Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

My heart started pounding really loud, I was surprised that Mike wasn’t able to hear it.

“Oh... Um... Hi Kat.” Caleb said nervously. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to be here as much as I was.
Micah fidgeted with his fingers like I do when I’m nervous. I eyed him curiously, wondering why he was hanging out with Caleb.. Let alone coming to our apartment.
“What he doing here?” Mike said angrily.
“He,” Caleb mimicked “-is hanging out with me.” He said, defending himself.
Micah and I exchanged glances before looking in opposite directions. I wasn’t so sure what  Mike was getting so heated up about. It was probably the usual guy stuff, getting territorial.
“Oh, I thought he just followed you home and sneaked into your house while you weren’t looking.” Mike said sarcastically.
Caleb seemed to take offence to that, because his shoulders tightened and he gritted his jaws together, “Enough with the sarcasm Mike.” He warned, “He’s welcome here just as much as you are.”
Mike rolled his eyes and said, “You barely know the guy.” He whispered to Caleb, which didn’t serve a purpose because Micah was standing right beside him.
“So? He is my friend. And this is my apartment-” Caleb averted his gaze to me, and then automatically corrected himself, “-And it belongs to me as much as it belongs to Katrina. You don’t decide who comes over and who doesn’t.” Caleb said impatiently.
Mike looked over to me and then back at Caleb, “You’re right. I’m just not particularly fond of the guy.” Mike informed in a easy tone, trying to hide how mad he was.
Micah narrowed his eyes at Mike, and made his hands into fists. Once I noticed that, my whole body froze. I didn’t want to have to deal with a fight between my boyfriend and a friend of Caleb’s. That would basically mean I would have to choose sides, and that's one thing I despise doing.
“Mike. You know you don’t have to be so territorial around Caleb and Katrina.” He looked over to me, and I dropped my gaze from him and onto Mike’s clench jaw.
“Well that’s just the thing. I’m only territorial around them when you’re around.” Mike got up and stepped closer to Micah, so they were standing face to face, basically two inches apart. “I don’t like you, don’t you get it? You’re nothing but a useless new kid to me.” Mike gave Micah a smug grin and then punched Micah in the face.
I barely had any time to react, because without thinking, I got up and separated the two men, “Enough!” I yelled at Mike, then looked over at Micah, indicated I meant to say that to him too. Micah’s lip was split open, and blood was running down his chin. He wiped it away once he noticed I was staring.
Once Mike got up he glared at Micah, “That b*****d deserved it.”
I turned around so I was facing Mike, and then I slapped him across the face. He never usually acted this way, not with me around anyways. I was so blind to not even acknowledge this side of Mike, and honestly I was repulsed after knowing so.

Mike looked at me with a soberly expression, “Kati, I’m so sorry.” He said sympathetically.

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Micah.” I said, a little too much attitude than I indented. I looked over at Micah and noticed that he did not have a split lip anymore, which was odd considering a wound like that could not heal that fast. I decided to let that go considering I had better things to deal with.
“I’m sorry, too.” Micah said apologetically. I wasn’t too sure if he meant it or not, but I had no energy left to figure it out.
I sighed in frustration, “Micah, I want you to come with me so I can talk to you.. And Mike-” I mumbled, looking over at him “-just do whatever you need to do. Go home, or stay and wait for me. Its you’re choice, I don’t really care right now.” I walk around the three guys and waved goodbye to Caleb as I headed out the front door, knowing Micah was trailing behind me.
When I got out of the apartment, I turned around and saw Micah’s soft and angelic face. His eyes were more lighter than I last saw them, maybe it was the sunlight.
“Katrina...” He said in a small panicky voice, but in a way it was soothing. He was probably as speechless as I was, mostly because I didn’t know why I wanted to talk to him.
“He isn’t usually like this,” I reassured  him.
“I got that. If he was, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be dating him.” He replied.
I sighed and looked at Micah, and this time, really looked. His eyes were conflicted, and I did not know what was going through his mind. “You shouldn’t of provoked him, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” He said in a casual tone.
“Why were you hanging out with Caleb anyways?” I questioned him. I really didn’t know why he was hanging out him. They didn’t seem to hit it off at lunch. But maybe they had a couple of classes together after lunch to converse and get to know one another.
“He invited me,” Micah grinned.
I was going to say something sarcastic, but I decided to bite my tongue considering this wasn’t the time nor the place for that. “Caleb is pretty friendly.” I deciphered.
“Mhm.” Agreed Micah.
At this point, I wasn’t too sure if there was anything left to say.
“I’m going to go, though. I’ll talk to you soon, okay Katrina?” He announced.
I sighed and nodded, “I’ll see you soon, Micah.” I smiled and he returned one back before he turned around.
I turned around to head into the apartment to deal with Mike and Caleb. I was hoping that Mike cooled off enough so we could talk in a civilized manner.
I walked down the hallway to my apartment and heard a couple of soft voices, confirming my suspicion that Mike was still there. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and opened the door. As soon as I was inside the room, it fell silent and Mike and Caleb’s eyes lingered on me.
“Hey.” I said in a small panicky voice but in a soothing tone.
“Kati..” Mike started to say but I raised my hand indicating he should stop talking.
“Mike. I don’t want to fight with you right now. When I saw you hit Micah, I realized that there was another side of you that I’ve never  seen before.” I looked down at my hands and then back up to meet Mike’s gaze. “And to be honest, it really scared me.” Tears started to form in my eyes, instead I tried hard to fight them.
When Mike started to see how upset I was over this, he got up and walked over to me, resting a hand on my hip.

