Mia waited on her pink couch in anticipation. On the table before her stood two large cartons of popcorn, an opened bag of chips, and a box with a large steaming hot pizza which was growing colder by the minute.

“She’s supposed to be here by now!”, Mia complained.

It had been over an hour now, and Sarah hadn’t arrived. This wasn’t the usual case of fashionably late. Mia picked up her phone and dialed her number.

“Hello.” Sarah’s dryly said on the other end.

“Where are you!?” Mia questioned, fuming. “I’m coming over right now!”

Her temper made her jabber.

“I’m at the hospital”, Sarah replied, putting an abrupt stop to Mia’s small tantrum; Mia felt a tinge of guilt over her overreaction.

“Hospital!? I’m- I’m so sorry.” Mia’s tone suddenly changed to concern and worry. “What happened?”

“I was involved in an accident, I think? Something collided with the hood of our car on my way to your house. I think- I think I know-”, Sarah replied with a dulled reaction, still in shock.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Mia’s worry increased. Her cozy mood was ruined, and she kicked off her bunny slippers, which collided with the wall with a thud.

"I’m fine... I think? Someone got me out of the car- I hit my head trying to get out of the car- I had a slight headache. He gave me a bag of ice. It’ll probably mean a few bruises...", Sarah tried to calm Mia on the other end of the phone.

"Why are you there then?", She asked.

"Look, Mia. There was a body- we took him to the hospital. I’m not sure if he was dead. I-I think I recognized him.", Sarah replied.

“I’ll be right there!” Mia declared as she stuffed the phone into a pocket, scrambled for her car keys, then dashed outside her apartment without locking it.

As soon as her feet touched down outside on the rough warm concrete floor, she felt a strange sensation - shoes! She'd forgotten to wear them in the rush. She ran back inside, jumped into one boot, and shuffled towards her car. She put on the second boot. She missed the keyhole a few times - click. She flung open the car door and threw herself into the driver's seat.

“Sarah, I’m on the way there, right now! Hello, are you there?”

Steadying her hand, she stabbed the car keys into the ignition. 'Why did the call drop? Is she okay?' Mia's thoughts went frantic.

"Wait! Which hospital? Stupid! Stupid!" Mia said, hitting her head in disbelief.

Mia tried to calm herself and dialed Sarah once more. A busy signal followed by a sign to leave a voicemail popped up. Mia took a deep breath. Her words flowed rapidly.

“Sarah, what hospital are you at now!? I’ll try to go to the closest hospital! I’m on my way!” Mia said as she pulled out of the driveway with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the phone to her ear.

**************

Officer Scott came down from his newly issued police car onto the scene. A car with a dented hood filled with blood and glass bits scattered around the foot of a building close by. He just got promoted from probationary police officer to regular officer, and they still assigned even yet minor cases to him. He met other police officers on the scene. He nodded quietly to them and ducked under the yellow line. He approached forensics on the scene.

"Give me the rundown" He enjoyed the sound of it as he brought out a yellow legal pad.

"Attempted suicide. Luckily he survived, but he's probably in the ICU." "Jumped through the window of this building right here." He said gesturing to the building on the right with glass shards at its base.

"From the last floor but by a stroke of luck this Uber car happened to pass by and break his fall or he'd be squashed on the concrete like tomato paste." The forensic said.

"He's one lucky ass bastard," Scott replied.

"Yeah, turns out they fired him a few minutes before his attempt"

"So he lost his job and went yeetus deletus," Scott said thoughtfully.

"Sounds about right," The forensic officer said with a smile.

"Has he been IDed yet?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, he's been Identified as an honors student in computer science of our very own prestigious university, high GPA too," The forensics replied

"The brainy ones tend to have demons inside,", he said, jotting down all the relevant points. "And we still have to go through the trouble of investigating whether this wasn't some kind of attempted homicide," Scott complained.

"Even when it's a suicide," The forensic chimed in.

"Frustrating, but protocol is protocol" Officer Scott sighed. "Have a nice day." He said walking back to the car.

"You too officer" the forensic replied.

He got to his car, smiling. "Officer has a nice ring to it."

**************

Mia parked as her thought barely allowed her to focus on driving. She got out of the car hastily and ran through the hospital doors to the counter.

"There was an incident, maybe just an hour now, maybe she was brought here, her name is Sarah Pike." Mia rambled in quick succession because of anxiety.

