Chapter
2
"Alright
sweetheart, are you going to be okay? I'm sorry I can't stay, but if I could
you know I would. It's just the-"
"The
job," concluded Mariah. "I know mom. It's okay. I'll be fine."
"Okay,
well, I'll call as often as I can. See you in a couple of weeks." said her
mother. She kissed Mariah on the head and left. Mariah sighed and started to
unpack, looking at everything carefully as if it was all she had in the world.
In a way it was, her old life. She felt so lonely.
Finally
she got to the duffel bag that she brought with her. She looked in and found at
the top was the picture of her parents and her.
'Dad,'
thought Mariah and started to cry. She thought back to all the things that they
had done together, the times when everything was happy and normal. She longed
for those days and would give just about anything to have it back. Mariah had
been much closer to her father than her mother. Her mother always worked. Her
father was a landscaper so he could stay home more often. Her mother was always
off to other places showing people houses.
Unfortunately,
one winter her father had a heart attack and died. That time Mariah was 7. Now,
all grown at the age of 20, she worked hard to be close to her mother. At times
that was a hard thing to do, but through determination, it was all worth it.
Mariah
wiped her tears and went on sorting through her things. She brought out her CD player
and popped in her favorite group, the Spice Girls. She felt that she could
relate to the Spice Girl's songs. Mariah lay on her bed and listened while
thinking about her life and all the hardships that she had to endure, and soon,
fell asleep.
* * *
"Code
blue, code blue!" someone called over the P.A. system. Mariah woke with a
start. She heard the commotion outside and wondered what it was all about.
A
nurse walked in and put her dinner on the table.
"Here
you go," said the nurse cheerfully. "Go on and eat up. It's roast
beef and mashed potatoes today."
Mariah
looked up and wondered how this nurse could be so cheerful, but then again,
nurses have to be. It's their job.
"Excuse
me, but what's going on outside?"
The
nurse looked up with pity in her eyes. "Oh it's so sad. He was doing so
well. I simply don't know what happened."
"What?"
asked Mariah.
"The
boy's name is Brian Littrell," replied the nurse. "He just had a
cardiac arrest. He's been in this hospital for 6 months practically. He was
gonna be released next week, but...I don't know." said the nurse with a
sigh. "It's so sad. Such a nice kid." The nurse shook her head and
walked away.
'Brian
Littrell?' thought Mariah. 'Isn't he part of-' and then it hit her. The
Backstreet Boys. They weren't too popular in the States yet, but they were
successful overseas. Mariah had been following them ever since they sang at her
school. It wasn't that she was obsessed, just interested, but she hadn't been
following them recently.
'Maybe they're not doing as well as I
thought.' Mariah sighed and began to eat her dinner.
***
