Page 26 of Every Sunset
“Thanks man.” I walked across the grass towards our new place, worried what I was going to say to my mom. She had been so pissed with me and I knew I had pushed her too far. I needed to apologize. She had been right when she said she was the adult. I did it because I was worried, but the way I had spoken to her hadn’t been fair. I’d treated her like she wasn’t capable when I knew she completely was. She was just having a hard time, like Logan said. I needed to go easier in my efforts to help her. Pushiness clearly would not work, and it had been disrespectful of me to treat her that way.
When I got to the door I hoped like hell it was unlocked, since my keys were back at Logan and Maddox’s, in my backpack. Itried the handle and breathed a sigh of relief when it wasn’t locked, but when I tried to push it open, something blocked it.
“Mom?” I called through the tiny gap I had made, and I tried to push again, but stopped when I realized the thing behind the door was likely my mom. What else could it be?
“Mom? Answer me!” I yelled louder. Terror gripped me when there was no response. Had she blacked out? Was something more serious than her just being tired going on? If she was sick it could be bad for her transplanted kidney. She took pills to suppress her immune system, so when she got sick her body didn’t do much to help her fight the illness. She’d had an infection a few months back that had almost turned into pneumonia. She’s spent a week in the hospital on intensive antibiotics just to get her over it.
I was freaking the fuck out as I turned to the big house and yelled to the guys loudly. I saw them both start running towards me as I again tried to push the door a little more, but it wouldn’t move now. I couldn’t hear any noise inside and that terrified me.
“MOM?” I yelled as loud as I could.
“What’s wrong?” Logan asked as he ran up beside me, Maddox right behind him.
“I…I think mom’s on the floor be-behind the door!” I gasped as tears filled my eyes. I slammed the heels of my hands into them and tried to rub away the wetness before it fell.
“It’s gonna be okay. Just breathe for me,” Logan said as he wrapped an arm over my shoulders and pulled me back from the door enough so Maddox could get closer. I watched as he dropped to the ground and pressed himself as close to the gap as he could.
“Anna?” he said softly. “Anna, can you hear me?”
When there as no answer again my heart started to pound even harder and more tears filled my eyes.
“What if she’s sick?” I gasped as I fought to speak through my panicked breathing. “Did she pass out?”
I couldn’t lose my mom! I had been so terrified when her kidneys failed. We’d been through so much with her having to go to dialysis while we waited for a kidney match. Then the surgery had been terrifying. The doctor had told us there was a chance she’d die on the table, all be it small. Those hours I waited for her to come out of that operating theatre had been the longest and most scary of my entire life.
Then when I found her at our place, covered in blood and screaming at the hands of that monster who tore her apart…
“Max!” Logan’s sharp call pulled me from the memories of that night and I turned to him with a gasp. “Your mom will be okay. Just breathe, kid. Please just take some breaths.”
“I’m going around the back!” Maddox called, but he was already running past us.
“I…I’m okay. Help my mom, Logan. Please…make her be okay,” I pleaded as I pushed away the arm he had around me and started to follow Maddox around the house.
I told myself over and over again that my mom was strong, and that she would never leave me. I knew I was probably over reacting, but my mom had always been so tough through everything. Even after the major surgery she underwent, even when she was too weak to walk to the bathroom, she’d reassured me she would be okay at every opportunity. For her to not answer me – not tell me she was going to be fine - it was wrong.I just needed to hear her tell me everything was okay, but she wasn’t doing that.
MADDOX
My heart only started to pound out of my chest harder as I looked through the back window and saw Anna laid on the floor, right behind the door. She was pale and curled up tight. I could see her shaking from where I stood. She hadn’t blacked out, but it certainly looked like she had checked out. She hadn’t responded to me when I called to her, nor to Max, but it was clear from the tears on her red cheeks that she wasn’t unconscious.
Maybe it was some kind of break down. I didn’t know any technical terms, but I certainly knew what it was to just give in to the pain within you and just check out, and I was pretty sure that was what was happening to Anna.
“Madd?” Logan asked as he and Max appeared from around the corner.
“She’s conscious, but she’s not okay. I’m going in through the back doors. We’ll fix them later.” I didn’t even give Logan time to respond before I moved to the sliding glass doors and wrenched the right one open so hard the lock broke.
I ran into the guest house and fell to my knees beside her, wincing at the pain of the damned prosthesis sitting awkwardly beneath me.
“Anna? It’s Madd. Can you hear me?” I asked as I lifted one of her hands, both of which were holding her shins, pressing her legs folded up against her chest. I felt for her pulse and knew, without even counting, that it was way too fast. Her whole body was shaking, and silent tears trickled down her cheeks, but shedidn’t move or respond to me in any way, her eyes remaining scrunched up tight, her face pressed to her knees.
“Mom!” Max cried as he ran in behind me and dropped to my side. “Mom, I’m here. Look at me, please!” The kid was terrified, shaking almost as hard as his mom as he leaned in to press a hand against the top of her head.
“She’ll be okay Max,” I tried to reassure him. “She just needs some time. We’re gonna take care of her.”
“She’s so cold,” Max pointed out as he touched her forehead, smoothing his fingers across it, trying to soothe her but seeming afraid to touch her too much.
“Let’s get her off of the floor and back to our place,” Logan said. I looked up at where he stood behind me, and we shared a grim look. He knew what was going on too. He’d had the misfortune to find me in this very state a couple of times after I got out of the hospital after the attack.
“Your place?” Max questioned.
