FOUR YEARS EARLIER
Graduation had been a worry for everyone in the Hartfeld friend group. Where would everyone’s next steps leave them? Abbie and Tyler we’re set to move home to California to be closer to family on the West Coast. Both accepting dream jobs they were planning on spending the next few months making memories and saying goodbye to their college days. Becca already graduated, was headed West as well hoping to further her law career she’d been accepted to grad school in Seattle. Kaitlyn loved her friends but knew that this would be the end of some of her friendships as she packed to move to England the day after Graduation. Her music was getting much more response overseas and she needed to follow that dream. Zack was moving in with an old family friend in the heart of Manhattan come September. He’d always been a big city kid and he jumped on the opportunity to finally live in one. Zig of course would remain enrolled at Hartfeld not stressing much about his future plans yet he wanted to make the most of the time his friends had left around campus.
All these plans floating around the days after graduation seemed bittersweet now. Saying goodbye to Kaitlyn was hard on all of them but everyone eyes were on the parents of the group now. MC, and Chris. Chris had accepted a draft from the Eagles and would start training in a few short months. MC had nothing lined up yet, but it didn’t scare her. Chris was her future and she would go wherever he was.
The morning of Chris’s accident only a week after Graduation MC had slept in. It wasn’t uncommon for Chris to go on morning runs without her. She had felt him leave but thought nothing of it. Rolling over to the warm place where he’d just been she fell deeper into sleep. Hours later was was woken by the sound of a phone call coming through. She looked at the caller ID smiling she answered Chris’s phone call.
“Hey babe” her tone tired as she yawned.
“MC?” a formal voice responded, this wasn’t Chris she knew that much. Sitting up quickly running her hand through her hair she responded.
“This is she?”
“My name is Marie, I’m a nurse downtown at Regency Hospital. You are the emergency contact in this phone. Christopher Powell was in an accident this morning, we were hoping you could help us get more information.” MC sprang from her bed hearing these words, putting on the first clothes on that she could find.
“Yes, yes, what do you need? Is he okay?” MC asks panicked as she changed quickly. “I’ll be on my way there now!”
“We’ll see you shortly Miss, but for now do you happen to know Christopher’s blood type?”
“B negative!” MC shouts not knowing how she knew such a random fact but thankful now that she did. “Please can you tell me what’s wrong!” She asks now.
“Miss, Doctor Jones will speak to you in person when you arrive. I’ll see you soon.” MC and the nurse hang up simultaneously as she runs out to her car. On the short drive she calls and leaves a voicemail for Chris’s mother hoping there isn’t too much fear in her voice.
After arriving at the hospital she is greeted by Marie who she sees now is an older woman with a calming demeanor. Beside her is a doctor tall, balding, and an actual description of the word ‘wise’, they welcome her into the lobby where she instantly starts questioning.
“Where is he?! What Happened?” MC asks letting her emotions get the best of her
“I’m Doctor Jones, I’ll be treating your husband”
“Boyfriend” MC corrects him with an unintentional sharp tone.
“Boyfriend.” he pauses “Christopher was involved in a hit and run accident. A witness called it in and you should know the the police will be here soon for questioning.” Doctor Jones explains “He’s sustained major injuries to his left leg which we’ve begun treating, as well as a lot of internal bleeding. He’ll need to stay to be watched for tonight and maybe even past that. But he is awake and responsive if you’d like to see him.”
“Yes!” MC yells not a moment after the Doctor finishes speaking. He leads her down the hall to a curtained off bed where a nurse sits wrapping his leg.
Chris turns to her and he smiles through his pain grabbing her hands quickly. “Babe” he says weakly “I’m sorry”
“Sorry! This isn’t your fault!” she responds “We’ll find whoever did this to you I promise!”
Chris stares into her eyes silently and the edge of his lips turning up slightly. This would be the last time MC really truly saw his smile.
The hours pass and more of his injuries are revealed. His left thigh bone was shattered upon impact and while it took most of the blow his hip needed to be forced painfully back into place. One fractured rib and severe bruising down his abdomen, with the speed of the vehicle the Doctors said it was a miracle this was all he sustained. Doctor Jones is certain that he’ll make a full recovery but that his leg will experience a certain degree of pain or numbness for the rest of his life. This injury is not something that could be played on ever again.
Chris is aware now that he’ll have to deny the offer from the Eagles causing his plans for his life to fade in front of him.
The first two weeks following the accident were the easy part. A victory when the cops caught the driver, a day drunk asshole looking to get somewhere far to quick. Getting Chris home, reminding him he’s loved and strong. Assisting him in any possible way. MC was there the entire time to celebrate or to cry with him. She could see light fading from his beautiful blue eyes. As the months passed she noticed him finishing prescription bottles of pain medications far earlier than he should have; and the kitchen counter collecting empty bottles of various alcohols. Her Chris was dying, maybe not physically, but mentally. He was a shell of the man he was before, but she still tried her hardest to love him.
Early August almost 3 months since the accident his casts had been removed but his pain still lingered. Coming home from the second waitressing job she’d picked up to cover Chris’s half of their rent she noticed his eyes no longer a crystal blue but a dark almost black color now. She knelt in front of him on the ground holding his hands in hers.
“Christopher, look at me.” she commanded trying to keep her tone light. “You have got to snap out of this now.”
Chris’s eyes were completely glazed over and she knew he wasn’t sober, no signs of drinking around she noticed the last bottle of his medication that was recently filled completely gone. She couldn’t wrap her head around how quickly he’d turned into a mess of a human. But she still loved him and she missed his laughter, she’d have given anything to hear it again.
