Ch. 4

Kylie Blows










This hospital is like a prison. That’s how I describe it to you now. Every room is a cell that holds thousands and thousands of sick demented people a year. The windows are all bared up, and take you away from the outside world… doesn’t that sound like a hospital to you? It pretty much fits the description of a hospital if you ask me. Each room is just a new sick person, and a new smell that you want to puke to.


Candice just lays there. She’s not even awake. She’s always sleeping. Dad’s in a glass tube, and his face is always still. He doesn’t smile, he doesn’t laugh, he just frowns a constant frown. I walk from Candice to Dad, and back again. Mom tried to tear me away, but I won’t leave either of them. If you just let them know you’re there, they won’t die.

The doctors say Candice is getting a little better. They say she’s breathing on her own now. But Dad has to be ran by machines. He’s dead basically. My Father is dead. He will never walk me down the isle when I get married. He will never go buy me beer when I’m underage. He will never be there when I need to be held late at night. He will never take pictures of me smiling again. He will never get to go on that trip to Europe. He will never talk. He will never separate Candice and me when we are tearing each others hair out. He will never call me in sick when he knows I’m just faking it. He will never give me “the talk” again. He will never sit and watch TV with the family. He will never fix broken light bulbs that Candice and I purposely break by putting a wet washcloth over them. But I’ll tell you what he CAN do.

He can lay there. He can maybe hear us when we talk. He can twitch his fingers every now and then. He can probably think to himself…in a brain dead kind of way. And that’s about it. I can go on forever about what he can’t do, but I can only name about four things that he can do. How many of you can say the same for your Dad?

He can’t ride bike. He can’t stink up the bathroom. He can’t tell scary stories that scare the shit out of Candice and me. He can’t give us roses on Valentines Day. He can’t steal our good pens and then deny it when he’s caught red handed. He can’t forget Christmas and go out and buy last minute presents from the gas station. He can’t pamper the cat and forget to pay our lunch money. He can’t lick our faces in the morning as a wake up call. He can’t make fun of Candice’s heals and my yellow shirts. He can’t complain that men taking out the garbage is widely overrated.

See? I can go on and on. Problem is…I don’t want to. I want to stop and say. Well, wait a minute. He just woke up. He can blink, he can smile, he can walk, he can wrap his arms around me and drown out all my fears. But I can’t, and that scares me.

So I sat there now, staring at my Dad’s lifeless form. I hummed a tune here, and lyric to a song there, tapped my fingers with boredom, and then got up to pace the small room I was in. “Child, eat.” A voice made me shriek and spin around. It was the woman from the waiting room. The woman who was telling me that it isn’t the drivers fault he crashed into my Father’s car and basically killed him and my sister. The woman who eavesdropped on my Mothers conversation with Dr. Stevens.

“I’m not hungry.” I said coldly. The woman cocked her head to one side.

“Eat.” She pushed the tray of hospital food to me. I rolled my eyes and sat at the table, picking up the milk carton. I gulped down the liquid in one swallow. There’s another thing my Dad will never be able to do, he can never drink or eat by himself. I pushed my tray away, and crossed my arms. Have I mentioned that I hated this…

“I’m full.” I commented, picking up my coat from the back of a chair, and exiting my Fathers hospital room. I made my way down the hall towards where Candice lay in her eternal sleep.

“Kylie…” The woman followed me.

“What do you want with me?! Why are you following me? Leave me alone!” I screamed at the lady. Who the hell did she think she was? Trying to tell me what to do, like she was my Mother. Well she’s not! How did she even know my name…?

I managed to find Candice’s room in total rage. I burst through her door, and stopped short when I saw Mom sitting at her side. My anger subsided and I let my coat drop to the floor. Mom said she didn’t have the strength to sit by and watch the people she love wither away into nothing…yet here she was.

Mom must be deaf to the world, because she didn’t even flinch when I swung the door open. Even when it slammed against the wall…she didn’t look up. “Mom?” I finally got the nerve to say something. Her eyes slowly drifted from Candice up to me. She smiled a weary smile and got up from her chair.

