Waiting Room

Here is a short story I wrote for my fiction writing class:

Kelsey walked into her camp cabin, water dripping from her tangled blonde hair. She pulled out her hair tie and dropped her pink and white stripped towel on the cracked wooden floors.
“Your dive is getting better, Kelsey,” her friend Jessica told her while taking off her swim shoes.
Kelsey blushed and turned to look at Jessica. “It is all because you’ve been helping me the past week.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Jessica grabbed a hairbrush and started to comb through her hair. “I’m getting hungry; wanna grab a Popsicle or something in the mess hall?”
“Sure, just let me get into drier clothes. I hope they have grape today. It’s my favorite and they haven’t had it in a few days.”
“Maybe Ryan will be handing them out. He is cutest boy at camp. Maybe he will even ask me to the dance at the end of camp.”
“He probably will, I catch him checking you out at the pool sometimes. Besides you’re great at talking to boys. I usually say something stupid or start to stutter. Last year at school, I tripped or ran into something every time a cute guy even looked at me.” Kelsey pulled out a pair of jeans, placed them on the bed and began rummaging through her duffle for a t-shirt.
Knock, Knock. “Come in,” the two girls said in unison. The camp director walked in the door, looking the whole time at the floor. She was tall and her wavy brown hair was hanging down to her shoulders.
“Excuse me, but is Kelsey Kelly here?” She straightened her glasses and finally looked up at the girls.
“I’m right here. What’s up?”
“Come with me, we need to talk to you in the office right away,” She turned and left the cabin.
“I’ll meet you in about twenty minutes in front of the mess hall.” Kelsey put on some slippers and followed the camp director outside.
“I believe I have some bad news,” the camp director finally spoke. “Your mother was in a car accident. She will be fine, but I’ll take you to the hospital right away.”
Kelsey’s world started to spin, she felt sick to her stomach. Would her mom be okay? She tried to ask the camp director for more information. But the worlds would not come out of her mouth? Does she just have a couple broken bones or is it more serious than that? What if she dies? When she was finally able to open her mouth, the only thing that came out was vomit.
Kelsey followed the camp director to the car and buckled up still in her swimsuit. No one spoke a word the entire ride. When the car finally stopped in front of the hospital, Kelsey ran out without even thanking the camp director and spirited towards the receptionist.
“Need. To see. Mom.” Kelsey said in between sobs.
“Name?” A cranky old lady who manned the desk asked.
“Umm…Ms. Kelly. Cadence Kelly.” Kelsey shuttered.
“She is about to go into operation. You can sit in one of those of chairs there.” She said pointing to the perimeter of chairs surrounding the plain white room in front of her. The walls were white and had no decorations. Not even a poster to lighten the mood, like the ones that used to line her pedestrian office. “It should only take two hours.”
She took a seat in the waiting room and grabbed a magazine to help pass the time. But the words became so blurry that she couldn’t comprehend what they said. She placed the magazine back on the table and looked around the room. Everyone there had someone to talk to. Everyone had a hand to hold. Everyone, that is, except her. What if my mom doesn’t make it? She is all I have. My life would be completely ruined without her; we’ve had so many great times together, Kelsey thought.

