WHAT THE HEART WANTS

It was raining heavily, and it was also about 5am in the morning, but because of the rain,there were almost no cars on the road,one car though was racing down the road, speeding with no control,inside the car were four highschool students, Michael Lancaster, John Cassidy, Victor bliz and Derek Hoffman,they were just coming back from their graduation after party,and they were all flat out drunk, one of them was asleep at the back seat, one took the wheel and the other two were singing and drinking more, nothing got in their way,when the one driving finally noticed her,it was too late,they heard a loud thud.The car had run into a middle aged woman.the driver, immediately sober and his whole body shaking,got out to examine the accident and to alert the others.

Dahlia

When I got called out of the classroom to the principal's office,I knew something was wrong,and I was scared as shit,and I could just feel the bad news coming,but I didn't expect it to be this bad.In the car on my way to the hospital,I sort of closed my eyes and hoped to God that it wasn't true,and that it wasn't her, until she was shown to me,she laid on the hospital bed, completely lifeless,I tapped her a few times to make sure it wasn't all a prank.because she couldn't leave, we finally moved out of our drunk dad's place and got an apartment of our own,she told my sister and I that she would be there for us, so this seemed like a lie.I didn't know what to feel.I paced up and down the room,hands shaking.The nurse in charge had given me time to see her and say my final goodbyes....but I couldn't do that,not without my sister here,who was gonna take care of us? Who would hold Jenny every night and tell her all would be well? That and so many other questions flooded my brain,soon these questions turned into anger.It literally made no sense,she was fine this morning.She worked for one of her old friends in the other street at his restaurant,so she always went there super early to clean around and cook and she had been doing it for 5 months already...so what the fuck happened today?

I got up and went to meet the nurse,who directed me to the doctor's office,I knocked and walked in,she smiled at me as soon as she saw,I had no time to waste

"What exactly happened?"I asked and she tried to hold my hand,I didn't let her.

"I know you're hurting..."She started.

"But I'm not,I'm just really mad right now and I need to know what happened". I said firmly.She sighed.

"Car accident"My eyes stung.

"When did it happen? Did you even try to save her? Or did you just give up on her because you knew she had no money to give?what did you do with my mother? Why won't she talk to me?!" My voice had started rising, cracking a little bit too,my eyes had become watery and a single tear had dropped from one eye, I wiped it away.She got up and came to stand next to me.

"I'm sure you must feel miserable right now,but maybe just get your sister and other family members,and get your mum burried as soon as you can" She said and I shook my head.

"No, she's not a child,she has been going there for months,this is the driver's fault" I replied trying to hold back my tears by all means.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was,it was a hit and run,just get your family members and bury her,it will make you feel so much better" She replied and I scoffed.

"Family member? She's all we had, my sister and I and now you're telling me to let it go?" I asked and got up angrily,there was no time to waste, I couldn't let whoever hit her get away with it.

"Miss Dahlia....."The doctor sighed trying to calm me down.

"No,no one is getting buried until I get an explanation from the driver himself" I finished,bowed and ran out of the hospital. I got out my phone and called my friend Jason,his dad(the one my mum works for was the one who found her) I needed to ask them both questions,I needed answers so I could give Jenny answers too.

Michael Lancaster.

I woke up to a pounding headache,I groaned a little and sat up on the bed,I ran my hand through my hair in despair,just then it struck me,The accident!.I cursed under my breath and ran outside my room, just then my mum coming from the other side stopped me and pulled me back into my room.

"You should rest" she said firmly.I couldn't,I was so drunk the previous night I didn't even know how I drove that far,I guess I was sleeping on the wheel,and I was waken up when the accident happened,I was so shocked and shaken but my friends convinced me to drive away,now I regret it,what if we could have saved her?

"Mum,no,you don't understand,I made a terrible mistake last night" I replied shakily.My mum made me sit on the bed.

"We know everything,your dad and I,and even though we're so disappointed,we'll take care of everything." She replied and patted my head.

"No no no no no no" I replied removing her hand

"We have to go find her,and her family and compensate them, and take them to whatever hospital they want, mother"I said and got up and headed for the door.

"She died a few hours ago, there's no point" she said and I fell to the floor.

"No no no no no no no...." I repeated tears now falling from my eyes.

"What have I done? Mother,what have I done?" I asked in between tears. She got down and hugged me.