“Kylie, how good to see you.” She said, opening her arms, waiting for me to fall into them. I made my way over to her, and gave her the most sincere hug I had ever given. Mom sighed, and I looked up at her. “The press is releasing the names today.” I didn’t understand. Who’s names? Mom looked off into space. “When the accident first happened, the hospital wouldn’t release their names…but now they have, they released their names.” Mom mumbled on and on about Dad and Candice’s names being released to the press. I couldn’t believe it… I was going to be famous, and I was going to be famous because my father and sister have been hit by a car… that’s not something I look forward too.

* * * * * * *


“David!” My mothers voice screamed at me from downstairs. I ignored her. I’m not in the mood to fight with her tonight. “David! Come quick!” Mom yelled again. But it wasn’t her angry yell… I thought maybe Page accidentally stabbed herself with a knife or something….this was going to be funny to see. I made my way down the stairs and into the living room where Mom was standing in front of the TV. “I think you should hear this.” She said quietly.

It was the news.

At that moment, millions of things were running through my head. So I just stared at the screen. I saw a wrecked car, and I saw two bodies being wheeled away in separate stretchers, and then I saw the reporter. “Good evening, this is Sarah Collins, and this is your six o’ clock news.” Her fake smile made me want to puke. “Several days ago, a car crash devastated a family, when a father and daughter were almost killed by a drunk driver. Nick Madison,” a picture of Kylie’s Dad flashed upon the screen, and I groaned…was Kylie the other person in the stretcher? “and Candice Madison,” Candice’s smiling face popped up next to her fathers, I let out a sigh of relief, “were taken away to the hospital, and now lay in critical condition.” The reporters face was now very grave, and unsmiling… “Now to Lara Smith, who is at the hospital live.”

“Thank you Sarah.” The next face that popped up on the screen was Lara’s, microphone in hand, the hospital in the background. “Tonight we are going to talk to the family members that were left to pick up the pieces of this horrifying event.” Lara led the way into the hospital, and through some halls. They stopped at a door, and she knocked on it. Kylie’s face suddenly appeared, she looked surprised to see the cameras, but she recovered quickly. “This is Lara Smith from KUIO News.”

“Yeah, you’d think I’d figure that out by all the cameras with your logo written in big bold letters.” Kylie crossed her arms, her face full of sadness…and…something I couldn’t identify. Something I’ve never seen her face take shape to before.

“So? How does it feel?” Lara’s voice was eager to hear the story…it disgusted me.

“It feels like an invasion of privacy.” Kylie’s face twisted with that emotion I couldn’t put my finger on. “I mean…your family is dying in front of your face, and then you get nosey little reporters who have to butt in and rub it in your face.” The reporter stud in silence, taken back at how strait forward Kylie was being. “I know it’s your job, but maybe instead of being so clueless, you could respect peoples feelings. You people are a disgrace to your jobs, going around and attacking people when they’re most vulnerable. Give us time to recover from what has happened, my God.” Then she slammed the door again. You could just catch a glimpse of Candice laying in her bed, completely motionless.

I turned around and started to leave the room. “David…” Mom’s concerned voice rang behind me. I just needed to get out of here. I needed to get out.

* * * * * * *

Feelings boiled in the pit of my stomach that I’ve never felt in my whole entire life. I wanted to break something, I wanted to just go on this rampage and destroy everything. I grabbed the chair and threw it across the room. Mom had gone out and talked to the reporters, to try to clean up the wounds I had created in poor Lara’s heart. She deserved to be cut down. And you know what, she’s not all that pretty either. “That’s right, YOU’RE NOT PRETTY!! YOU HEAR ME!” I screamed out in the empty room. I fell to the floor and just started to cry.

“Kylie?” A voice rang out in my ears. I haven’t heard a voice in so long, it almost sounded foreign. The sound bounced off the inside of my brain, sending shivers down my spine. I was in this room alone…who was calling out my name? The only other person in the room was….CANDICE!

“Candice?” I lifted my head up and looked around the pitch black room.