Kelsey had come home from school after the last day of class before winter break. Her mom was sitting in the kitchen with bowls of sugary treats, cans of frosting and cardboard boxes. “We’re going to make gingerbread houses!”
“Why?” Kelsey asked while setting down her backpack on a nearby chair.
“Why not, life is too short to not to enjoy it,”
Kelsey had grabbed a piece of cardboard and a couple gummy candies. She placed one in her mouth and started to put together the house.
“How was school, sweetie?”
“Okay, Josh got a haircut. I’m just glad to be off from school for two weeks. Seventh grade is tough”
“Have you talked to Josh yet?”
“No….I can’t. He is way more popular than me. He’d just laugh at me. Besides he has a crush on Lily Lanson and she is way prettier than me,” Kelsey said while painting green frosting on her piece of cardboard.
“Kelsey, who wouldn’t like you? You’re a great girl; you’re smart, pretty and caring. Plus you know how to make people laugh. Promise me you will talk to him when school is back in?
“I…I’m not sure. I’m not good with people. I start to stutter when I’m nervous. Especially when I talk to cute boys.”
“I’ll teach you how to be confident and talk to boys. First you need to make eye contact, it shows that you have confidence and guys tend to like girls with confidence. Second guys like funny girls, so just be yourself.” her mom had said while placing M&Ms on the top of her house.
“Like that one time I accidently called that girl the brightest tool in the shed instead of the sharpest?” Kelsey started to laugh so hard that tears started to roll down her face. Her mom joined in and laugher echoed throughout the whole house.

Kelsey looked around the waiting room, hoping to find the nurse coming in to bring good news. How long have I been waiting here? She thought. Has it been like an hour, two, maybe three. She looked up at the clock onto of the reception desk. Only fifteen minutes passed.
“Why are you here?” A young boy asked sitting in the chair next to her.
“My…my…my mom...was …was in a ccccaaar accident.” It was the first time she said it out loud and the words rang loudly in her mind and bounced back and forth in her head as a tear moved slowly down her check. “How…how..aaabb… about you?” She asked looking down at the ground.
“My brother was also in a car accident.” Kelsey looked at him. He had gorgeous blue eyes and a curly brown hair.
“I…I hooope yourrrr brother is ooookay.”
He’ll be fine. Or at least I hope, we are supposed to go camping together next week. Are you close with your mom?”
“Yeah, she…she and I do everything together. She’s very impulsive.”
“Oh, really?” Jake asked looking into Kelsey’s brown eyes.
“Yeah, this one time she shook me awake at 6am and told me she had a surprise for me. At first, I just rolled my eyes and flipped over to the other side of the bed. I didn’t have to be up for school for another two hours and I wanted some more beauty rest. But she wouldn’t let me sleep, she just kept shaking me. I got so annoyed that I finally sat up and asked her what the surprise was. But she wouldn’t answer me. She just said to get into the car. So I got up, pulled up a pair of jeans, zipped up a hoody and stumbled downstairs. It was completely quiet in the car, the only sound that could be heard were the few cars passing by us on the highway. I had been so tired that I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. I started to wonder where we were going and if I would make it back in time for school. Just as I had peered my eyes open, I had noticed that we were exiting off the freeway. We were taking the exit to Disneyland. Better than school, huh? My mom said while smiling at me.”
Kelsey started to cry and the young boy handed her a tissue. “I’m Jake, by the way,” he said placing his hand out in front.
“Kelsey,” she said shaking his hand.
“Wow, your mom seems really cool. I wish my parents would do stuff like that for me. The only surprise my Dad has given me was extra yard work and chores.”
“She’s great. Are you close with your brother?”
“Yeah, he is my best friend. We do everything together. I hope I can spend more time with him before he leaves for college. I’m going to miss hanging out with him.”
She reached out and started to rub his arm to comfort him. “Wow, do you work out,” she muttered. Jake chuckled and looked at her.
“Yeah I play baseball at school. My brother actually taught me. He would spend hours after school pitching so I could practice hitting. I’m thinking about trying out for the high school team next year. I’ll only be a freshman, but I guess it’s good to start early. My brother started as a freshman and he ended up getting a scholarship to play in college. Do you play any sports?”
“No. I’m not coordinated at all. I tried soccer but I tripped over the ball. I even tried tennis and I ended up hitting myself with the racket. I didn’t even know that was possible.” Kelsey pushed back her hair and smiled sheepishly.
Jake laughed and just looked at Kelsey. “Well by the looks of it, you are a swimmer. Do you like swimming?”
“Oh, my friend was just teaching me how to dive when I heard about the accident. I didn’t have time to change.”
“I was cleaning my room. My dad is out of town on business and very particular about what the house looks when he gets back. He starts yelling at me if it isn’t spotless. What is your dad like?”
“I…I..I’ve never met …met my father. He left when he heard my…my mom was pregnant. She had me her freshman year in college. “
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t be. I like….I like… that it was just the two of us.”

