"What the fu... where am I?" I mumbled to myself and I looked up at the empty bed next to me.

Then it hit.

"Oh my god! MOM!" I screamed and I rushed out of the room.

I ran up to the nurses station and asked for her.

"Excuse me, where has Grace Nelson been roomed?" I asked the middle-aged woman behind the desk.

"And you would be?"

"Her daughter, now tell me where she is!" I demanded a harsh tone taking over my voice.

"Look, I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but, your mother passed away last night" I looked at the woman and even though a thousand words were running though my head, I couldn’t say a word.

Shock had hit, and it had hit hard. I had known she was going to die, but I didn't even get to say goodbye. I screamed at the top of my lungs and collapsed on the floor in hysterical sobs, them echoing throughout the nurse’s station. I cried and screamed at the top of my lungs, about 5 nurses rushing to my side. They tried to help me up but I didn’t want any help. I got up and ran down the corridor, tears now dripping off my face. I ran out the hospital front doors and into the busy hospital gardens. I collapsed on a bench in the beautiful gardens. I lay on the bench, sobbing hysterically until a hand touched my back.

"Leave me alone" I said quietly, my hoarse throat too say anything loudly.

"Sorry, but you look like you need some help" a soothing male voice said. I looked up and found myself staring into the worried face of…Isaac Hanson?

"Oh shit... you’re, you’re Isaac Hanson!" I said in a whisper.

"Yep, that’d be me, now, are you OK? You looked really upset and like you really need some help" he asked gently. I really wanted to talk to him, but...not now. He couldn't have picked any worse timing

"Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but could you please leave me alone? I've just found out about my mom...she, umm, she died, and I just wanna be by myself" I told him, breaking out in tears again

"Oh, I'm so sorry...but, I’ll be over there if you need me, please come over and talk to me, it'd make me feel a lot better, I hate to see you by yourself at a time like this" he paused and I looked to the ground and nodded. Just as he was about to leave, he leant over me.

"And to tell you the truth, all these sick people are scaring me" he whispered in my ear and I had to smile a bit.

"Actually, maybe it would be better if you DID stay, I won’t admit it, but I really do need some help here" I sobbed.

"Sure, it’s not like they’re missing me" he said pointing to the huge family over the other side of the gardens.

"Now…" he started, sitting next to me and putting his arm around my shoulders, "Do you wanna tell me what happened?" "My, my mom, she, she, umm, she just…died, last night, but...I didn't find out until, this...this morning" I told him, sobs escaping my throat and me breaking down.

I cried into his warm shoulders. Here I was, in the arms of my idle, crying like a baby.
After settling down, I emerged from the watery depths of Isaac Hanson’s shirt and looked at him. He had a look of pure sorrow on his face and I could only stare. He looked much better up close than he did at the various concerts I had attended.

"So, do you wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Yeah, that would actually do me a lot of good I think" I said and I paused before launching into my story.

"Before you start though, what’s your name?" he asked softly

"Jessica" I replied

"Nice name, same as my sister" "Oh...uhh, cool"

"Go on" he urged and I started my up again.

"I was at basketball practice last week and mom was supposed to pick me up at 5:30 to take me out to dinner because it was my birthday. By 5 to six I was starting to get worried, she wasn’t usually this late, especially on my birthday. I was more worried than mad though, she would never forget, and she was never late, so I started the walk home" I paused, looking at him before continuing my tale.

"I got home about 20 minutes later and the house was up in smoke. We live on a huge block of land, so we don’t have any close neighbours. I ran up to the house but it was impossible to get in so I had to start hosing it down. I was screaming for help the whole time but no-one could hear me, the neighbours are too far away, and eventually the doorway was free enough of flames for me to get inside" I looked at the ground and wiped some tears away before continuing.

"I ran through the living room and into the kitchen where I found my mom, she was...she was screaming, it was so loud, she must've been in so, so much pain..." I paused, trying to compose myself

"She was on fire. I turned the taps on and threw bowls of water on her, but I had to drag her out of the house before she burned to death. That was how I got these burns" I said, pulling the arms of my sweater and exposed the bruises and bandages running all up and down my forearms and leading up to my upper arms.

Tears started streaming down my face again as the image of my burning mother danced in front of my eyes, as it had filled my dreams for the past week. I started sobbing hysterically as I thought about it more. "You know you don't have to tell me Jessica, I just hope I'm helping...just, stop though if you need to..."

"NO! I have to tell someone" I said sternly and he nodded solemnly.