"You didn't do anything,you were drunk,and I refuse to let your life be jeopardized over one mistake,go back to the bed and rest up,you need strength to be able to face the rest of your life with pride"I pulled myself out of her embrace.

"How could you say that,mum?,I have committed a crime,I should be punished,this is wrong!"

"We're doing this for you,one day,you'll understand"She answered,got up and left the room,I tried to follow but she had locked the door from the outside. I fell back to the floor again.

"Fuck".

Dahlia

I took a taxi so I could get there quickly, the driver said something but I didn't hear him, I got out of the taxi and met Jason in front of the restaurant using a broom to scrub the floor, my eyes got cloudy.

"Is that....is that my mum's..." He dropped the broom and ran to hug me, I could feel the tears burning my eyes,I sniffed,I had to hold them back.Jason pulled out of the hug and looked at me,I could see pity in his eyes.

"Come" He said quietly and dragged me into the restaurant,he pulled a chair for me to seat on and went inside then he returned with a cup of tea.

"Are you okay?" He asked sitting in front of me. I didn't want sympathy,I wanted answers.

"What happened?"I asked,he tried to hold my hand,I shifted

"Drink a little bit, I bet you haven't even eaten today"

" I honestly do not have time for this, just tell me what happened"He sighed and looked away.

"I woke up earlier than dad today,cause he was feeling sick so he couldn't come over,When I got here she was on the floor......I saw no one,it was most likely an hit and run" He said tears staining his face. I wanted to cry too.

"And the police? Did the police come here?"

"Yeah,they asked me what I knew and I told them the same thing,they also asked to see if we had CCTV cameras and I told them we didn't,so they left." I couldn't stop it this time,I could feel the tears,I cleaned it off but it kept coming.

"So that's it? That's all? she's literally not moving and that's all you have to say? I need answers Jason answers! What the fuck am I supposed to tell my sister now? Where are we going to go?" I asked voice shaking,Jason got up and moved closer to hug me,I stepped away from him.

"Where are we going to go Jason?" I ask again trying to search for answers,he looks away. I close my eyes and more tears stream down my face, I ran my hand through my hair,my phone rang I looked at the caller ID,it was Jenny's teacher.I clean the tears off my face,it was probably time to go pick her,I shove the phone back into my pocket.

"Bring her here,you don't have to tell her now" Jason said noticing me,I shook my head and pulled out of his hug

"I can take care of my own shit" I replied and left the restaurant.

I decided to swallow my tears in front of Jenny,until I had clear answers,I needed to seem strong in front of her,so when her teacher pulled me aside to tell me she had heard about the accident,I put on a neutral face,so that if Jenny was looking,she wouldn't suspect a thing,I held her hand as we entered the bus,she kept telling me about her day and I was just trying to not burst into tears,so I held her hands tighter until we got home,our home that we moved to about a year ago when we finally left dad's place.He was abusive and they argued all the time,she decided to leave him when he hit me,pulled all the money she had and rented this place,and then she promised to take care of us,to care for us so much that we would not remember him anymore,and now she was gone,and I was left alone to take care of Jenny,my head ached,and my throat stung,I went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water.Jenny had gone to her room to change,I had received countless calls from the hospital already,I didn't want to go back.I absolutely could not go back.My phone rang again and I took it out to switch it off,it was jason,I answered.

"We found something, it's not a lot but you said you needed answers and maybe this would calm you down." He said as soon as the call connected.

Dahlia

I took Jenny and left for the restaurant again,the floor in front of the restaurant was scrubbed clean,like she wasn't literally on the floor before bleeding,I blinked away the tears that threatened to fall again and entered.He had found a plate number,they didn't find it earlier because the rain had swept it away,but then a neighbor saw it and pointed his attention to it.Jason had called the officers from before and they told us to come to the station with the evidence.I held it close to my chest, I was finally going to get answers,I turned to Jenny who was understandably confused,I crouched down to her level and hugged her,I was going to explain everything to her in due time.Jason closed the restaurant and then we proceeded to the police station but we dropped Jenny with Jason's dad first so she wouldn't be lonely.

When Jason and I got to the police station,two officers were already waiting for us outside,they directed us into an office and made us sit down.one of the officers was an old man probably in his sixties and the other one was significantly younger than him,they smiled at us,Jason smiled back,I didn't. The old guy spoke first.