Her mom was dressed in her short black mini dress, hair perfected curled and makeup designed to highlight her natural beauty. She came up to kiss her daughter goodbye when she noticed tears rolling down her face. “What is wrong sweet pea?” she had asked.
“Nothing.” Kelsey responded.
“It is obviously something or you wouldn’t be crying.”
“Well, Chrissie didn’t invite me to her birthday party. And she told the whole school that I was loser because I don’t have the new cool hair style or wear makeup. Then the whole school laughed at me. I had to sit alone at lunch today.”
“I am sorry sweetie,” her mom said while taking off one of her earrings. “You used to be best friends with this girl in elementary school and how does she repay for all those sleepovers and for all that time she spent at our house, by making fun of you? That is totally not right. You know what? I think we should go to La Fontana tonight for dinner and watch Willy Wondka and the Chocolate Factory while eating ice cream.”
“But what about your night out with your friends?”
“You are more important right now.”

“Do you two know each other?” The nurse asked interrupting Kelsey’s daydream.
“We just met.” Jake responded with a confused look on his face. “Why do you ask?”
“Well Mr. Jackson, your brother was in the same accident as Ms. Kelly’s mom.”
The two just stared at each other in silence for some time.
“Well, both of the operations just finished.” The nurse finally spoke, breaking the silence. “We are just moving them to their rooms. We will bring you back in about twenty minutes.”
“What a small world,” Jake finally spoke reaching towards Kelsey’s hand. Kelsey quickly moved her hand away and drug through her bag.
“Gum?” She asked handing Jake a stick.
“Sure, thanks.” He said reaching for the stick of peppermint gum. For a moment both glared into each other’s eyes as each of their hands was on the same wrapper. Finally Kelsey let go and grabbed her own piece of gum.
“Ms. Kelly, you can come back now.” The nurse called from the door.
“Is my Mom okay?” she asked in between heavy breathes.
“Follow me,” The nurse beckoned for Kelsey to walk towards her.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Kelsey leaped towards the nurse without looking back at Jake. She followed the nurse through the maze of the hospital. She plugged her nose the moment she walked through the door, it smelled as if someone had dropped multiple large buckets of hand sanitizer and Clorox. The pale white walls that surrounded the waiting the room also dominated the inside. Everything around her was moving in slow motion. She passed by room after room, sick patient after sick patient. She saw bloody victims laying on beds being rushed off to operating rooms. She saw doctors yelling orders at each other and nurses writing down notes in their notebooks.
“Your mom is fine, Ms. Kelly.” The nurse said while opening the door. Kelsey pushed the nurse out of the way and ran towards her mom. She had IVs in both arms and her short auburn hair was uncombed. Even though her mascara was running down her face, she was still beautiful in Kelsey’s mind. Tears began to fall down Kelsey’s face as she gave her mom the hugest hug imaginable
“I’m so glad you’re alright.” Kelsey said lying next to her mom in the hospital bed.
Kelsey left her Mom’s room a few hours later to let her get some sleep. As she opened the door, she immediately remembered Jake. I hope his brother is okay, she thought. She started to walk through the hospital once again to look for him. A few minutes later, she saw Jake walking out of one of the rooms.
“Hey Jake, I was hoping to catch you before you left,” Kelsey ran towards him, “I really enjoyed talking to you…and…well…how is your brother?”
“He’s great, just resting. How about your mom?”
“Same, she’s tired from the operation so she is just taking a nap now.”
“Good. Well, thanks for helping the time fly by. Maybe we can see other again soon.” Jake said reaching out his arms to hug to her.
Kelsey also reached out her arms and the two hugged for a few moments. “I’d like that.” Kelsey responded