I woke up to the door slamming shut, I glanced at the clock and saw it was four am. That's weird, my mom didn't leave for work until six am usually...

Oh, shit. I jumped up and ran outside, going outside in with just shorts on in February is a bad idea, the cold hit me a few seconds after I flew out of the door. Ignored the burning icy feeling on my feet and ran after my mom, who had just turned on her car. I almost made it to her car door when she started backing out of the driveway full speed. I slipped on ice in the driveway and fell down. I could only watch as her car zoomed down the street full speed. She was still drunk, she swerved and almost hit a mailbox and then she turned around the corner. The cold had seeped through my shorts and a thin t-shirt, I shivered. I went inside to get my phone, and while wrapping the blanket around myself I called Dina.

Ring,

Ring,

Ring,

After three rings, she answered.

"Andy what the hell is your problem calling me at f-!" She began

"My mom just drove off, she's wasted, tell your dad, please. She turned onto Crow lane about two minutes ago." I interrupted her, her dad was the police chief, he could help her. I heard shuffling on the other side of the call. Dina was mumbling something, and then a male voice mumbled something back. After a few more exchanges like that, Dina's dad spoke.

"Hello Andrew, I heard your mother just drove off in her car, while intoxicated. Am I correct?" His voice was deep, he had a bit of a Hispanic accent, but you could barely hear it.

"Yes sir," I replied. This wasn't the first time it had happened, actually, it was probably the fourth time this year. Just usually it wasn't this early in the morning, or on a day she had to wake up to go to work.

"I'll send a trooper to find her, Andy... Son, this can't continue. Sooner or later we must get her help. I know you don't want to go to your father, but it might be the best option, for both of you..."

I looked down, I knew my mom had to go to rehab, I knew that if so I had to go live with my dad until I turned eighteen in May... I just couldn't, not this late into senior year. There's nothing wrong with my dad, he's nice, his husband is nice too, and so are my younger step-siblings. It's just that... this town, Lake Agnes... it's my home.

"Yes sir, I understand..." There was more shuffling on the other side, I heard Dina speaking in Spanish.

"Papa... Telefono..." was all I heard. From what I remember from my year of Spanish class, those words meant dad and phone.

"Uno minuto mamita," I heard her dad respond, the phone was still close to him so I heard him speak much more clearly. He asked for one more minute. "If she hurts anyone tonight Andrew, I may have to take action. I will put her in rehab if it means protecting this town."

"I understand, thank you sir," I said.

"Andy!" Dina yelled into the phone, her father shushed her.

"Don't wake up mami, she'll get mad and we'll both be in trouble." Mister Gomez said. There was some distant yelling, and the call ended.

I guess Dina's mom woke up.

After a few minutes, my phone started ringing. It was the police station.

I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello is this Andrew?" A female voice asked.

"Yes," I responded. Usually, Mister Gomez would just call me to tell me she was fine. My heart felt like it was in my throat.

"We found your mom,"

"Oh, thank god." I felt a little calmer.

"But, she's on her way to the hospital right now. She ran her car off a bridge." The cop said.

"What?" I croaked, everything around me seemed to freeze.

Silence, deadly eternal silence. The few moments it took for the cop to respond felt like an eternity. A single tock from the clock on the wall took hours to come after the tick.

"She doesn't have many injuries, but they're still taking her in."

Oh, oh thank god. I sighed, the breath that was caught in my throat finally coming out.

"Goodbye," The female cop hung up. I put my phone down. Somebody should really train that lady on how to tell people news.