Categories > Celebrities > Good Charlotte > Thicker than Blood.
"FUCK YOU ALL!!"
Those were my last words to the manager at Mojo Jojo's coffee house. Clutching my paycheck in my left hand, I paced up the sidewalk towards Kerri's apartment building. Freedom, I thought as I untied my apron and threw it into a gutter. It still had coffee stirrirs in the pocket, and they flew out on the sidewalk. I barely noticed.
Skipping steps here and there, I went up to the upper floors of the complex, narrrowly missing an old ginger-colored cat. Arriving in front of apartment number one-twenty-one A, I rang the doorbell.
A tall, heavyset guy wearing horn-rimmed glasses and clutching a newspaper answered the door. "Come on in," he muttered in his deep, southern-accent-tainted voice. Kerri was watering her daisies in the windowsill.
"I saw you a few minutes ago. Did the elevator break down or something?"
I shrugged. "Stairs never killed anyone."
She rolled her eyes as she walked over to the sink and stated matter-of-factly, "Go shopping for that giant walking encyclopedia"- she gestured towards Will , who merely smiled- "and see if you and those damn stairs are the best of chums."
Pulling out a chair, I got my cell phone out and began to play Snake. Suddenly, it began to ring. I opened and closed it, then answered. "Hello?"
"Yes, may I speak to a miss Ansley Madden?"
I swallowed. "This is she."
"I'm sorry to inform you that Lily Madden, a relative we assume, has been in an automobile accident. We're transferring her to Hopkin's as we speak--"
Scared, I hung up, jumped out of my chair, and announced, shaky voiced: "Guys, Grandma's been in an accident-- I gotta go!"
"Wait!" Kerri put her watering pail down. "I'll go with you."
"I'm sorry, we can't let you--"
"NO! Let me see my grandma!"
I could barely hear anything over my sobs. Two nurses held me back, preventing me from going further into the wing. Kerri was standing a few feet away, leaning against a wall and staring at the floor tiles. A few minutes after I gave up and sat down on the floor, an important-looking black man came forward.
"Miss Madden?"
I nodded.
"I'm going to have to ask you to remain seated..."
On the ride home, all I could do was think.
Grandma was my last family, besides my aunt and four cousins in Maryland. Now she was gone... and I was almost alone.
"You'll always have me and Will, An," Kerri reasurred me. "You can move in with us; would you want to?" Since I was on my last paycheck, and in need of having someone around, I had almost no choice but to accept. Nearly out of idleness, I dialed my Aunt Robin's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Robbie."
"Oh, hello, dear! How are you and mom?"
There was an awkward silence,then I explained to her-- the taxi driver had stopped in the middle of a four-way, and a pickup hit the taxi in the side; somehow, something happened, causing Grandma to bleed to death. I didn't hear the details.
I heard her try to cover the reciever and tell someone, though I didn't know who. She returned a few seconds later, and asked, "Do you want the boys to come up?"
I felt my chest lighten a little. "Paul, too?"
"And Billy? Of course."
"That would..." I had to swallow; there was a lump in my throat. "That would be wonderful."
Those were my last words to the manager at Mojo Jojo's coffee house. Clutching my paycheck in my left hand, I paced up the sidewalk towards Kerri's apartment building. Freedom, I thought as I untied my apron and threw it into a gutter. It still had coffee stirrirs in the pocket, and they flew out on the sidewalk. I barely noticed.
Skipping steps here and there, I went up to the upper floors of the complex, narrrowly missing an old ginger-colored cat. Arriving in front of apartment number one-twenty-one A, I rang the doorbell.
A tall, heavyset guy wearing horn-rimmed glasses and clutching a newspaper answered the door. "Come on in," he muttered in his deep, southern-accent-tainted voice. Kerri was watering her daisies in the windowsill.
"I saw you a few minutes ago. Did the elevator break down or something?"
I shrugged. "Stairs never killed anyone."
She rolled her eyes as she walked over to the sink and stated matter-of-factly, "Go shopping for that giant walking encyclopedia"- she gestured towards Will , who merely smiled- "and see if you and those damn stairs are the best of chums."
Pulling out a chair, I got my cell phone out and began to play Snake. Suddenly, it began to ring. I opened and closed it, then answered. "Hello?"
"Yes, may I speak to a miss Ansley Madden?"
I swallowed. "This is she."
"I'm sorry to inform you that Lily Madden, a relative we assume, has been in an automobile accident. We're transferring her to Hopkin's as we speak--"
Scared, I hung up, jumped out of my chair, and announced, shaky voiced: "Guys, Grandma's been in an accident-- I gotta go!"
"Wait!" Kerri put her watering pail down. "I'll go with you."
"I'm sorry, we can't let you--"
"NO! Let me see my grandma!"
I could barely hear anything over my sobs. Two nurses held me back, preventing me from going further into the wing. Kerri was standing a few feet away, leaning against a wall and staring at the floor tiles. A few minutes after I gave up and sat down on the floor, an important-looking black man came forward.
"Miss Madden?"
I nodded.
"I'm going to have to ask you to remain seated..."
On the ride home, all I could do was think.
Grandma was my last family, besides my aunt and four cousins in Maryland. Now she was gone... and I was almost alone.
"You'll always have me and Will, An," Kerri reasurred me. "You can move in with us; would you want to?" Since I was on my last paycheck, and in need of having someone around, I had almost no choice but to accept. Nearly out of idleness, I dialed my Aunt Robin's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Robbie."
"Oh, hello, dear! How are you and mom?"
There was an awkward silence,then I explained to her-- the taxi driver had stopped in the middle of a four-way, and a pickup hit the taxi in the side; somehow, something happened, causing Grandma to bleed to death. I didn't hear the details.
I heard her try to cover the reciever and tell someone, though I didn't know who. She returned a few seconds later, and asked, "Do you want the boys to come up?"
I felt my chest lighten a little. "Paul, too?"
"And Billy? Of course."
"That would..." I had to swallow; there was a lump in my throat. "That would be wonderful."
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