"Anyway, I dragged her outside and I didn’t know what to do. She was screaming so, so much, it was so piercing, she was in so much agony. I didn't know what to do, so I had to squirt her with the hose to stop the flames. The worst thing was I had to leave her there while I sprinted for 5 minutes to the next door neighbours house for them to call 911" I stopped and took a deep breath, keeping myself composed.

"The ambulance got there soon after and I rode to the hospital with her and she was in a coma for three days before she woke up and talked to me. She said thankyou and that she loved me then she fell back into a coma…" I said, suddenly breaking down, sobbing hysterically, thinking how I would never see her ever again, never talk to her, hug her, even touch her.

I was only 17 and I was an orphan. For a further 5 minutes, I sobbed into Isaac’s shoulder and he hugged me sympathetically. During that time, a figure came up to us and began talking to Isaac.

"Ike, look, sorry to break it up man, but we gotta go, Uncle Steve's visiting hours are over"

"Tay, I’ll come home later"

"But you left your car at the house" "I’ll catch a taxi, I’ve really gotta stay here, OK?"

"OK, well, I’ll seeya at home, be home soon though, or mom and dad'll be pissed...we’ve gotta a performance tomorrow night, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, I’ll seeya later Tay, tell mom and dad I won't be too long"

"OK, later, and uhh...I hope you're feeling better, umm...soon" Taylor said to me apologetically and it made me cry even harder.

I heard him leave and I wiped my eyes and looked up at Ike.

"You should go" I told him and he shook his head.

"No, I wanna stay here with you, at least until you're OK" he said and even more tears sprung to my eyes

"OK, but at least go and say goodbye to our family and your Uncle" I told him and he nodded "I should really...I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere" he said as he jogged over to where the family were saying goodbye to an older man in a wheelchair. "Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere" I said to myself.

He returned soon after and took his place next to me again.

"OK, I wanna tell you the rest of what happened" I said and he nodded.

"OK, well she umm...she woke up from her coma yesterday afternoon and she was talking again, but she was a bit woozy about everything. Anyway, we both went to bed last night, but I couldn’t sleep, and all of a sudden all these sirens went off and these beeps wouldn’t stop. And..." I paused, trying to recollect what had happened

"Yeah...she was taken to an operating theatre and a nurse told me she had gone into uhh, cardiac arrest. They wouldn’t even let me in, no matter how hard I tried, they wouldn’t open the damn door, my shoulders are so sore" I said and I pulled down the top of my shirt and studied the top of my shoulders.

Big black bruises covered the top of my arms and even a few cuts had formed.

"I didn’t know throwing yourself at an operating room door could do this much damage" I mumbled.

I sat looking at the sky for a minute before going on with the story.

"Anyway, a nurse took me to my room and we were locked in, but I must’ve collapsed from exhaustion because I woke up and it was morning. I went out to the nurse’s station this morning and this fat bitch told me that mom had died. She didn't even sound the least bit sorry, she just blurted it out like any other day. I couldn’t take it so I came out here, and you found me" I finished my tale and Ike had a sorry look on his face.

"I am so sorry, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Stay with me for just a little while longer?"

"Sure, anything else?"

"No, you've done more than enough, but I have no idea what I’m going to do, she was my only family, I home school so I don’t have many, well, I don't have many friends and I’m not old enough to live by myself, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I can’t even afford a funeral!" I cried and he looked thoughtful.

"Well Jess, I can probably help you with organising the funeral, but I'm not sure what we can do about where you can live"

"Look, Isaac…"

"Call me Ike" he interrupted.

"Sorry, IKE, we’ve only just met, you can’t be doing this, you know, saying you can organise my mother’s funeral, I would never be able to accept"

"I don’t care, she can’t NOT have a funeral"

"Yeah, I know, but, well, I’d have to pay you back"

"Fine, but I know you have to come and stay at my place tonight, I have a flat in the backyard you can sleep in, or the basement or attic, it's no hassle, I promise" "What, I can’t, you don't even KNOW me! How do you know I'm not some psychotic fan or something?" I asked, shocked at the fact Isaac Hanson was asking me to stay with him for the night.

"I live by myself, 21 is too old to be at home still, I still spend most of my time at mom and dad's place, but I live in my own house"

"Oh, I didn’t know that, but that’d be great, seeings half my house is burnt to a crisp" I said sadly.

"Do you need to grab anything or do anything before we leave, like, do you need to see your mom?"

"Yep, I’ll have to face the music, it’s now or never and I really want to see her, I don’t even know how she died. I know about the cardiac arrest, but I still don't know exactly what happened" I told him, looking at the floor.

"OK, come on then" he said and he pulled me up. He took my hand and we walked back into the hospital.