A Shitty Day For All, chapter 4

As Billie was driving down the highway, he tried to cool himself down.

"Okay, just stop thinking about what just happened," he said as he breathed slowly and tried to relax for the time being. His phone started to ring from his pocket, so he instantly pulled off to the side of the highway and flipped it open. "Hello?" he said.

"Oh thank God you answered. I need to talk to you," said Tre'.

"I'm really sorry, but I can't talk right now. My wife and one of my sons just died, and I really need to tend to this. Call me back tomorrow and we can talk," said Billie.

"Well, okay, I guess what I need to talk about isn't all that urgent. Wait, what did you just say?" Tre' asked.

"My wife and Jakob died," said Billie.

"Adie and Jakob... but... how?"

"I really can't talk! I need to get there, I'm sorry. Bye," said Billie as he hung up. He pulled back onto the highway, still thinking about the incident. He tried turning on some music to get the thought out of his head for awhile. He drove fast, staring at the road. He seemed to get a little too hypnotized, so he just focused on his driving.

As Billie arrived at the scene of the crash, he looked at how bad it was. He slowed down and pulled over a few feet away from where the ambulance and the police were.

"Hello sir, my name is James, I'm the one who talked to you on the phone earlier," he said shaking Billie's hand.

"Uh, if I didn't already introduce myself, I'm Billie Joe," said Billie, shaking his hand back.

"Well, your son's waiting over there, and he seems quite traumatized. And I don't blame him. He practically saw his mom and brother die, but I won't get into that. We need to talk about why this happened. The crash was completely and most obviously the truck driver's fault. He was also driving under the influence, which as you probably know, that means he was drunk. He was making a wide turn, and your wife's car was right there. The back end of the truck slid into her car, and rolled onto it. I can't really explain it, and I don't know anyone here who can. Why don't I just shut the hell up and let you visit your son?" said James.

"Where is he?" Billie asked eagerly.

"He's sitting with my assistant over there," said James, pointing to a small sports car.

"And what exactly is it that you guys do?" Billie asked as James followed him over to the car.

"We study how the accident happened and what kind of wounds your wife and son got in what caused them to die," replied James.

"So, like one of those people that does autopsies?" Billie asked.

"Well... sure, let's just go with that," said James, not wanting to get into details. Billie practically tore the door off of the small car as he scooped his surviving son into his arms.

"Oh Joey, I'm so glad you're okay," said Billie with relief as he held his son tightly as if someone was trying to grab him.

"Well, Joey's really traumatized, we haven't been able to get him to talk for the past ten minutes. He has this distant look on his face, as if someone had taken away his sense of feeling," said James.

"Joey, sweetie, are you going to say something?" said Billie. Joey looked at his dad, smiled like he was glad to see him, then just stared at the ground again.

"Well, my guess is that he won't say anything for a few more days, but maybe I'm mistaken. He might start talking sooner, or he might never talk again. I'm amazed that he was able to say those things to you on the phone, but these things are all his choices, so don't try and force him to talk. It's just got to come naturally, you know?" said James.

"Well, of course, I'm not going to force him to do anything he doesn't want to," said Billie.

"Well, moving on. We have to discuss what happened with your wife and son," said James.

Billie took one last look at Adie's body. Her body was mangled and full of wounds. Tears started to swell in Billie's eyes, and then fell quickly down his cheeks and onto the ground. James, being the kind person he is, came and patted Billie on the shoulder.

"I'm so sorry that this happened. I know it won't make you feel any better, but the man that was driving the semi-truck is going to be put behind bars," James said softly. Billie didn't respond. He was lost in his thoughts. He stared at his wife's body as it was getting zipped up in a black body bag. His son was also having the same thing happen. Billie stared down at his son and more tears streamed down his cheeks. He couldn't bare this pain. But he needed to. He wasn't going to make any stupid choices for the worse.

He noticed Joey sitting with James, seeming just as sad as he was. Billie was so sad that he felt his knees get weak, so he sat down on the wet ground. He heard thunder grumbling in this distance as small drops started to fall from the sky. He wrapped his arms around his legs as he started to bawl. His loud cries seemed to echo throughout the place that was quite far away from civilization. He felt arms quickly wrap around him. He looked up and saw Mike standing above him.

"W-why are you... how... how did you find me?" Billie asked, wiping the tears off of his face.

"Well, I don't really know. Tre' told me that Adie had died along with Jakob, and I figured that she'd been in a car accident, so I just started to drive around," Mike said, shrugging.

"But the chances of you actually finding me.. are pretty slim," said Billie.

"Yeah, I just got lucky I guess," said Mike, pulling Billie off the ground. Billie felt like he was leaving Joey out, so he went over and picked him up off of the damp car.

"Well sir, you seem busted up," said James, noticing Billie's eyes, which were red from his crying.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to go home to get some rest. Thanks for helping me get this sorted out," said Billie as he walked over to his car.

"Well, you want me to stay the night?" asked Mike.

"Yeah, I guess that would be okay. How did you get out of the hospital, anyways?" asked Billie.

"I don't know, I really feel like... bad still because of everything, but I asked them if it was okay for me to leave. They disagreed, but I just waited for them to leave me alone for the night. When they left, I just snuck out. It seemed rather empty out there, and so I figured everyone had went to bed. There were still receptionists sitting out there, talking on their phones and whatnot. They could have turned me in, but none of 'em really noticed me. I was obviously a patient since I was wandering around in that little hospital thing. I figured I should find some wheels and some different clothes so that nobody would suspect anything. I saw a doctor walk out of his dressing room, so I quickly but stealthily ran over there. I don't know how, but I managed to get in there without him or anyone else noticing. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I stole some guys clothes that were laying out, and his keys were also laying out. It had a chirping thingy on it, so I went to the parking garage, chirped it, found it, and drove it around highway areas. I saw this part of the road being blocked off, asked the man if I could get through since I needed to see you, he didn't argue, and now I'm here. So, that's how that goes. So how about you follow me to the hospital, I put this guys car back, and not his clothes, and then we go back to your house?" Mike said as Billie started to set Joey down.

"Sounds like a plan," said Billie blankly.

"Okay see you there, and drive carefully," said Mike.

"I think I can do that," said Billie, urging a small smile.