Cinders

~81~ Castrophic~2

The next week has been great! Mom is back to her normal, fun self.

It's like this nightmare is completely behind us.

She's even going back to her "pre breakup" self. Taylor and mom are getting along better than they have in months, and becoming good friends again.

The other day mom was doing dishes, and Taylor snaps her on the butt with a towel. She turns around and pretends to glare. "Watch yourself, Preston."

Taylor starts laughing. "Whatcha gonna do about it, Freeman?" He asks, snapping her lightly again.

She pretends to ignore him for a split second, and we both think she's taking the high road. Suddenly she turns on him, and drenches him with the sprayer she has in her hand.

He starts laughing as he tries to take it from her, but she's able to put the sprayer down his shirt, causing a complete mess. He wrestles it away and starts to point it at her. She shrieks, and puts her hands up to try and block her impending doom.

He is still smiling as he shuts off the water and puts the sprayer back in its spot—Not getting a single drop of water on her.

"That was cheap, Freeman. Jokes on you though... You just made a huge mess for yourself," he laughs as he points at the water that's all over the floor.

"Worth it," she laughs as she goes to get the mop. Taylor just shakes his head and chuckles, getting out a towel to start helping her.

~*~

I'm at my dad's today, and we are about to go to a cookout at his friend's house. Suddenly he gets a phone call

"Hello?" he answers cheerily

His face goes completely white and he clenches the phone tightly.

"On our way," he says, and I feel like I got punched in the gut.

Something is way wrong

"Get your shoes," he snaps as he rushes to get his on and find his keys.

"What's wrong?" I ask, already feeling like I could cry.

"Mom had the baby at home, but she started hemorrhaging. We've got to get to the hospital."

We're running down the hall to get to dad's car as fast as we can, and ignoring a few people glaring at us as they walk past.

"What's that mean?" I ask, running even faster to try and keep up with dad and his insanely long legs.

"It means she's bleeding and it won't stop." He says, panting a little as he stops at his car and fumbles with the lock.

"Can that kill her?" I gasp I get in the car.

"Yeah"

Dad barely waits for me to get the door shut before he throws the car in reverse and backs out of the space quickly. When he puts the car in drive, I can honestly say that I have never seen my dad drive so fast before.

~*~

We get to the hospital quick. Really quick. Dad ran through all the stop lights and did some pretty illegal moves to get us here so fast.. We rush in and we see Taylor.

No!

He is crumpled on the ground, hysterically crying. It's in this moment that I know. If my mom isn't already dead, she's going to be.

Dad takes a sharp intake of breath as he comes to the same conclusion that I just have. He starts walking over to him, and doesn't wait to get Taylor's attention before he grabs him by his biceps and pulls him up to standing. My dad really is strong—That took pure upper body strength.