Rock And Roll Ruined My Life- Chapter 9- Shattered

Two months later

“Juliet!” I heard my mom’s voice call me from the kitchen. I put my guitar down and sighed.
“What Ma’?”
“Dinner’s done!” I used my mattress to help me sit up. ‘All I wanted was one night without being bothered, but I guess that’s never going to happen,’ I thought to myself as I opened my bedroom door.

The smell of pork chops and mashed potatoes hit me as soon as I stepped into the hallway. I rushed into the dining room and sat down at the table ready to eat.

“Someone looks hungry,” I heard my dad say. I looked over at him and smiled. He knew I loved my mom’s mashed potatoes and pork chops.

Over all, June was going by pretty well. School was almost over, and my guitar, bass, drums, and singing skills were getting so much better! And, just to add to the list of good things, Timmy asked me out and both of our parents were ok with it! Everything was going great.

Sarah was at her friends house for dinner tonight so after we finished eating we were going to pick her up and then go for ice cream. We held hands, said grace, and began eating.

“I heard you practicing guitar in your room again, Juliet. Have you decided to continue playing?” my dad asked me with a hint of excitement in his voice. I looked up slowly from my plate, smiled, and nodded.
“Honey that’s great! I’m so proud you decided to try playing again,” my mom beamed at me. We had actually gotten so much closer. I was happy about that. I got up and went into the kitchen to get seconds.

We talked a bit here and there in between bitefulls of food. When we were all full we all put our plates in the dishwasher and left to go pick up Sarah.

Manhattan never ceased to mesmerize me at night. I loved driving through the city on a night like this. There weren’t too many cars on the road and there was a nice breeze in the air.

“Julie, guess what’s coming in a few days?” my mom asked.
“Umm… I don’t know.” I searched my brain for important dates but I couldn’t think of anything.
“You birthday, sweety. Your birthday!” I gasped. How could I have forgot about my own birthday?! I would be 16. I would be able to get my permit. I would be able to get a better summer job. I would be 16 at last! I didn’t want a big party though. I wasn’t like that. I wanted a small party with just my friends and family at our house. ‘I wish I could invite the guys over too,’ I thought to myself.

“Are you excited?” My dad asked me.
“Um, yeah of course I’m excited! Why wouldn’t I be?” He shrugged. We all got into the car and my dad pulled out onto the street.

“It’s nice out tonight,” I said rolling down the window.
“Yes, it is,” my mom agreed. We drove in a comfortable silence for a while. I sighed in content as I watched all of the buildings go by. For once, I felt like I belonged here. With my family. I turned away from the window and sat forward.

“Mom? Dad?”
“Yes?” they replied in unison.
“I…I love you,” the words barely escaped my lips.
“We love you too Julie,” my dad said. I heard the smile in his voice.

The red light we had been sitting at finally turned green. I was still staring at my parents in the front seat. I thought of all of the things they had taught me over the years, and how they never gave up on me. My dad eased off the breaks and began to cross the humungous intersection. We were the first ones to realize the light finally changed colors. 'Today is one of the best days ever,' I said to myself smiling.

How wrong I was.

It all happened so quickly.

My head snapped to the side as the sickening crunch of metal met my ears. There were lights flashing everywhere. Everything was so blurry and jumbled. I felt something stab me; it hurt so much. I heard someone scream my name. Then everything turned to darkness.

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MCR’s POV

“Change the fucking channel,” Gerard called to Frank who was sitting on the couch. He sighed and took the remote off the coffee table. He pressed a random button figuring it didn’t matter what was on just as long as it wasn’t the show he was supposedly watching. The rest of the guys came into the living room and sat down next to him.

“What did you put on?” Mikey asked. Frank shrugged.
“Why don’t you press the ‘guide’ button to find out?!” Ray said taking the remote from him.
“The news? I haven’t watched the news in forever,” Bob said as the name and number of the channel appeared on the screen.
“Same here. Well, let’s just watch it already,” Ray replied. They all waited for the infomercials to pass.
“Finally,” Frank muttered as the news channels intro music began to play.

