Ch. 5 Bruised

I get more nervous

and I start shaking

as I get closer and closer

to the front of the line.

Will tries to get me

close to the front

so I can get it over with,

but I would rather

just not do it

at all.

There are only two people

between me

and the family.

I try escaping

to the back of the line

but Will grabs my shoulders and keeps me in place.

"You can do this,"

he whispers to me.

"They know it wasn't your fault.

It wasn't your fault."

I don't answer.

I see her parents first.

Their eyes are red and so are their noses.

Her dad has shadows under his eyes,

dark like bruises.

Her mom has eyeliner smudging

under her eyes,

like bruises too.

She asks me if I'm okay.

But her voice is flat

and I know she doesn't mean it.

She's just trying to be nice.

When she looks at me

I feel scared

because I know what she's thinking.

This is the girl

that killed my daughter.

I try to ignore it

and I tell them,

in a whisper,

because that's as loud as I can speak,

"I'm sorry."

Her mom starts sobbing again.

She pulls me in close.

I don't hug her back.

But she doesn't notice.

"Oh darling,"

she says a lot.

"At least you're all right."

It's too hard

for me to tell

if she means it.

But I can't imagine

that she does.

She squeezes me

one last time

then she lets me go,

and I move over feeling worse than before.

Author's Note

Please let me know if there are any spelling or grammatical errors and leave comments below! Thanks for reading!
--theladygraceling