Waiting around

 I wait patiently by the hospital bed and listen to the beeps that keep me on edge. As much as I’m worried for her, a teensy-weensy part of me can’t help but be annoyed. The selfish part.

She always does this. Fakes an injury, lies, lazes around, begs for sympathy. Ruining things for everyone else. I can see why Dad left.

Last time it was my end-of-year play. She ‘collapsed’ right before curtain call. Secretly, I think she decide she was too bored to wait around for a few hours. But she could’ve at least waited for mine.

But this time it’s real. And I have no one else. I look up at the clock that ticks with a steady repetition. It’s almost eerie.

Same goes for the rocking feeling inside me, unsettling and constant. That was my ONE ticket to Greens College. All my rich friends were going there, too. Maybe I could ask them to help me out?

Nah.

They wouldn’t, I don’t think.

As my brain jumps from thought to thought, I realize just how tired I am. I yawn and wearily take a glance over at the door. No-one. The white walls loom over me, and the silence becomes deafening.

I close my eyes and darkness envelopes me. It was the best sleep I’d ever had.

But when I woke up, my mother was gone.