BUMPS ALONG

CHAPTER THREE: REALITY CHECK

"Your parents and brother were involved in a fatal accident, and sadly they all died", the officer’s words kept echoing, louder now in the quiet, as though the silence itself was repeating them just to torture me. I sat there, unmoving, my fingers clenched into the bedsheet, staring at nothing and everything at once. It still didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be real. Just yesterday, I was reminding them about my graduation. I let out a shaky breath, one that trembled all the way through my chest, threatening to break into something louder, something uncontrollable. But I swallowed it. I had cried enough; at the hospital, at the cemetery, in the shower where no one could hear me. I wasn’t going to do it again. Not now. Not where someone might walk in and see me falling apart like I had nothing left holding me together… even though that was exactly how I felt.

My eyes drifted to my phone resting on the bedside table. The screen was black now, lifeless , just like the calls I had made over and over that morning, calls that would never be answered again. My throat tightened painfully as memories flashed—my mom’s voice reminds me to eat, my dad’s quiet chuckle at the dinner table, my brother teasing me endlessly. Gone. All of it. Just… gone. I pressed my lips together, forcing the emotions back down, locking them somewhere deep where they couldn’t escape.

After what felt like forever, I slowly stood up, my legs slightly unsteady beneath me. The mirror caught my reflection as I passed, and I paused. For a moment, I didn’t recognize the girl staring back at me ; eyes swollen, face drained, a hollow look that made me seem older than I was. I reached up, brushing my fingers lightly against my cheek as if to confirm it was really me. Then I straightened, forcing my shoulders back, rebuilding that same stoic mask I had worn all day.

Without another glance, I picked up my phone and headed for the door. Downstairs, people were waiting. Waiting to speak in soft tones, to offer condolences, to look at me with that same pity I hated so much. Aunt Claire was waiting too… to take me away from the only place that had ever felt like home.

I hesitated for just a second, my hand resting on the doorknob.

Then I opened it and walked out.

“There she is,”. a voice echoed through the room as soon as I climbed down the stairs, my head bowed, each step heavier than the last as I slowly descended, feeling the weight of every stare like sharp daggers piercing through me.

The air felt thick, suffocating even, filled with hushed whispers that weren’t nearly as quiet as they thought.

“Cleo darling, be strong okay"…. "you’ll be fine, darling"… "she looks so pale"… "I feel so sorry for her"… "this is too much for her to handle"… Their words floated around me, wrapping tightly around my chest until it became hard to breathe, but I kept walking, one foot in front of the other, refusing to look up, refusing to meet their eyes.

“My friend,” Bella rushed forward, pulling me into a tight embrace, her arms wrapping around me like she was trying to hold me together before I completely fell apart. She had been there through it all—the hospital, the cemetery, every moment in between—but even now, I couldn’t find it in me to hug her back. My arms stayed lifeless at my sides, numb, too heavy to lift, too empty to respond.

“You’ll be fine, okay… I’ll call you,” she whispered softly into my ear before letting go, her absence immediate and cold as she stepped away, leaving with her mum just like the others who had come and gone, offering sympathy I didn’t know how to accept.

One by one, they all left, their voices fading, their presence disappearing, until the house felt emptier than it ever had before. Then Aunty Claire approached, her expression soft but careful, like she was trying not to break me further. She handed me my backpack—the one she had packed for me—while her other hand gently held mine, firm yet guiding. “Your suitcase is already in the boot… come on, sweetheart, let’s go,” she said quietly, leading me toward the door, away from the house that still held laughter in its walls, memories in every corner, and ghosts I could almost feel watching me leave. My gaze lingered for just a moment as we stepped outside, my chest tightening painfully as the realization settled deeper than before.

“I’m all alone…” I muttered under my breath, the words barely audible, yet deafening in my own ears. And as the door closed behind me, shutting away everything I had ever known, a hollow truth settled in my heart—I guess this is my reality now.