I caught a glimpse of Caleb retreating to his bedroom to give us some privacy. I smiled and lipped “Thank you” to him and he just smiled. “I shouldn’t be so upset about this.” I murmured.

“Why wouldn’t you be?” He sighed, but I knew he wasn’t finished talking. “I shouldn’t of even hit him right in front of you, let alone at all. He just makes me mad when hes around. I don’t like Micah-”

“You hardly even know him!” I said, cutting him off. I was coming to the realization that I was being way more defensive about his then I should be.

He looked into my eyes and said, “Kati.. Let me try to explain what happened tonight to you, okay?”

I nodded and he continued, “If you must know the main reason why I hit Micah was because I was jealous-”

“Was?” I said with mock astonishment, while interrupting him again.

Mike looked at me, and his face suddenly became serious, “Is. I am jealous of Micah.” He sighed before he started to continue, “We haven’t been dating long. But already I feel really connected to you. You’re so original, Kati, and it intimidates me. I felt like Micah was getting in the way of that. Because I don’t want you to love someone else. I can tell that Micah already likes you..” He trailed off, looking like he was deep in thought.

I took that as a sign that I could talk, even though I wasn’t obeying the rule before. “Mike...” I said putting my hand on the side of his face, it was surprisingly smooth and warm. “We haven’t been together long- know that-But I know  you.. I love you.” I said meaning the words more seriously than they sounded.

He took a breath of relief and kissed me. It was better than all of our other kisses combined. This time I could feel the burning passion and romance when his lips touched mine. My hands wandered from his hand to the back of his neck. I pressed my lips harder onto his, his tongue found its way into my mouth and held my tongue against his. Just then, the phone rang and I jumped. I heard Caleb’s bedroom door open as he bolted to the phone, trying not to disturb us, but we were obviously disturbed.

“Hello?” Caleb said. A couple seconds later Caleb bit his lip and announced, “Its for you.”

I sighed and walked over to the phone, looking back over at Mike and saw that he was catching his breath.

“Who is this?” I asked, but then heard a familiar voice on the other line.

“Lyem.” He answered, and I felt like jumping for joy. Lyem and I haven’t talked since a couple years ago. He was my brother, and I missed him.

“Lyem! Why haven’t you called me sooner?” I wondered. I also was about to ask how he got my number, but decided that wasn’t important right now. I looked around for Mike and saw that he was sitting on the couch, waiting for me to be finished while he talked to Caleb. I started to walk to my room so I could talk to Lyem in private.

“Because I didn’t get you’re number until I saw Mom today, a couple hours ago in fact.” He sounded like he was keeping something from me, something that I should know about.

“What is it that you’re not telling me, Ly?” I said in a curious tone.

“Mom’s in the hospital. She had a heart attack a yesterday and Dad didn’t tell me until today. I guess he couldn’t get in touch with me.” He informed me.

I felt like my heart drop, and then pick back up again. It felt like my heart was beating a thousand times per minute. “W-w-hat?!” I stuttered, I could barely say that without gasping for air.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I called as soon as I knew and found your number.” He sounded beyond calm for someone who’s Mom was in the hospital.

“Is she alright?” I asked.

“We have no idea. But I’d like it if me and Dad come pick you up so we can go visit her.” He said in a gloomy sigh.

“Yes, come as soon as you can.” I gave Lyem my address and rushed out to the living room to tell everyone the news.

When I reached the living room, Mike and Caleb were sitting on the couch laughing up a storm. Tears started to roll down the sides of my face, and I felt like I was about to collapse. Mike and Caleb both jumped up and rushed to my side to steady me.