"Can we see the evidence you claim you found?" He asked directly facing me,I had wrapped it in a bag and hugged it throughout,I gave it to him,he took a hard look at it,then passed it to his companion who also took a long look at it and then they dropped it on the table like it was nothing.

" I'm sorry guys but this isn't much of an evidence" The old guy kept talking. My heart sunk

" This could just be some random plate number,it doesn't exactly prove or do anything"

" What? That makes no sense at all,you could just trace the plate number and use it to find the car right?" Jason said getting upset.

"Yes, we could except that would take a lot of work,it could also take time and this might just end up being a random plate number all along,we need hard proof like a CCTV camera or something, this won't do anything" The old guy said again maintaining his upsetting smile. I ran my hand into my hair frustrated.

" That's bullshit" I said and Jason held on to my hand

" Woah,careful lady" The younger one said,I shot him the dirtiest look I could muster at the moment.

" Finding out what car this plate number belongs to is not something that's going to take you time, you're not doing an autopsy for fucks sake,so you would do this or we could just post it online and I'm sure there are thousands of people on there who would find the actual owner" I said without a beat.The old guy's smile dissapeared and he turned to his companion.

" Okay fine,we'll do everything we can,and get back to you as soon as possible" The younger one finally said after about a minute of silence

"You have at least one week, I have every number and alphabet on that plate number crammed,so you don't deliver and we go to the internet" I finish, and we leave.

Michael

I was still locked in my room,I had tried to open the door countlessly but no one answered,mum came from time to time to give me food but I didn't have an appetite,I needed to see john,derek and victor I needed to know their opinions,I needed to know I wasn't the only one feeling horrible,if only i didn't stay for the after party,if only I had gone home with Anna when she asked,I was a murderer and the feeling was horrible,I couldn't stop crying,I heard the sound of my room keys and I turned around.My dad walked in.I immediately wiped the tears away from my eyes and knelt down bowing my head,He folded his hands behind himself looking down at me.

"Pathetic" He muttered,and went to sit down.

"Your mum told me you haven't been eating and that you've being demanding to see the dead woman and her family,is this true?" He asked.

" I should be punished".I said in reply

" You're right,and you will be, by your family not by some random lady's family,not by the police but by your mother and I" I look up at him

"I deserve a punishment by the law"

" You stupid boy,you have caused your mother and I enough distress already and now this? Missing class sometimes, making fake IDs to go to clubs see all that I overlooked but this....this was the worst one yet,you are so lucky that your father is who he is,do you know what would have happened to you if you didn't have me?" He said harshly.I didn't say anything,I just let the tears flow quietly.

"You would have gone to jail,prison Mike and all your dreams of law school and owning the law firm would be gone,crushed before you could even blink,and now we're letting you off the hook, letting even this slide and you have the audacity to fight back? To demand anything? Do you know how hard it's getting to sweep this under the rug? They found evidence mike,they found evidence!" He shouted and I flinched, he got up,then he bent down and lifted up my face.

"You're a good kid Mike, Don't be stupid enough to throw your future away over a mistake" He finished and got up,then he started walking towards the door then stopped.

"They will keep your door open,you do whatever you want,just know I would rather have you die than ruin my reputation" He said before leaving I broke down into tears as he left, because I knew I was going to stay put and let them take care of it, because I knew I was going to shut up and stay in my room until it all blew over.

Dahlia

It had been 3 days since we dropped the plate number and we still heard nothing.One of mum's aunt's had heard about what happened and had gone to retrieve her body from the hospital she and a few others were already planning her funeral and discussing where jenny and I would go,Jenny was asking questions,so I chickened out and told aunt gracie( the aunt who came over) to break the news to her,I watched from afar as she broke into tears and hugged aunt Gracie,I didn't cry tho, I had already decided as soon as I found the evidence that there would be no more tears from me,not until her killer had being found only then could I let anybody do anything, so I didn't talk to anyone or plan with anyone,I just awaited the phone call from the police,my phone rang,it was jason,I answered it.

"Dahlia?" The voice on the other side called,that wasn't Jason's voice,it was his dad's.

"Yes?" I replied confused.

