There was a time when I used to make fun of all the dramatic characters in books and movies. I found it funny how unrealistic it was when they heard shocking news and the thing they were holding would magically fall out of their hands and shatter or worse, it would all go in slow motion. But little did I know that the same thing would happen to me.
It was around 8 in the afternoon and I was having the time of my life with my best friends. Hayley Stone, literally the mother hen of this group, was sitting at the table scrolling through her phone while Blake Smith and I were engrossed in our game of Call of Duty.
"Hey guys, do you think we should call Jennifer and ask her where she is? She left an hour ago, she should've been here by now." Blake mentioned absentmindly as we continued to play.
"Hmmm...maybe you should, you know cause you've been googly eyeing her all week, actually maybe even all year." I retorted before adding, "You know, I think you should ask her out. We all know you guys like each other, maybe it's time to act on it." Blake's face turned beet red as he scratched the back of his neck. This caused Hayley to look up too as she let out a small laugh.
"Thea's right you know," She added helpfully. "Jenn's not going to wait forever, she's been wanting you to ask her out since the beginning of tenth grade. It's almost been two years." Blake lifted his hand away from his neck and the replied shyly,
"I...I was actually planning on asking her out tonight when she's going to drop me home," His eyes glistened with pure love. Just talking about Jenn made him happy, that's how I wanted someone to be like with me. That is obviously if I even got a man. I grinned and grabbed him in a hug.
"YESS!! FINALLY, THE SHIP IS SAILING!! Well almost but like oh well,"Blake pushes me away and groans as I start singing, "Jennifer and Blake sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-"Before I could continue though, Hayley interrupted me and said,
"Blakes right. Jenn tends to always come late, but we know Jenn and she wouldn't come 2 hours late, mostly if she left an hour ago." I paused to take in what Hayley was saying and realised that she was right, the drive from Jenn's house to mine was maximum 30 mins. I took out my phone and dialed her number but it went straigh to voicemail. We all looked at each other and knew right away that something wasn't right, Jenn never turned her phone off. "Uhh...it's okay, i'll try calling." Hayley said, trying to reassure us but it went straight to voicemail again. I looked at Blake and asked him to try but he just looked up at me and shook his head,
"I already tried," I scrolled through my contacts and found Jenn's parents numbers. When I called her parents, it also went straight to voicemail but a few minutes later, I got a call back from her mother.
"Hey Ms. Campbell," I start, "Jenn was supposed to come to my house and she still hasn't gotten here, I was starting to get worried. Um...Is she okay?" I heard Ms. Campbell sniffle.
"Jenn...she...she's gone." She choked out before she sniffled again as if to stop sobs.
"Gone?" I echo quietly. "Wha...what do you mean by she's gone? What happened? Where'd she go?" I don't know why I had asked even though I already knew the answer. Maybe I had thought that if it hadn't been said, it wouldn't be true.
"She, uh, there was an accident on Houston street. Jenn...her car was totalled, she...she didn't make it," Ms. Campbell took a deep breath to collect herself before she continued. "Jenn's dead. She died on impact." It felt like my entire body was numb and nothing in my surroundings mattered anymore. Never ending tears escaped my body.
Somehow my phone had fallen out of my hand and I was holding onto my stomach as if I had been stabbed. I had been stabbed, that was literally how much it hurt; it hurt so much that I couldn't even breathe. I heard muffled voices but to me it felt as if I had been submerged under water, arms wrapped around me but I couldn't feel them. All I could think about was how happy we all were just minutes ago, how within seconds all our dreams shattered.