Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning to the same routing and I slowly counted down till my discharge day. Saddest part was that I had to spend my birthday in the hospital and I haven't gotten a call from Katelyn since we last spoke.

"Are you ready?" My mom asks

"Yes, I'm ready."

I walk out of the room with my mom and I see Sophia waiting for us in the hallways. Sophia walks up to me. "All good kiddo?" She asks.

"All good."

We all walk toward the elevator and something immediately flashed through my mind. I run to the nearest doctor. "Hello sir, I'm looking for a nurse that works hers. She's a physical therapist too"

"Do you know her name?" The man asked.

"Yes. Her name is Selena."

"Oh Selena. She stays in room 204 with the patient there."

"Thank you sir." I said.

I start walking back toward room 204 and my mom pulls me back.

"What was that all about? Who's Selena?"My mom asks.

"Selena is someone I want to see before I leave. Please wait for me here, I'll be quick."

I'm walking towards the room and I see Selena walking out of the room I was staying in. "You fell in love with me on our first date?" I ask jokingly.

"What?" Selena says and looks confused for a few seconds. "Oh oh I see why you said that. Seeing as we met for the first time and now you saw me coming out of your room after you left like I'm looking for any of your clothes or properties to keep to remember you." Selena says.

"Yes, that's the obvious." I say and laugh a little bit.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble but I'm taken" Selena winks then continues; "Anyways I was getting the place ready so we can move the patient next door in here. She needs intensive care and I was about coming to look for you because I found this sketch and I'm guessing this was what you drew the other night" Selena says and hands my drawing over to me.

"Oh thank you. It wouldn't have mattered if I took it or not anyways." I say.

"What?! The drawing is amazing and really deep. This is a sketch of a void and a girl falling into the void and I know you're the girl and this is how you feel but you have to find something or someone to fill up the void inside you." Selena says.

"Thanks but I don't really know what to use the drawing for"

"Isn't that what you were coming back for?" Selena asks.

"No. I was coming back to see you. I wanted to say thank you for what you said to me the other night."

"It's all good."

"And just so you know, I thought you were like 24 or something." I say

"Are you tryna call me old?"

We both laugh and Selena's smile is definitely beautiful.

"Theresa we have to go now so we'll catch our flight." I hear a voice from behind and it's definitely Sophia's voice.

"Okay so.. bye Selena. I'll see you, probably never because I don't pray to ever come back to this hospital." I say and we both laugh.

"Bye seventeen." Selena says.

"Seventeen?" I ask feeling confused as to why she'd call me seventeen.

"Yeah, heard about your birthday celebration" She says.

"Stalker much." I say and we both smile and wave goodbye to each other.

I turn back and Sophia is waiting for me. We both leave the hospital to meet my mom waiting outside.

"Get in girls!" My mom screams happily-ish, "what do you say we hit COLDSTONE when we get home?"

"Are you for real? That my favoriting ice cream place" I say.

"Okay then! Get in!"

Sophia, my mom and I got the airport in 10 minutes and took our flight back home.

Our plane lands and we walk into the LA airport and I see a lot of people holding cardboards with names on it. So cliche.

I look around trying to spot Katelyn. She said she was gonna be waiting for me at the airport.

Hey, you looking for someone?" Sophia noticed my wandering eyes.

"Yes. Katelyn said she'd be here."

"About that, she called me and told me to tell you that she wouldn't be able to make it today. She said something like she had work to do."

"Okay." We walk up to our cab.

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"Hey mom, are we going to Coldstone now or later?'" I ask as our uber arrives in front of our house.

"Honey, I have to be at the office, something came up."

"Okay. You should go to the office."

I'm starting to feel a little bit dejected. Am I not worth risking something for? All my life I've never been put as a priority and I want to feel important. I want to feel like I'm something special.

"I'm sorry honey. I'll make it up to you another time" mom says.

"Oh no, its fine. There's no problem." I'm hoping my mom notices the pain in my voice and that I'm hurting right now. I literally hate her so much. Just when I thought we could have a relationship.

"Okay bye honey!"

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It's 4pm and I feel so bored. Katelyn said she's going to work today, I'll just go and see her. I put on my vans and run downstairs

"Hey Soph, I'm stepping out for a bit."

"You just got home today and you want to go somewhere? No."

"I'm just going to go to the supermarket to get something" I give her the puppy eyes. "And I promise to be back quickly."

"Okay. Be home before 6."

"Thanks. Bye"

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I get to the supermarket and I open the door and start looking around for Katelyn. I can't see her anywhere. I should just ask someone around. "Hey. Good evening. I'm looking for Katelyn Miller, she works here"

"She got fired. She doesn't work here anymore." The woman says with zero emotion in her. Damn she's cold.

"May I ask, why?"

"She stopped showing up for her shift for the past 2 weeks and anytime she showed up, she was looking like a zombie from The Walking Dead. She always has eye bags and her hair was always messy and she would always just throw herself into a sweatshirt and sweatpants. It was unappealing to the customers so she got fired."

"Woah. Thanks."

I walk out of the supermarket and start heading to Katelyn's house. I take out my phone from my pocket to call her. It keeps going straight to voicemail.

I ordered an uber and got to Katelyn's house. I see that all her cars are still parked. She must be at home. I ring the doorbell, no answer. I ring a few more times. No answer still. I guess I'll just leave her a voice mail

'You have reached Katelyn's Voicemail. Leave a message after the beep."

"Hey Katelyn. It's me, Theresa. You never showed up at the airport. You got fired from work, you're not picking my calls. I'm at your house right now. I've rung the bell a few times and I'm leaving now so please calk me when you get this. I'm worried about you." I say and hang up the phone. I guess I'll just go home now.

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"Back so soon?" Sophia asks as I lock the door.

"Yup. Didn't see her anywhere." I head upstairs to my room.

" Did you give her a call?"

"Yes and she didn't pick so I left her a voicemail." I say and walk into her room.

I hear Sophia's voice from a distance, "don't think about it too much, she's probably busy."

What could she be busy with? She didn't call or text me on my birthday or any other random day and all of a sudden she calls Sophia to tell her she won't be as to make it to the airport. Arghh! I need to rest.

I take off my shoes and jump in my bed for a quick nap.