“Breaking News: Deadly car crash occurs in Manhattan, New York. Only one passenger survives. Here’s Gary Smith with the story-”

“Damn,” Ray commented. They all nodded in agreement.

“- Thank you Liz. No one here knows precisely how this accident happened, but according to eye witnesses the Spinnet family was driving across the intersection behind me and were hit by a car that took the light-”

“What? Isn’t Juliet’s last name Spinnet?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, but it couldn’t be… Maybe it was her relatives or something,” Gerard said with a wary look on his face. They continued to listen.

“- We even got a chance to speak to the surviving passenger,” the reporter said waiting for the camera to show the footage.

“HOLY SHIT!” they all exclaimed as Juliet’s broken, bruised, and bloody body appeared on the screen. Two paramedics were holding her up. She looked really, really bad.

“Can you tell us what happened?” the reporter asked her.

“She’s in shock you FUCKING DUMB ASS!” Gerard screamed at the T.V. At this moment Lindsey walked into the living room.

“What’s wrong?” she asked staring at Gerard who was shaking in anger at the reporter who was still trying to get answers from Juliet. All she could say was “They loved me” and “Gone”.

“Gerard?! What’s wrong?” She looked over to the guys for an explanation.
“You remember the girl we’re always talking about?” Frank asked.
“Yes.”
“Her whole family was just in an accident and she was the only survivor,” Ray said standing up and putting his hand on Gerard’s shoulder. Lindsey put a hand over her mouth, Bob sighed, and Mikey rested his chin on the palm of his hand.

“This just in,” The reporter said. “The survivor’s sister was not involved in the accident. She was at her friend’s house a block away during the time of the accident. She’s here now!” The reporter rushed off to the side and stopped in front of a sobbing girl who was being held by another girl her age and a woman who shouted,
“How dare you try to interview this little girl now? Can’t you see she’s devastated? You are one corrupt reporter!” With that she led both of the girls to her car and took off after the ambulance.

The reporter turned back to the camera slightly flushed and concluded, “The survivor is being taken to Belleview Hospital. More on this story later. Back to you Liz.” Frank shut off the T.V. It was totally silent. None of them ever remembered Gerard’s house being this quiet.

“Lindsey, call the babysitter. We have to get over there,” Gerard said. Frank, Ray, and Bob all filed out the front door and waited for Gerard and Lindsey to come outside. Frank looked around the familiar street. ‘It’s good to be home again,’ he thought to himself.

“I think I should drive,” Lindsey said tentatively taking the keys from Gerard’s hand. They all silently agreed. They knew if Gerard was angry or feeling any sort of emotion other than happy, they would all be plastered to the back seat. That was the last thing they needed.

“I’m glad we all decided to move back to Jersey,” Bob said. They all “Mhm’d” in agreement. Thankfully, they didn’t hit any traffic trying to get into Manhattan

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“Hi, we’re here to see… to see Juliet Spinnet,” Lindsey said to the man behind the entrance desk.
“Name please?” He replied not looking up from his computer. He was probably on Facebook or something...

“Lindsey Ballato Way.” The guy looked up and gaped at her. She presumed he was a fan. He typed her name into the computer. His face flushed when he looked up at her again.

“I’m really sorry to tell you this, but your name isn’t on the list of relatives or friends that are allowed to see the patient.”
“Oh please. Who made up the list?” Gerard said stepping forward.
“The patient herself, why?”
“Did she say anything about My Chemical Romance?” The guy sighed and picked up the phone on the desk.

“Hi, Maria? We have a few people here who want to see that girl from the car accident… Did she say anything about My Chemical Romance?... Ok, thanks.” He hung up and took out a roll of admission stickers. “She’s on the 5th floor, ok?” He passed all of the guys their stickers, but paused before he handed Lindsey hers. “Can I have your autograph?” the guy blushed. Everyone turned to stare at Lindsey waiting for her response. Finally after 5 minutes she smiled politely and took the pen and paper from the guy and signed hastily. “Thank you so much!” the guy squealed. She nodded and walked away towards the elevator without saying anything else to the man.

