The Neighbors

The neighbors were loud as I pressed my fuzzy, flowered pillow around my ears.  I tried to sleep, I really did. Every morning, I would wake up, my eyes red and narrow. I showered, trying to wake up. At school, my friends would nag me saying that I always looked tired. Denying them, I covered my mouth as a yawn creeped into my throat. My best friend, Lucky, punched my arm. “My point exactly. Is everything okay at home?”
“Yes, I said. Everything is fine. I just, never mind” I said guiltily.
“You sounded hesitant, you can tell me. I promise I won’t tell.”
“It’s nothing. My neighbors are noisy. That’s all.”
Lucky punched my arm harder this time, “There is more, and I am going to spend my afternoon finding out what it is.”
Glancing at Lucky, there was red in my eyes as I just wanted her to get out of my business. I avoided Lucky as I tromped home from school with my hood loosely on my head. I ran up my stairs and slammed the door behind me. My lungs filled with air with a huff and a puff. I dumped my school bag in the mud room and scurried up the steps and flopped onto my bed. Rolling over I turned on my phone and typed my password in, JAMES. Clicking on the Snapchat app, I noticed there had been multiple snaps from Lucky. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I took a deep breath in. I set down my phone, annoyed as I opened my closet to, frankly too many clothes. An embarrassingly plethora of cheetah print gave me a punch in the face. I grabbed my Pink cheetah print pajamas and slipped off my skin tight jeans and pulled on my pajamas. I grabbed a black sweatshirt hearing a familiar sound at my window.
My blinds clacked as a gust of wind sailed into my room. I peeked my head through the blinds to find Lucky laying on the floor. Her eyes were wet with her pounds of mascara running down her cheek. “You need to help me!” she screamed.
My legs carried me faster than I had ever gone before. Bang, bang went my shoes on the steps leading to my driveway. I thought it wise to ask her what happened later as I calmed her down. Lucky’s throat stammering as her tears dried. I invited her inside and made her some green tea.
Hours later, I felt it comfortable to ask. “Lucky, what really did happen today?”
“Frankie,” she talked soft and slow, “I do not know if my mom is going to be okay. The helicopter came..”
I could tell she was getting choked up again. “..the helicopter came and picked her up. She looked lifeless as the fireman positioned her on the cot. I walked away with a bruise on my arm.”
Her voice sounding shaky. “I tried calling you. Texting you. I snap chatted you. Frankie, I trusted you with my innermost problems. Why won’t you answer? What is wrong with you?”
Lucky sounded like she had just come off an electric machine the way she was shaking like that.
“Lucky, my dear friend. Calm down and start over. What happened, where were you, when was this.” I patted her on the back.
Lucky coughed and began with the words, “It all started with my neighbor. Ms. Hilgrae.”
Leaning closer, I motioned for her to speak further.
“Jessica, our chicken laid eggs this morning. We had too many eggs to handle and since Ms. Hilgrae has been so kind in watching over our farm when we were away.”
I interrupted Lucky and ran to go get the keys. “Get in the car you can tell me more on the way over there.”
Lucky rose from the couch and slipped on her warn Ugg boots. “I knocked on Ms. Hilgrae’s door and realized she wasn’t home. There was a noticeable Sticky note on the door. ‘I went on a quick walk, be back soon.’ I turned and saw Ms. Hilgrae’s reflection in her window. ‘There you are, my precious girl! What are these?’ as Ms. Hilgrae gasped. ‘We had too many eggs on our hands, consider this a thank you for watching over our farm when we were in Mexico.’ She grabbed the eggs and asked me if I wanted to come inside.”
The ignition started as a puff of smoke rose from the back of the car.
