My eyelids grew heavy after 11 and I fell asleep on the coach. I must have been out for a while, because when my phone rang it was well after midnight. ‘Now who could be calling me this late?’ I thought to myself.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hi, is this Noah Parker?” her voice cracked when she said my name, it was Mrs. Benders, Chase’s mom. ‘Why is she calling me,’ I thought.

“Uh, yeah,” I said groggily.

“I’m so sorry to say this but, Chase was in a fatal car accid-” her cries drowned out the end of the sentence. I didn’t want to hear the rest of it, I already knew what she was going to say.

“Can I come over?” I managed to say.

“Noah, sweetie,” she sniffled “Why don’t I go over there? It’s not safe for you to be driving this late at night.”
I agreed and hung up the phone. I let it slip out of my hand. My face frozen with aches and pain. My heart throbbed as it beat against my chest. ‘He was here today. How am I supposed to believe he’s…dead?’ There was a knock at the door and I let Mrs. Benders in. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. I held the tears back as she ran her fingers through my hair. I pulled away slowly, feeling a huge lump in my throat.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed, I couldn’t bear to speak.

“Oh honey, it’s not your fault,” she tried to smile “He was just caught at a bad time.”

I sat down on the sofa and she sat next to me. The controller that Chase used was still there.

“Where’s your mom?” she asked.

“Gone,” was all I could say.

“Oh,” she said. “Mr. Bender’s will be here shortly, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s fine,” I said, refusing to cry. I couldn’t cry, not now, I could handle it.

She pulled me close to her again and held me. I didn’t resist, but let her pull me in close, so I felt safe. I closed my eyes trying to remember all the memories Chase and I had. Too many, but not enough. She separated her face a few inches from mine. “Noah, I’ll be here if you ever need anything.” Sometimes I thought she made a better mom than my mom. I know that’s mean but my mom acted as if I was a waste of space. It’s not my fault I was born. It’s not my fault she decided to get laid then become pregnant with my dad.

Mr. Benders arrived soon after, but said something about getting home and Mrs. Benders went with him. Before she left she kissed my forehead. “Anything, Noah, anything.”