It was a tight squeeze into the elevator but they all managed to fit.
“What floor is she on again?” Bob asked.
“5th,” Ray answered. Frank reached over and hit the button.
“Going up,” the elevator announced. Frank looked up at the speaker and giggled. ‘Talking elevators are so cool!’ he thought to himself.
“Frank, it’s honestly not that funny,” Mikey reprimanded him. Frank looked down embarrassed.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he apologized.

None of them could believe that this happened to Juliet. They all felt that she was the little sister they never had. She never complained around them, she always wanted to know if they were all ok, she never gave up when she tried something new, and she always thanked them for their time.

“Gerard,” Frank said, “why d’you always worry about Juliet so much? I mean, yeah her home life isn’t- I mean wasn’t perfect, and she doesn’t look after herself as well as she could, and she doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions, but over all she’s a good person.” Everyone waited for a response but there was none.

The elevator doors opened and they all got out. There was yet another desk they had to pass. ‘Just great,’ Lindsey thought. This time Frank stepped up to the front.
“We’re here to see Juliet Spinnet,” he said very quickly and seriously. The lady looked up, saw that they all had stickers, then stood up and said, “Follow me.”

They went down a series of hallways before the lady stopped in front of a door on the left hand side.
“Please remember that this patient is not the only one here and that she is in critical condition. If you need anything just let me know.”
“Thanks,” Lindsey replied.

They all entered the room slowly.
“Oh, God,” Lindsey said covering her mouth. Juliet looked worse up close than on T.V. Her body looked so weak and fragile. There was blood everywhere. Her face, which had almost healed before the accident, now had fresh cuts and stitches all over. There was also gauze wrapped around her torso, which was also stained with blood. Even though she had a hospital gown on all of them could tell that she was hurt all over.

Gerard crossed the room and went to the table beside her bed. There were two cards and a rose there already. Frank walked over and picked up the first card. It was handmade with construction paper and markers. He opened it up and began to read it. It said:
Dear Julie,
I hope you feel better soon. I miss you. Please get better. I’ll come visit you every day after school. I’m going to stay with Tara until school is over. I’ll see you when you wake up.
Love, Sarah.

‘I guess that one’s from her sister,’ he thought. He passed the card over to Gerard who began to read it. He picked up the next card. It was store bought. It said ‘Get Better Soon’ on the front in silver. The handwriting on the inside was noticeably neater than the last card but not by much. It read:
Dear Juliet,
I miss you so much. My parents and I are going to do everything we can for you and Sarah. I hope you get better soon. I know you’ll pull through. I’m going to stop by everyday to say hello. Just know that we are all here for you. I hope you like the rose.
Love, Timothy
‘I guess this must be from her boyfriend,’ he thought to himself. ‘Wait… She never told us she had a boyfriend. Well… I guess I just forgot she had one. He must have came here as soon as she got here.’ He handed the card over to Gerard who had passed the other card over to Ray.

Frank went to go sit in the corner next to Mikey.
“This is a pretty tiny room,” Frank said out loud.
“Yeah, but A room is better than NO room,” Bob replied.

It was totally silent except for Juliet’s heart monitor. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep. It almost sounded exactly like the intro to ‘The End”. Frank began to hum the song softly to himself.
“I was think the same thing,” Mikey grinned. Everyone was watching Juliet in silence wondering how and why the accident occurred. It was so quiet, everyone was afraid to make a sound.

All of a sudden a big “Awwww!” came from Lindsey in the corner. Everyone jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to see what was wrong. She had both of the cards in her hand. Gerard crossed the room and put a hand on her shoulder.

Everyone had finally found somewhere to sit. It had been a long, stressful day for all of them. It was only a matter of minutes until they were all sound asleep.