“Kat! Whats wrong?” Caleb asked trying not to sound too pushy.

“Walk her over to the couch,” Mike said softly to Caleb.

After that, I blacked out.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on the couch, and I couldn’t remember ever fainting or making my way to the couch. I guess Caleb and Mike carried me. I opened my eyes, and the whole room was spinning. “M-moms in the hospital.” I stuttered, barely even hearing the words I just said. “Lyem... Lyem is coming. S-so is Dad.” I said in an uneasy voice.

When the room stopped spinning, I looked up to see the reactions on Caleb and Mike’s face. The color in Caleb's face was almost non-existent and Mike’s eyes were widened with shock.

“Gosh, I haven’t seem Lyem in forever.” Caleb said. Then I remembered all the times Caleb used to come to my house and Lyem would always make it fun.

“Kati, I’m so sorry. I can tell that you did not take the news very well...” Mike said sympathetically.

I heard a knock on the door and it made me jump-I was really jumpy tonight. Caleb got up and walked over to the door to welcome our guests while Mike was brushing the hair out of my face, gently rubbing up and down my arm. I looked up at Mike, though my head was laying on his lap, my vision of him was upside down. “I love you,  you know that?” I teased.

“I know that.” Mike we both smiled and looked up to see two men standing there. It was Lyem and my Dad. I started to sit up slowly so I wouldn’t faint again.

Lyem was handsome- Beyond handsome, actually. His brown hair was shaggy and hung in his eyes, it was a lot longer than before. I saw that his eyes were darker, meaning he was probably worried about Mom.

“Dear God! What on earth happened to you during the past 15 minutes when you hung up?” Dad asked, sitting down beside me as Lyem eyes me curiously.

“I fainted, I think. After the news Lyem supplied me with.. I guess this was the way I handled it.” I missed my Dad, I haven’t seen him for a couple months. His dark hair was peppered with streaks of gray. and I noticed he still had those silly little laugh lines. He embraced me with a warm hug which I always loved getting. I looked up and saw Lyem walking towards me, and Mike got up so he could sit beside me.

“Its good to see you again, Kitty.” Lyem smiled, showing his dimples which I loved when I got to see them. I missed the nickname he gave to me. I haven’t heard it in 2 years. He was usually a very serious type of guy- but when I was around him, I managed to get a couple laughs out of him.

“Not under these circumstances.” I informed him.

“Yes, not under these circumstances.” Lyem repeated.

“I missed you- I missed both of you.” I admitted.

“We both missed you as well, Katrina.” Dad says.

“Oh-” I said looking up and realizing I haven’t introduced Lyem and Dad to Mike. “-Dad, Lyem, this is Mike.. My boyfriend.” I smiled at how easily ‘boyfriend’ came out.

Dad smiled and got up to shake Mikes and and sat back down, “Hello Mike. I see you’re taking good care of my daughter.”

“Of course, sir.” Mike said truthfully.

“Hi Mike.” Lyem said in a friendly tone which surprised me. The first time he met Caleb he showed no interest, and didn’t like him very much until he actually got to know him.

“Hi Lyem.” Mike greeted back at him.

“Alright, well I think that we should be getting to the hospital.” Dad said, his eyes feeling sorrow and pain.

“Can Mike and Caleb come?” I asked, hoping that with them there would help my anxiety.

“Only immediate family should be going.” Dad said trying not to sound too rude about it.

“That’s alright Mr. Evans, Mike and I can wait while you guys visit.” Caleb says innocently.

Mike nodded, indicating that he agreed with Caleb.

“Alright then, lets not waste anymore time. Katrina you can ride with Lyem, I know you two have a lot of catching up to do.” He announced, walking to the door.

“Sounds good.” I said, grabbing my jacket from the closet closest to the door. I turned around and intertwined my fingers with Mike’s. “I’ll be back soon.” I smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

“I hope so. I’ll wait here with Caleb. Go see your mother, then come back to me.” He replied, kissing my lips and removing his hand from mine. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I hopped into the passengers seat. Lyem started to start the car, and let it warm up a bit as he exhaled warm breath on his hands. Shortly after, I did the same thing.

“Mikes a pretty good guy, I’m guessing? He seems alright, very respectful.” Lyem observed.

“Hes beyond wonderful.” I added.

“He ought to be to be dating my sister.” Lyem’s eyes were focused on the roads, but at the same time he was focused on me.

I didn’t know what to say to him, so we sat in silence.

“You know its alright to ask how my life is.” I said, breaking the silence about 10 minutes later.

