Chapter 7: Mrs. Hart

I hear the shuffle of feet in the hallway adjacent to Violet’s room. My eyes snap open. I am greeted by the sight of Violet and a woman I can only assume to be her mom. 

“Thomas, I’d like you to meet my mom,” Violet tells me smiling.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Umm . . . ,” I try to say but it suddenly occurs to me that I have no idea what Violet’s last name is.

“You can call me Mrs. Hart,” the woman tells me. A warm and comforting smile is on her face. She has one of those faces that I’ve felt like I have known for years. She has shoulder-length brown hair graced with streaks of blonde. Slight wrinkles caress the corners of her brown eyes. Mrs. Hart is a short woman, an inch or two shorter than Violet.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hart,” I say with a relieved smile on my face.

“How are you feeling, dear?” Mrs. Hart asks me, genuinely concerned.

“Not too good. My ribs are on fire and my head is pounding. I think I may have a concussion.”

“We can take you to the doctor to get you checked out when you’re feeling well enough to get up. Now, is there someone we can call to let know about this situation? Someone like a parent?”

“You can call my mom. She must be so worried.”

I rhyme off our telephone number despite only learning it a couple days ago and Mrs. Hart dials it in as I say each number and then presses talk.

“Hello. My name is Georgia Hart. My daughter goes to H.T. Louis Highschool with your son Thomas.” She pauses for a moment while I assume my mom greets her back. “I’m afraid that there has been an incident at school today and Thomas seems to have been beaten up. He has just woken up. Would you like to talk to him?” She hands the phone over to me and I rise it to my ear.

“Hi mom.”

“Thomas! Are you okay? What happened? Where are you now? I’m coming straight to where you are.”

With instruction from Mrs. Hart I tell my mom how to get to Violet’s house and then the call ends. Mrs. Hart leaves the room to take another call leaving me and Violet alone together again. Not wanting to seem rude I try to keep my eyes open but they slowly start to close.

“Thomas, you have to stay awake. Don't all the nurses and doctors say to keep a person awake who has a concussion?” Violet says gently shaking me from my entry into sleep.

“Yes, you’re right. Then what shall I do instead?” I ask as the corner of my mouth creeps into a smile.

“We could talk? You know I still know nothing about you except for your favourite color and that Mike has it out for you,” she says breaking into a smile. “Did you just move here?”

I begin to tell her that yes, we did just move here a week ago but as I do, the chimes of the doorbell interrupt me.

“Must be your mom now,” says Violet. “I’ll give you and her some space and then I assume you guys will be headed to the doctor.”

I nod yes and thank her for taking care of me.

She turns to leave but then stops and slowly turns around smiling. “Do you have a cellphone?”

I put my hand in my pocket and pull it out to check to see if it’s still there. Violet comes over and gently takes it for my hand, fingers brushing mine. She plays around with it for a few seconds and then hands it back. I look at the screen and find she has typed her name phone number into it with a smiley face which makes me laugh. 

Violet smiles at me and says “Bye Thomas. Don’t get beat up anymore.”

And with that she departs from the room, leaving the sweet scent that I can only describe as ‘Violet’.