maddie can't you at least wait until he tells us about Danielle?! Do you really not care enough to stay and listen? You are such a fucking-"

Not even bothering to respond I started running until I was far enough away from the waiting room and had found an empty bathroom where I was certain I'd be alone for some time. The first thing I did was turn on one of the water faucets hoping to drown out the noise of anyone crying in there. I gripped the sides of the sink hoping to keep myself together long enough to calm myself down. It didn't help that I kept picturing the doctor's sad expression in my mind.

'Maybe he wasn't talking about Danielle. It could have been from another accident that involved another father and daughter.' I thought to myself making me snort, "Yeah right what are the chances of that?" I said to myself.

I suddenly heard my cell phone go off making me reach for it in my pocket. It was my mom who was calling me and I really, REALLY did not want to answer. To my horror the cracks on my screen suddenly got bigger almost as if it was a sign making me shiver.

"Piece of shit phone. Drop it once and already I need to replace the fucking thing." I said to myself before putting my phone away.

I cupped my hands under the running water and then brought it to my face trying to cool myself down from how hot I had become from stressing out so much.