Augusta slowly paced on the side of the intersection kicking at a small pebble under her generic brand sneakers. They were once white but now had grass and dirt stains all other them, the rubber sole was starting to deteriorate. She was wearing her favorite tee shirt that she stole from a department store. It was pastel blue with Vineyard Vines signature whale printed on the back. Augusta thought about the devil kids at her high school that gave her such a hard time for not having ... Her thought was interrupted when she heard the screech of a horn, it was at that moment that she realized she was in the lane of an oncoming black Jeep. She quickly hopped out of the way while the driver in the Jeep flicked her the bird, she did the same.
She walked inside of the familiar Burger King, the smell of grease was hovering outside the restaurant.
One of the regular workers greeted her with:
“Howdy, Augusta,”
“What’s up Matt?”
“My day has been extremely slow but that’s the usual here”
Augusta ordered a plain cheese burger with a water. As she waited for the frozen patty to be grilled she took out a Sudoku puzzle and got halfway done before Matt announced over the outdated intercom that order number fifty-four was ready. Augusta snatched her meal and stuffed it into her ratty backpack, that carried everything she owned.
A ruby red Mustang roared past her but was soon stopped by a red light. When she caught up to the Mustang an old man with a fake tan rolled down his window and handed her five bucks and said
“Go get yourself something to eat kid and watch out, these streets aint safe for a pretty girl like you”
“Thank you, sir,”.
Augusta was headed toward the hospital where her mother laid in a bed alone. She missed her mom so much it caused an aching in her chest.
The rubbing alcohol sent was all she could think about when she first walked in, she was wondering why it had to be so strong. Augusta awkwardly walked up to the front desk lady that resembled one of the seven dwarfs, Grumpy. Augusta said that she needed to visit Franky Blane when Grumpy responded with
“Visiting hours are closed to anyone but family”
Augusta shot back with “I’m her daughter”
Grumpy sighed and opened one of the heavy doors, Augusta felt her heart beat quicken with each step she took. Finally, she reached room 483 she knocked on the door twice before swiftly swinging it open.
The first thing she saw was her mother’s bright orange hair that looked exactly like her own. She was still not used to seeing her mom with tubes inside of her, she heard the constant beat of her heart on the monitor, she saw the tube that was attached to her throat to help her eat, she looked at the catheter hanging by the bed. Augusta was still mad at her mom for causing all this destruction to her body. She kept having flashbacks to the night she found her mother in a pool of her own drool on the kitchen floor. She remembered seeing the dozens of pills laying around her, creating a snow angel of death. She recalled not seeing her dad’s car in the driveway, the night he left for good.
Augusta’s parents were constantly fighting and she knew September twenty fifth was the last straw for them. After her dad left, Franky was so distraught she couldn’t think straight. She went to the medicine cabinet and gulped down tons of pills, she passed out soon after. Augusta arrived several hours later and immediately called 911, they rushed her to the hospital. After they pumped her stomach she scared them when her heart started to flatline but after shocking her several times her heart began to beat. Immediately after they had to put her on a breathing machine.
Augusta held her mother’s limp hand and prayed to God that she would wake up. Her doctor said that every day that passed would lessen her chances of waking up. Augusta was sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair working on her Sudoku puzzle when she heard the rattle of the door handle, her doctor walked through and glanced at his clipboard. He said
“Your mother’s progress remains the same”
“Do you think she’ll ever wake up?”
“Honey I think that what your mother needs right now is someone to hold her hand and to pray for her.”
Augusta had no relatives in the state so when a Child Services agent showed up at her door a week or so after her mother was admitted to the hospital she decided to run away from home and drop out of high school. Augusta had saved up a few hundred dollars that she kept at the house for emergency’s, but she was starting to run out of money fast, every day she walked on the same intersection and went to Burger King for lunch and after she would visit her mother.
One night when Augusta was staying at a cheap motel near her intersection, she had a dream about her mother that felt like reality. It was Augusta when she was a kid playing on the playground with her mother pushing her on the swing. Augusta could still remember her mother’s beautiful bright white smile. Back then everything seemed to be so peaceful. Augusta was around 15 when her parents started fighting and their fights only escalated from there. Most nights she would come home to her father passed out on the couch drunk while her mother cried in her room. She would sometimes find her mom talking on the phone to one of her close friends telling her how her husband would get in ridiculous fights and how she’s worried he will do something to harm Augusta.
The next day she came into room 483 and her mother was awake, Augusta almost screamed from happiness. Her prayers had been answered and she was so relieved. Her mother smiled at her and said hey Augusta quietly. She rushed to hug her mother as the doctor walked into the room. He said so I see you’ve found our new miracle, all the other doctors are amazed that you are so healthy after just waking up from a coma; anyways I’ll leave you two to catch up. A tear streamed down Augusta’s face and she told her mother that she couldn’t believe she was awake.
A week later Augusta got to take her mother home to where they both would face reality. Franky unlocked the front door and they were greeted with the bottle of pills still scattered all over the kitchen floor. Augusta grabbed a broom and her mother got a pail, as they began to clean up the mess that Franky created a tear fell from her eye as she remembered what had happened the last time she was in her home. Franky lost her train of thought when she heard three loud knocks on the front door. She walked to the door slowly, suspicious because they weren’t expecting company and no one knew she was out of the hospital yet. When she looked through the peep hole she found a man with dark hair and a long beard she quickly realized that it was her husband. Her hand shook unlocking the door and her eyes were wide with disbelief. Augusta came into the living room to find her mom opening the door for her father when she hissed “why the hell is he here?” Franky replied with “I don’t know, why don’t you tell us” Augusta’s father drunkenly said “I have the divorce papers, I met a girl in Vegas and were going to get married so you need to get these signed” her mother’s mouth was wide open she calmly walked over to her father and snatched the tan envelope out of his hand and slammed the door in his face.
“I hope that sorry man never shows his face here again” Augusta said under her breath but was loud enough for her mother to hear “I don’t think we’ll see him any time soon”.
After Augusta’s dad left she finally felt at ease after weeks of being worried to death. The house became quiet and the sun set making everything darker. After a few hours of watching The Bachelors with her mom she decided she needed some sleep and headed to bed. Before she fell asleep her mom came into her room and kissed her on the forehead like she did when she was little and mumbled “shhh everything will be alright now” and Augusta drifted off to sleep.