We find ourselves in the hospital once again. Our parents talk about us about 10 feet away, I can tell they're angry. But Laylah is getting tests, and her parents aren't here. That's our main focus right now; making sure Laylah is going to be okay. 

"Mason," I whisper.

"What?" Sofia whispers leaning over to hear what I'm saying.

"Mason is probably awake," I whisper. "If I can get hold of him, he can get his parents."

"Your mom took your phone though," Allison says.

I take a deep breath and walk to our parents. "Mom," I say as I tap her shoulder. She turns and glares at me. You got this. "I think I have a way to get hold of Laylah's parents. If I can just call Mason I can get his parents to come."

She sighs. "One phone call," She digs out my phone. "Get in contact with him, then give this back." She hands me my phone and I walk back over to where Sofia and Allison are sitting. 

I type in Mason's number and the phone starts ringing. It rings 5 times and I start to lose hope and then 

"Hello?" Mason says on the other line. 

I almost scream with excitement. "Hi, Mason, it's Evie, it's important."

"I should hope so, since you're calling me at 5:20am." He says sounding tired. "Why are you still up?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Deep breath. "It's about Laylah."

"What about her?" He doesn't sound tired anymore.

"Please don't be mad at me," I say. "We snuck out of the house and took her with us, long story short, we got put in jail for mistakenly being high and she collapsed. We're at the hospital now, and we can't get in contact with your parents to get them over here. I'm worried about her."

"God, Evie, why would you do that?!?" He yells. "God. Oh my God, Evie."

I hear the phone get tossed. "Mason?" No response. 

I hang up the phone and give it back to my mom. She grabs my wrist and pulls me close to her face. "You're lucky I was already here."

I pull away and go back with the girls. "We really messed things up," I say putting my face in my hands.

30 minutes later Laylah's parents are in the waiting room with us, waiting to hear if Laylah is okay. I go down to the cafeteria to get some coffee. 

"You really know your way around hospitals," Mason says coming up behind me.

I smile slightly. "Really only this one." I get some coffee and look up at him. "I'm sorry Mason."

He looks at me a bit confused.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, you couldn't have predicted it was going to happen," He says. I can't look him in the eye. "Come here." He extends his arms and I hug him.

"You just seemed so mad over the phone which made me feel way worse," I admit.

"No," He says. "I wasn't mad at you, I was just," He sighs. "Frustrated. With the whole cancer thing in general."

"Oh," I say.

He presses me closer to him. "My mom didn't tell any of you this, she barely told me," He says. "But the doctor told us Laylah is not okay." I tense up. "He said we need to start saying goodbye but acting like it's just another day for her, because she doesn't know."

"So we need to get back upstairs?" I ask.

"Yeah," He holds me tight, and doesn't let me go yet. "I'm sure it's just an exaggeration and that she'll live until at least tomorrow, probably the next day. We shouldn't rush."

I smile against his chest. I breathe in his scent, trying to memorize every little detail about it that I just can't put into words. 

"Let's go up," I say pulling away from him. 

We take the stairs instead of the elevator, laugh at some jokes to lighten the mood. "So how are things at home?" Mason asks. The laughing stops. My smile fades, just a little. 

"It's okay, I guess," I say.

"You know you can always call me in the middle of the night if you're having any problems right?" He asks. "I'll come right over."

I smile. "Thank you, so much."

There's a moment of silence. Like he's waiting for me to say more. 

"This is actually the first time I've seen my mom in at least a week."

He gives me a shocked look. "What? For real?" He asks. I nod my head. "That's insane. That's child abuse!"

I flinch. "I mean, I'm graduating this year, so it'll be okay." I weakly smile, to try to show him I'm alright. 

He gives me a look. I can't tell what he's thinking. But it's a look. "Evie," He says. "You've been through so much shit recently and in the past, I don't want you to hurt yourself. This is your last school year. You will be okay. And if you happen to start relapsing please tell me."

I look at him, tears starting to fill my eyes because I don't think I can. "I will." I lie. I don't think I can put him through that.

We finally reach the floor Laylah is on. Everyone we know is in the waiting area hugging each other and crying.

"What's going on?" I ask Sofia.

Tears are streaming down her face, she shakes her head and hugs me. "L-Laylah has," She sobs into my shoulder. Takes a shaky deep breath.

"She passed away," My mom says walking up to me. She pulls me away from Sofia. Digs her nails into my wrist as she pulls me into an empty room. As we're walking away I turn around and look for Mason. Mason. I need Mason. He can help me. But when I find him, he's occupied with dealing with the death of his sister. It makes sense. It's his sister. 

"Do you realize how much pain I'm in?" My mom asks me. I shake my head. "I'm in a bunch of pain honey. And do you know how much of that pain is because of you?" I shake my head again. "Most of it. Almost all of it. You cause me so much pain, Evelyn. And today is no exception. You killed your friend. It is all your fault. If you and your little friends didn't decide to sneak out, she wouldn't have died tonight! I hope your happy. I wish you were never born, this would've never happened. Your brother and father would probably still be alive too! You mess everything up. You are a terrible daughter, Evelyn! I hope you're happy with how much you ruin everyone's life."

She leaves the room. Probably to go to her own room. She basically lives at the hospital. Not as a nurse or doctor, but as a patient. When she's not at the hospital, she's either at work (Hair Salon) or at a bar getting drunk. Most nights, she comes back to the hospital, but some nights she comes home super drunk and I usually have to take care of her. I'd rather just not even see her at all.

I walk back to the waiting room and most of everyone is gone by now. The only people I know that are still here are Laylah's family. I don't know how I'm getting home tonight. I'll probably just walk. I don't want to be a burden on anybody else.

I take the stairs out of the hospital but stop right before going down the second flight of steps. I just stare down as tears fill my eyes. The pain sets in. The depression. The anger. The thought of how easy it could be to just relapse when I get home. 

But Mason busts through the stairwell doors and stands next to me. "This didn't actually happen," I say.

"I know," He says. 

I sit down on the step, he sits next to me. "I don't know how to cry. I don't feel cry-y yet. I should feel cry-y."

"Sad?" He asks trying to depict my weird way of saying things.

"Yeah, I don't feel sad yet. I should feel sad. I feel it starting to set it. But..." My voice trails off. Maybe I'm so used to feeling numb that I don't know how to feel any other feeling.

"Where'd your mom go?" He asks.

I shrug. "She doesn't care about me," I say. I gasp right after I say it. I've never actually said it out loud, even if it's true. No one knows what goes on, what she tells me. 

"That's not true," He says.

I stare at him. I take a deep breath, about to actually open up for once in my life. "If she did she would be here right now. She would be driving me home and making sure I'm doing alright because my best friend just died. She wouldn't be who knows where doing who knows what at," I check the time. "8am."

I look into his eyes. They're more filled with tears than mine are. "I'm so sorry, Evie," He hugs me. 

"You shouldn't be the one comforting me. I need to comfort you, you just lost a sister." I say.

"I'll be okay," he says. "This too will pass. But what you're dealing with won't pass as easily."

"Thank you," I whisper as tears start to drip down my face. 

He presses my face into his chest. And I actually feel safe, a feeling I haven't felt in so long. I try to remember this feeling. Save it. Lock it in my memories to remember for many more years. Maybe this will pass. Maybe I'll make it through and maybe everything will turn out alright. But for right now, all I need is Mason hugging me and making me feel safe. Because this is a rare feeling for me. I need to remember how this feels like. Thank you, Mason.