The Home Team

Chapter 1

Becca

It has been five months. That’s how long it has been since the accident. Five months since, my entire world seemed to crumble around me right there in the middle of that road. Five months since, both my parents were killed in a drunk driving accident as they were coming home from the town's fourth of July festival.

Every year our small town of Rosewood puts on a large festival on the fourth of July in the town square. It is a family event full of games for the kids and music and food. While all the families are at the festival, many of the teenagers head to the spot by the lake for the day and party until night, when the town sets off fireworks and we all watch them from across the lake. It was supposed to be a fun-filled night that everyone looked forward to and at one time, I did too, but not anymore.

But not since that man decided to get behind the wheel and drive when he was clearly intoxicated and crashed his car into my parents. The police had said that he was also speeding when he crossed the middle lane as he went around the curve and that was why my parent's car had been so badly mangled around the tree in the ditch.

For the past five months I have been in a fog that just refuses to lift off of me. And maybe I don’t want it to lift in all reality. I feel numb most of the time, just going through the motions, completely void of all emotions to everything that surrounds me every day.

The town had come together to stand behind me through their burial and the court proceedings that followed. Oh, yeah that’s the best part, the man that caused the accident and killed my parents, he f*cking lived. I could not believe it at first, but he did. The universe sure does have a sick sense of humor sometimes. So, while both my parents had been taken from me in one night, that man walked away with only a couple of minor scraps and bruises. Anger was the only feeling that could outweigh the numbness then. I don't think I have ever hated a person before, but that man, I hated him with everything that was inside of me.

*Knock, knock, knock*

“I know your home, Becca. I can hear the TV going and your car is in the driveway, so just open the door, will you? Please?” The voice of my best friend calls out to me from the other side of the front door as I stare mindlessly at the TV, not even paying attention to what was even playing on it. “I am not going away this time Becca.” She calls out again. Mandy comes by every other day and tries to get me to open the door, but I just haven’t. And when she doesn’t come by, she literally texts me continuously even though I haven’t responded to any of her messages either.

Sighing in defeat, I rose from the couch, I threw the flannel blanket over the back of the couch, and I went to open the door. Something told me that she meant what she said this time and that simply ignoring her today was not going to work anymore.

“Christ Becca, you look like sh*t.” Mandy says, her eyes holding sympathy as she took in my appearance. I hadn’t seen her since the trial, so my state was unknown to everyone I was close to since then. I knew I was a lot thinner than I had been before the accident. Grief has a way of killing your appetite so much that even your favorite food tastes like ash in your mouth.

After the trial was over, I had locked myself inside the house and didn't leave. Not the best way to handle the situation, I know, but I just was not ready to face the world. The looks of pity, just like the one I am getting right now from my best friend from the rest of the town folks. I just could not handle it. So, once school started, I got the school to allow me to take the last few courses I needed to graduate online. I have any necessary supplies dropped off by delivery services when I need to, so there was never any need for me to venture outside the house most days. On the rare occasion I did go outside, it was only to the backyard and even that was hard. My mother's garden always seemed to bring on the tears and I would just sit on the back porch and cry. Eventually I stopped going out there as well.

“Thanks, it’s nice to see you too.” I said, my statement coming off as a bit sarcastic, but Mandy did not pay it any comment. I shut the door behind her once she was inside the house. Once I turned around, I was wrapped in her arms as she squeezed me tightly, and surprisingly, I returned her hug. I did not even realize just how much I needed that until now. It felt as if part of the veil that had been covering me had lifted ever so slightly and a breath of fresh air had rushed underneath it and hit me directly in the face.

“I missed you bestie.” Mandy says as she pulls away, wiping a few drops of moisture from her cheeks that had escaped.

“I missed you too.” I said with a small smile. I meant it to, I really had missed her. Hell, I missed all my friends and just had not realized how much so until that moment.

She moves to the couch in the living room and sets a white bag down on the coffee table that I had not noticed when I first opened the door. She reached in and pulled two styrofoam plates from the bag. “Well come on, I bring gifts.” She says her smile is contagious as she hands me one of the containers. The smell of the food hits me then and my mouth waters surprisingly as I open the top of the plate. Beef Lo Main. One of my favorites.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes as I searched for the right words to finally apologize to my best friend for shutting her out for so long. “Mandy, I am sorry for shutting you and everyone else out.” I said, sitting the food down on the coffee table. "I was just so numb that all I wanted to do was be alone in my greif. I realize now that I should not have shut you guys out for so long."

“You were hurting, so it was understandable. We all just wish that you would have let us in, instead of shutting down and not talking to any of us. We are here for you Becca. We always have been and always will be. And if and when you are ready to talk about it all, we will be here to listen.” She says and I give her a nod.

I really am grateful to have such understanding friends around me. “So, how are you and Travis doing?” I asked her, changing the subject to anything that was about me or what had happened. I wasn’t ready to talk about my grief just yet, so distracting myself with my best friend’s love life was the next best thing. And from the look on her face, she knew exactly what I was doing too, but she didn’t call me out on it.

“So far everything has been perfect.” She says, wiggling her eyebrows at me, causing me to giggle a little. It had been so long since I heard it that it sounded so strange to my own ears. Mandy was a wild card. She was always up to something that would land her in some kind of trouble and this time trouble came with the name Travis. “He really knows how to treat a girl right. If you know what I mean,” She added with a wink.

“No, I don’t actually,” I said and she laughed as I shook my head at her meaning.

“We really need to do something about that, you know.” She says with another wink before her eyes light up and she turns to face me. Oh no, this is not going to be good. Whenever she gets this look on her face, it never ends well. It means there will be some kind of trouble. "Let’s go into the city for New Years. We can take the rest of the girls and just let loose and have some fun.” She says, elbowing me just a bit.

I shook my head. “No, no Mandy, that is a bad idea,” I said.

“Oh, come on please.” She says, interlacing her hands in front of her chest and giving me puppy dog eyes. “It would be perfect. No one knows us there and we haven’t used our Fake IDs to get into Inferno in so long. It is perfect. We can even stay at Emma’s apartment afterward. Everyone would be so happy to see you. And we can celebrate while we are at it.” She says.

“Celebrate what?” I asked.

“You silly. You graduate early and even though you will walk with the rest of us later, you still deserve to celebrate beforehand. You have worked too hard for this and you need to unwind and have some fun.” She says, grasping my hands in hers. “They would want you to.”

My heat pinched at her words. Deep down I knew she was right. My parents would not want me to continue to drown in my own self-pity at losing them. They would want me to be happy and to move on with my life, but I wasn’t sure I even knew how to be happy anymore. Looking over at my best friend, I can see hope and excitement in her eyes as she waits to hear my answer. Was I ready? Probably not, but I knew now that I could no longer hide out in my childhood home and just let the world continue to pass me by.

“Okay” I said and Mandy screamed in excitement as she flung her arms around me happily.

Well, here goes nothing.