“I can’t” Chris spit his eyes meeting hers now with guilt and water at the edge of his lashes. “I’m disappointing you, I’ve disappointed myself, my family. I don’t even know where to go from here but i know this…” Chris paused for what felt like hours “Wherever I go, it won’t be with you.” He yanks his hands from hers and stands carefully walking toward the door. MC runs and stop in front of him blocking him from the door.
“Why!” she yelled now, no tone of sweetness or understanding left. She’d wasted all of her kindness on him over the past few months. “Why won’t you be with me. Have I not proven myself to you!”
Chris looked to the ground matching her anger “No, I have not proven myself to you. I am not good for you anymore. You deserve to be happy and I won’t be that for you. So go! Get out!” He looks to her now and she feels a fear she’s never felt around him. Turning out the door quickly she runs the mile to her best friends apartment.
The next week she spent with Zack, avoiding her apartment at all costs. The tension between Chris and MC had started to spread through their friend group as everyone began to leave the small town they’d all met in. Tyler supporting Chris understanding where he’s coming from and thinking that maybe it was just time for Chris and MC to drift apart. That fate had come for them as it had tried so many times for his own relationship. Zack accused Tyler of being jealous of Chris and MC’s strong bond in a moment of anger leading to the inevitable end of Tyler and Zack’s friendship. Tyler and Abbie didn’t even say goodbye to MC or Zack before they moved. Keeping contact with only Chris and Kaitlyn now they retreated to California to start over.
Becca had visited both parties; bringing Chris dinners and trying to listen to him, and MC taking her shopping and attempting to bridge the gap between the two lovers. Eventually it was time for Becca to head west too and the pair of friends got together one final time.
“Look, MC I know this might be over stepping, but maybe it’s time to think about you. You were so willing to put your goals on hold for his football dreams. But as horrible as it all is maybe this has been your blessing in disguise. You know you are meant for more, so take it. My cousin in Boston needs a roommate for the renewal of her lease. You should go!” Becca explains pleading her friend to not let life chew her up at such a young age.
“And what, leave him behind?” MC questions her eyes filling with tears so often now that she doesn’t believe they’ll ever dry again. “It’s been three months, I can’t just give up on 3 and a half years after only 3 months.”
“You can if it’s truly hurting you” Becca corrects her, and MC knows she right.
Returning home MC opens the apartment door for the first time in days finding Chris is almost the same state as before except this time the blue of his eyes has returned. He’s sober now. But she doesn’t know if that’s truly a good or bad thing.
“Hi.” she says softly, fearfully.
“Hey.” Chris responds his love for her had been clouded by jealousy. Jealousy that she could still accomplish her dreams and he was stuck with out his. His head throbbed and his body craved medication his Doctors would no longer prescribe. “I’m going to Maine.” he announces flatly
“Oh.” MC responds “When?” She questions. She’s not sure if she’s been invited.
“I’m moving back home at the end of the month.” Chris cannot bring himself to look her in the eye. He knows he’ll be sucked back in. He’s convinced himself that leaving her is what is best for her and for him. That somehow she’ll be able to soar with out him.
“End of the month?” MC questions looking to the calendar on the wall “It’s the 17th of August…” her voice trails filling with anger now “When were you going to tell me?”
“When were you going to come home?” he retorts and she knows she’s met her match.
“When were you going to stop downing you prescription medications? Or do you want to end up lost and alone like your father.” she knows she’s cut to deep but she doesn’t care. “You’re abandoning me, you’re abandoning us. Like father like son.”
“Stop pretending you know about my future, you’re the only one of us who couldn’t land a job after graduation.” His anger fills him now, he takes a moment to calm down. It’s clear their relationship is over. As Tyler had put it, ‘Fate had come for them.’ and it didn’t leave them with a happy ending. He remains silent until finally speaking again. “Will you be staying here? The leasing office will need to know if we are leaving the apartment vacant.”
Baffled by his words she glares in his direction. He cared more about the paperwork surrounding their apartment than he did about her. “No. I’m moving to Boston.” she hadn’t actually decided if she was going but her emotions got the best of her now.
“Boston?” he questioned “What’s in Boston?”
“Not you.” her words tearing through him.
“Go to Boston. I have no need for that City or the people in it. It’s yours.” he offers giving her the city childishly like it’s his property.
“Then I expect never to see you in it.” MC turns on her heel heading right back out the door she’d just entered.
Zack and her spent the following days packing her things maneuvering around quickly during the short hours that Chris was actually out of the house. Any time Chris and MC crossed paths fights would start and it was better just to avoid it at all. As the final days of August approached leaving became harder and harder for MC.
The late summer breeze was warm almost begging her to stay as she carried the last box of her things out of the apartment she’d shared with the man who once loved her as she still loved him. As she opened her car door she saw Zig pull up with Chris in the passenger seat. Chris got out quickly walking with a limp toward the apartment door. He was experiencing the chronic effects of the accident now and she wouldn’t be able to help him. His eyes heavy with pain, dark stubble appearing around his jaw and the stench of alcohol potent even from across the driveway. Even now she was hoping he would beg for forgiveness and plead for her to take him back, to come to Mainte with him and help him through his darkest hour. She was disappointed again watching instead as he hobbled up to the door ignoring her presence, Zig pulling away.
“That’s everything.” she called to him, “I left the key inside on the counter and signed the paperwork” her voice weak as if she were going to cry. But the truth was, she couldn’t cry anymore. She’d spent weeks doing just that, she was finally and unbelievably dried out. “Chris, I love you” she says desperately “I always have and always will. I hope one day happiness can return to your blue eyes.” she allows one last moment for him to change their fate but he stares silently at her. She nods and ducks her head into her car driving away