"Calm down." The nurse pacified. "Let me have a look, Sarah Pike…" She said turning the registry.

The tension and fear were built as she turned the pages.

'What if she's not here?'

Mia thought in horror.

"Yeah, Sarah Pike, she should be in the guest waiting room down the hall by your left."

"Is she okay?" Mia's heart palpitated.

"She should be, according to her info when she was brought in. She might be with someone there," the nurse said, trying to assure her.

"Thanks!" She flustered out and ran down the hall speedily and entered the room, her eyes darting around.

"Where is she? Where is she?" Mia said as her eyes scanned the entire room.

Finally, she noticed Sarah in a corner sitting in the waiting room trembling, her face was pale. She rushed over quickly to Sarah's side.

"Sarah, are you okay? Why didn't you pick up?"

"My phone died." She quietly replied, her eyes transfixed on the person on the bed.

Mia traced Sarah's line of sight and landed on the figure hooked up to life support being wheeled into the OR. Her eyes widened slowly due to realization as she got a better look at the person's face.

"Oh, my God! It's the quiet guy."

**************

"Another bottle!" He hollered at the bartender. Nothing made sense anymore. His life was in pieces. The tension at his workplace caused by threats of being laid off which was due to his neighbors reporting him to the authorities for beating Julia.

"Damned woman and that useless good-for-nothing kid!" He swore loudly.

The bottle was placed before him and opened; he quickly poured himself another glass. He looked horrible - bloodshot eyes and haggard-looking, not leaving out the fact that he reeked of booze.

He looked around. The ordered chaos, scattered lights of different colors made by unreasonably placed bulbs. It looked like his life - a big mess full of regret and broken dreams. A splitting headache assaulted him as he downed another glass, but he didn't care and poured himself yet another glass. His vision became misty, then he decided he's had enough. He got up and threw a wad of money at the bartender and began walking away.

The bartender already used to his behavior smiled and picked up the money but for the sake of legality asked: "Sir your change?"

"Keep it." He said - the expected answer and left the bar.

He staggered across the street, the blaring of car horns and people yelling and the bright lights were all drowned and distant like a substance inspired fever dream. A ringing erupted from the distance, eclipsing the barrier of alcohol, and resonated in his mind.

"Damn phone!!", he cursed and fished for it, his pocket became a deep endless sack, no matter how he reached in he could not find his phone.

His fingers caressed the edges of it, he pulled it out and the ringing intensified. He threw it onto the road with all the strength he could muster, cracking the phone on impact before spinning down further down the road where it became crushed by a passing car.

"Good riddance." He slurred and trudged along the gruesome path home.

Somehow he made it to his doorstep. He pushed down the door handle - locked. Annoyance and rage built up, he bashed the doorbell in and pounded the door as the bell rang - No response; it fueled his anger, and he pounded harder. If he could break down the door he would, but it was made of reinforced steel. Soon enough he got tired of hitting the door and silence ensued.

The door slowly opened before him, he knew it was Julia that opened the door, his hands shot upwards to hit her but froze in midair at what he saw. She was crying. She never cried anytime he hit her - not even once. Her eyes were puffy from the tears and the love buried by frustration and tears resurfaced.

"Why are you crying?" He barked, but quieter.

"The cops called, the New York police called." She sobbed.

"The hospital called. Our son.. may have..." She had difficulty speaking, as the tears streamed down her face.

"N-not another child." He whispered to himself, the beer bottle almost slipped from his grasp.

"He's still alive, but h-his body…" She stuttered after composing her thoughts.

"This is not happening!" the father cried and threw the beer bottle into the ground. "Not again!"

He dropped to his knees as if his anger and frustration could snap him out completely from his drunken state. His body trembled as the realization of another dead child sobered him up to pain. It couldn't be happening - not again. But the fact only sunk further, he Insulted and abused his son and neglected him when he needed someone he was never a good father. Hot tears rushed down and his head sunk low. He couldn't find it in himself to look Julia in the eye, knowing he had failed their son.

She pulled him up and embraced him.

"He's in the ICU." She said, "Doctors are not confident he will pull through."

“No. He will pull through. He has to pull through.” He went for the second bottle in his hand.

She stopped him "You can't drown your sorrows with a bottle forever."

His eyes locked onto hers, his pupils shaking.

"I… you're right," He said and emptied the contents down the drain.

She cried and embraced him more tightly as they shared tears.