"Jason's being arrested." He said

Dahlia

"They came in this morning and took him, apparently they said he had something to do with the accident,that the car was one of the cars at that car wash he partimes at"Jason's dad's words replayed in my head as the bus drove to the station, It made no sense,It made no sense at all,I was taken to him as soon as I got there,he was handcuffed and his hair was dishelved.A tear fell from his eyes as soon as he saw me,I hugged him tight.

"I'm so sorry" He said between tears,I wiped off his tears,I was getting sick of everyone around me crying.

"What happened?" I asked confused.

"Dad has cancer"He said still crying

"What?"

"And it's really bad,so we need money for chemotherapy,but...but there's no money since the restaurant is not really doing well at the moment,I'm so sorry,I had no choice" He said again,his eyes looked droopy,like he had being crying all night.I hugged him again

"What are you so sorry for? This isn't your fault Jay" I say patting his back.

"No,but it is,the day after we went to drop the plate number, a man in a suit came to visit me,I don't know who we was,but he told me that if I could take the blame for your mum's crash they would pay for dad's chemo and that they would do everything else and that all I just had to do was confirm that I was the one driving the car" I gasped in shock and got up

" What the fuck? Jason we need to tell the police exactly that,you need to exply everything so that these bastards can get punished"I said as I started walking away,he pulled me back and shook his head.

"No...We have nothing,these people though,they have power and money and they can do things and you might not understand but I need my dad to be okay" He said,tears flowed freely from my eyes

"What happens if you go to jail?" I ask him and he turned away.

"At least dad will be fine"He said firmly and my heart shattered,I couldn't be upset,even though he was helping the murderer of my mother get away I couldn't be upset at him,since I knew he just wanted his only family member to stay with him as well. So I swallowed the tears and decided to be strong,I held his hand.

"Well then we'll get strong,we'll get rich and powerful and then we'll do this again...we will trample on everyone who was involved in this and make them pay,I will fight and make the her murderer go through everything you and I are going through right now and more". I said holding his hand faking the biggest smile I could fake,he smiled back at me.

"Okay,when I get stronger...I'll help you fight" He said and we hugged again.Then I got up and left.It was finally over There was nothing I could do again,we were going to bury her while her killer was out there I hadn't really eaten in the past 3 days,everywhere hurt,it took everything in me to not break down in the middle of the road and sob to my heart's content, I waited at the bustop lifelessly for the bus.

Michael

Dad said that he had fixed it,but I still wasn't okay,I couldn't think straight, couldn't eat properly and I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least apologize to her family members,so I snuck into dad's office,found out who her family members were and snuck out of the house,she had two daughters Dahlia Cooper and Jeanette Cooper,my hand was shaking knowing they were going to be without a mother. I found out where the older sister was and followed her around all day from home to the police stationI tried to be as discreet as possible,but she wasn't really paying attention to anything,she was just swaying down the street,mind completely empty,I felt horrible, she entered the bus and I followed she sat down and I sat next to her. The bus took off. She seemed pale and her eyes were bloodshot red, I wish she would just tell at me, insult me,hit me , anything at all so that at least I would feel better.

"Are you okay?" I asked and she looked up at me. Her eyes were dull and it felt like she was trapped begging to be left out.i did that. My heart ached.she looked away ignoring my question like I didn't even talk to her at all

"I'm so sorry" I say quietly and she turned again to look at me,then slowly the tears started to fall until she was full on sobbing, I pulled her into a hug and she held on to me harder,the girl was hurting and it was all my fault. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes as well but I held it off,I needed to comfort her. people started looking at us so I took the face cap on my head off and put it on hers so nobody would see her face,she cried for longer and I held on to her and patted her,until she reached her stop,she tried to take off the cap but I stopped her from taking it off. She mouthed an "i'm sorry" and then left the bus.I stayed on until everyone else had left. Taking in everything that just happened and hating myself for it.

Dahlia

It was already a week after she died, I had convinced aunt grace to let Jennie and I stay with Jason's dad instead of moving away with her,it was closer to school and we could take care of him there,and aunt grace prepared a small funeral for her,I held on to Jenny throughout the event so she wouldn't feel alone,and I cleaned her tears when she cried,I ensured her it was going to be okay even though feel down I was scared that it wasn't but I couldn't show that fear,I was determined to be strong for my sister.I was going to dedicate my life to her,when the program was over and everyone had gone home I was still there,in my new face cap staring at her,I bent down and patted her grave.

"I promise you,when I get stronger,I promise you I will fight. And I will make them pay.