Rarity by D. A. Roach Page B

in the hall saying goodbye and my stomach turned.
     
    “Pull over, NOW!”  Mom stopped on the shoulder and I pushed out the door and threw up my breakfast.  It was Jay.  Just thinking of him made me feel like death was in front of me.  I began to cry hard.  Mom came over and wrapped me in her arms.  “It’s Jay, something’s gonna’ happen to him Mom.”  I was choking on my sobs.  “He’s so nice. Why?”  Mom rocked and shushed me.
     
    “We don’t know that for sure.  I know it feels like it but we have to wait and see.  Let’s go home. Not much we can do about this right now.  Do you have his phone number?”  I shook my head.  “Address?”,  I nodded. I knew where his aunt and uncle lived because of the rabid dog party.  “Good. Then we’ll go there later to make sure he is ok, then you’ll feel better,”  I nodded. “Right now we need to calm you down.”  If anyone else were my mother, I probably would have been locked up in a mental institute.  It felt crazy to be overwhelmed with emotion when there was nothing happening that I knew of...crazy.  Thankfully my mother was empathic AND a psychologist so she could relate to me and help me through this.  We got back in the car and drove home. 
     
    As soon as we got home, Mom made me go for a “getting to know nature” walk.  Mom wanted me to focus on the sights, sounds, and smells around me.  She wanted to get my mind to focus on something I could see and feel, rather than some invisible energy.  It was probably some strategy from her newest Psychology textbook.  She took me down the street where we cut through a backyard and entered a wooded area.  Many of the leaves had fallen from the wind blowing the lifeless foliage.  The leaves beneath our feet crunched as we tread across them breaking them into little pieces.  There was a little bird chirping from a high branch.  He was watched us cautiously.  As we neared him, he flew off in fear.  Mom asked me to find 30 acorns so she could fill a vase at home, another distraction, but I was up for it.  Once I found an Oak I found as many as I needed and stuffed them in my pockets.  We walked a ways further and told Mom I thought I was feeling better.
     
    “Good, you look a little calmer.”  I knew she was not just looking at my outside but could sense the dread settling inside me as well.  “Think you might try some lunch?” 
     
    “Yeah. I think I could keep some down,”  I answered.  Mom filled the rest of my afternoon with mini-chores and mental distractions.  She never left me alone to stew in my worries.  We planned to visit Meg around four, have a nice dinner out, and then stop by Jay’s house. 
     
    Meg was a sight for sore eyes.  I always felt better around her.  She was sitting up in bed working on homework.  “Man, homework?  They don’t let you wait till you’re out of the hospital?!  What a bunch of losers!”  Meg laughed and gave me a big hug.
     
    “There is no way I am letting this stupid accident hold me back a year.  I don’t want to be a junior while you are a senior...that is all kinds of wrong,”  I chuckled. 
     
    “Good girl.”  I didn’t dare tell her anything about how bad my day went.  I needed Meg to get out of this hospital and I didn’t want to affect her mood. 
     
    “So Doc says I can go home tomorrow,”  she was beaming.  “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed.  And eat junk food in the middle of the night,”  I laughed, it’s funny how you miss the simple things in life when you can’t have them.
     
    “How is your leg?”  Meg lifted the covers back and they had a light gauze dressing on it. 
     
    “I’ll look a little Frankenstein-ish, but I’ll be fully functional.”  Meg and I chatted a while longer till Mom came back in the room.  She really seemed like her old self. 
     
    After getting a much needed hug and saying bye to Meg, Mom and I ate a quick meal at the corner taco stand,