“I walked into her very modern house and saw two bottles of something on the table. ‘Oh dear, Samuel has gone to the store again I believe.’ Loads of grocery bags filled the kitchen table while two bottles sat on the white island in the middle if the kitchen. Ms. Hilgrae grabbed one bottle and handed it to me. ‘Give this to your mother, Lucky. She deserves it.’ I smelled the substance of the bottle with a surprised look on my face. It smelled like alcohol. Nevertheless, I thanked Ms. Hilgrae and skipped home. Handing the bottle to my mom she checked the label and took a glass from the cupboard. The substance oozed and fizzed when it was filled to the top. ‘If you don't mind, Luc, I am going to run to the store. Would you like to come with me?’ My mother is a sweet lady as you know Frankie. However at that moment in time, she was as gruff as a black bear. ‘I would love to!’ I cried as my mother glared at me. Frankie it was strange, like she was a whole new person on the outside as this body was reaching out of her chest, gasping for air.”
We turned the corner on Main and I could see the hospital from my view. I slowed the car and took the long way, around the Chevron.
Lucky continued, “We hopped in the car and I turned up some music. My mother’s face winced as Rather Be burst out the windows. Immediately turning it down, I saw fear in my mother’s eyes. Not just any fear, this was fear beyond fear that crept inside of you.”
I nodded my head in understanding.
“Looking forward, I noticed a blue car, speeding down the highway. Not to far away from where we were, actually. Hoping it would slow, life flashed in front of my mind as the car crept closer with every second. We were drifting and my mom looked fearless. Too fearless. The light turned red as I saw a streak of blue, then, black. I woke up and I was in my home. My dad at my side, he looked like he had been crying. My dad told me the whole story about how the guy in the blue car died on impact and that mom was at the hospital.”
“Oh my gosh! Lucky! I had no idea. When did this take place?”
Lucky replied, acting as smooth as one would under these circumstances. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still police cars with flashing red lights holding up traffic at the scene. They brought me to the hospital with my mother. I couldn’t look at her anymore. I just had to get away and come find you.”
Lucky and I pulled into the parking lot. I had never been to the hospital before. Big, definitely big. However, this wasn’t just any building, it was a building that was shaped as an “H”, big. And the color, so white when one looked at it, they could go blind. Lucky started to cry again. I placed my arm around her neck and began to sing. Soft to where she could hear it without overdosing on sorrow. A nice looking man in blue stepped outside. He saw us and kindly opened the door. On instant, a hustle feel hushed upon the white tile floor. Hurried nurses ran across the hallway as doctors surrounded a room. Many gathered around to see what the commotion was about. I cradled Lucky in my arms as we pushed through the crowd. She told me this was the room they put her mom in. “Excuse me, pardon me, coming through!” I yelled.
Through all of the uproar, Lucky and I could not see in the bed. I tapped on the shoulder of a doctor looking man. “Excuse me, sir? What is going on?”
“Hello ma’am. You must be Mrs. Lubechsky’s daughter, Lucky?”
“No sir, that is this girl right here.”
Lucky did a little wave towards the doctor. “What is going on?”
“Your mother,” a huge smiled was drawn across his face, “Has made a miraculous recovery. We honestly thought that she wasn’t going to make it when she was hit. With a couple of bruises and a minor concussion, she is doing wonderfully. We have never seen anything like it. You are lucky that your mother is alive. She is a blessing.”
Lucky’s tears of despair broke into sobs of joy. She pushed through the many nurses and doctors to a lovely looking lady.
“MOM!” Lucky and Mrs. Lubechsky embraced each other. I had never seen something more beautiful.
Later, I was reading the paper and in the obituary, there was a man. He looked familiar. Reading his letter, he was young. ‘The life of the party.’ As his best friend has said. Then it had dawned on me. That was my neighbor.
No wonder I have been getting such a great sleep.
We attended his funeral, sad yet not depressing, his friends and family wanted to live their lives the way he would want them to, as if he were there. I went to sleep that night, thinking a lot about that man. Thinking about the way he wanted his loved ones to live their lives.
Then I heard a scream and a laugh as I pressed my fuzzy, flowered pillow around my ears.