He winced when I said that, I guess he wasn’t too sure if he should or not, “Its just been awhile, you know? Just give me some time. I’m not used to having my little sister around.” He said and he messed my hair up with his right hand while his other was on the steering wheel.

“I hate it when you do that.” I giggled, so it didn’t sound all that convincing.

Lyem just chuckled.

“Hey, have you talked to Landon lately?” I asked him.

“Yeah. We told him what happened, but he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea that he should go.” Lyem informed me. There was something in his voice that ceased to persuade me. I had a feeling that Mom didn’t just have a heart attack- nothing more serious.

“Ly, what aren’t you telling me?” I asked impatiently.

He sighed, it looked like he was gathering up all his thoughts. “We don’t think she will make it. When we spoke to the doctors over the phone, he told us her chances of pulling through this would take a miracle.” He looked over to me, with pain in his eyes then back onto the road. “So after the conversation with the doctor, we tried to find you’re number. Dad wanted us all to say goodbye to Mom, just in case she does...” His voice trailed off, and I could see that tears were forming.

“Die.” I finished it off for him, I didn’t particularly like the word either.

Lyem pulled over into the emergency parking lot and I was surprised how fast we got here. I got out my cellphone so I could call Mike, to tell him we arrived safely.

It rang three times before Mike finally picked up, “Hello?”

“Mike, its Katrina.”

“Hey Kati! Did you get there okay?” He asked, I could hear the voice of Caleb in the background but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“Yeah we did. How are hings going over there?”

“Caleb and I are just waiting for you to come back.”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“I understand.” Mike said, and there was something in his voice that triggered me to believe he understood.

Lyem looked behind him and saw that Dad’s car was finding a place to park.

“Hey, I gotta go. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done visiting.” I sure hoped it was just visiting, and nothing more serious.

“Goodbye beautiful.” Mike said, I could hear a hint of flirt in his voice.

I giggled, “I love you.” I said, the hung up.

I unlocked the passenger door and headed out to meet Dad.

“You ready?” Dad said, taking my hand and squeezed it lightly.

“Yes.” I looked over at Lyem and said, “What about you?”

He nodded, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

We walked into the hospital. it smelt of mostly bleach but the faint sent of blood hung in the air. I looked at the people and they just looked sad. Hospitals weren’t a good place, because you know someone in them won’t make it. Someone dies, and another is born.

Lyem and I waited while Dad checked with the front desk to see which room Mom was in. A few comments were exchanged and Dad came back.

“Shes on the 4th floor, room 1034.” Dad said, and we all started making our way to the elevators.

The elevator was crowded with a whole bunch of people, but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Once we were at the 4th floor, I left the elevator first then Lyem and Dad followed. I walked down the hallway. The halls were wide enough you could fit an elephant, they were white with paintings from children on them. We reached 1034 and froze at the doorway where I saw my mother laying on the bed with a whole bunch of machines hooked up to her. I felt the blood drain from my face while I saw that the machines were the ones keeping her alive.

“Its alright.” Lyem placed one hand softly on my shoulder.

“No its not- shes on life support!” I exclaimed in frustration.

Just then the doctor that was helping Mom came to the doorway. He was probably just checking up on her. “Evans family?” He asked.

“Yes.” Dad answered.

“May I have a moment of you’re time Mr. Evans? Its regarded you’re wife, Marsala.” The doctor said. His skin tone was pale-  like he hardly got any sun. His eyes were almost black that looked intimidating.

“What was your name, Doctor?” I asked him.

He looked at me and smiled, “Dr. Coleman. And yours?” He said in a friendly tone.

“Katrina Evans.” I said with a fond smile.

He held his hand out and I shook it, “Nice to meet you Katrina.” He looked from me to my Dad and said, “Come with me Mr. Evans.”

I watched them leave and looked back at Lyem who was quietly looking over at Mom, “You can go in you know, I don’t think she’ll bite.” He told me, trying to make a joke out of it.

I looked over at Lyem with sincere eyes and said,  “I’m scared.” Then looked back over at Mom. Tears were forming and I didn’t want Lyem to see them.

Lyem’s hand didn’t move from my shoulder, so I reached my hand across my chest so my left hand was resting on his hand, “Me too, Kitty.” Was all he said.

Reviews

[PrincessZeldaWannabe]

Getting more interesting - but I wonder why Katrina did move out of her father's house to live with Caleb and jeez, if my mom left my dad for another man, I wouldn't want to talk to her or see to be honest.

[P.M. Lenski]

ohhhhh my god. thats so sad what happened to katrinas mommy! D: dude. this is great.

[rae52]

great i love it