“Does this sound like Candice to you?” A voice that was not my sisters came back at me.

“Oh my god…” I said, clutching my head. “No, stop it Kylie.” Great, now I’m hearing voices. This day just keeps getting better and better. “Stop it, just stop it.” I wanted to bang my head into the wall. A hand touched my shoulder, and I screamed, scrambling away. “What the hell is going on here?!” I shout.

“Kylie! It’s me! David!” My breathing subsided a little. It was only David. DAVID?! Why was David here?! I stood still confused, when suddenly, blinding light shattered the darkness I had created.

I groaned, and put my arm over my face, turning my head away from the blazing florescent lights. “Kylie? What’s going on in here?” My Mother walked into Candice’s room. “David?”

“Hi Mrs. Madison.” David did a half smile, and a sincere half wave. I rolled my eyes, and turned away from both of them. I looked around the room, I had thrown my chair, and now it lay in the corner turned in a position it’s not suppose to be in.

I wanted to walk over and get it, but that would draw unneeded attention to why it was there in the first place. Mom left soon after, I guess it did really kill her to see Candice just laying there. “I saw you on the news.” David finally said.

“Yeah, you and about 5,000 other people.” I replied bleakly. What was he doing here. I don’t want to talk to anybody. I just want to be alone! Is that too much to ask for? Is that just too hard? What else do these fucking people expect me to do? They already found out I don’t smile pretty for the cameras… so what? Are they going to torture me with talking about my “feelings” with someone like David? Someone who will watch you almost get choked to death? I think not.

David obviously picked up my hostility. “Look, I don’t know what’s the matter with you, but-”

“You don’t know what’s the matter with me?!” I laughed a really PISSED off laugh. “Oh, were to start? First I about ran out of your house crying because you didn’t give a rats ass that your so called friend had me by the throat up against the wall, choking me, with every intention of killing me. And then I find out that a drunk driver smashed into my Dad’s car, putting both my sister and himself into an endless eternal sleep. And you say you don’t know what’s the matter with me. ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND?!” What the hell is the matter with this world?!

David’s face remained blank, and I swear, I just wanted to wipe the look off his face. He didn’t even look like he cared. WELL GOOD! I DON’T WANT YOU TO CARE! I wanted to leap at him, tear him up with my bare hands. Why is he still here?! I had to turn away from him, I was afraid I would actually physically hurt him if I continued to look at his face.

“That was a different situation Kylie and you know it. I wasn’t myself that day.” David’s voice, for the first time, was small. Like he didn’t want to piss me off. I doubt he came here to get yelled at, and what am I doing? Yelling at him… somehow I can’t really seem to care at the moment.

“Just because you were high?!” I spun back around. “That doesn’t mean you can’t think for yourself. You could have said something, anything to make him back down. But you just stood there, and you were smiling nonetheless.” Feelings just burst from some locked case. “Is it funny for you too see others in danger? Is that it?”

“Kylie, stop it.” David’s voice got smaller. I wondered if I was making him mad…I hope I was. I hope he was getting so mad that he blew up at me, and screamed at me with everything he’s got.

“Stop what? Stop pointing out your imperfections? Stop telling you everything you’ve done wrong?” I asked sarcastically. “No, I’m not going to stop, because you wouldn’t stop if it was you yelling at me, so why should I do shit for you.” I started to walk away from him, towards the door. I needed to see my Dad. He always made things better. In a coma or not… But David grabbed my arm, and spun me back around. “Don’t touch me.” I growled in his face.

A hand connected with my face, and I backed away slowly. Did he just slap me? I looked at him in pure horror. “Get a grip Kylie.” His eyes flashed with anger. “You may be upset, and I can’t blame you, but don’t you dare take all your anger you have built up inside, out on me. Some of that anger may be because of me, and I know that. But don’t yell at me because you’re mad at your sister and Dad.”

“Go to hell.” I ran from the room.

“I’m already there Kylie. I’M ALREADY THERE!” I heard David yell out after me. I sprinted to the elevator. I need to see my Dad NOW!

Jack the Ripper