Kayla saw her Dad in the kitchen. It was never just him when she got home. He had cuts and bruises and didn't look like he had a good day. "Hi. What's wrong?" She asked, puzzled. As far as she knew, her parents were having the time of their lives in the 4 months since they moved. "Your mom. She... Uh... Well. She's at the hospital." He stuttered. "What happened?!" Kayla exclaimed.

"She picked me up from work and I offered to drive and w-we were d-driving down M-main street and a truck came out of nowhere and I-it hit her s-side. She's in the ICU." He said right before he lost it. He wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug. Kayla wanted to cry too but she knew she had to hold it together. For her dad's sake. It was the first time she saw her own father cry. To her, he had always been the strongest man ever-even when her uncle Tommy got shot and was put into the ICU-but now, seeing him like this, sobbing over her shoulder, she was a tad scared for her mom's life.

They stood there in the middle of the kitchen for a few moments. She slowly lifted his head off of her. "Are you good enough for us to drive over there?" She whispered. "Yeah." He sucked in his mucous. Kayla took his hand for the first time in a while and led him to the car.

*

"She's barely breathing." Kayla kept thinking to herself over and over again. She always hated hospitals. Her neighbor, Josef, her first crush, died in one. So did her great-grandmamma Sophie. Oh how she remembered that moment when her mimaw slipped away. She called Kayla to the side of her bed and said "I...love...you..." as they entwined fingers. Kayla slid into the bed beside Mimaw and in a few minutes she heard a loud "BEEEEEEEEE!" The doctors rushed in and pulled Kayla away.

She sat there and stared at her mom, blank-faced. She walked over to her bedside. When she looked at the monitor there was barely a heartbeat. She heard the faint breaths of her mother. She caressed her arm and followed along the cuts. There were so many. She had a pale face and she had cuts and bruises all over her. Her dad walked into the room. "Time for dinner baby cakes." She nodded.

Everything was silent. The elevator ride. The cafeteria at 10 pm. The Chinese restaurant. They even ate in silence. Everything just felt so 'bleh' to Kayla. That was the only way she could describe it.

*

"It's him." He said. "That's the guy who nearly killed my wife."
"What?! Him!?" Kayla gasped. "It is. Everything was a blur but I know that face anywhere, obviously." He said blankly. "Are you really sure?" "Absolutely positive."