I frowned as I searched through the final drawer in the downstairs restroom. I picked up several boxes. All but one of them were not what I needed in the slightest, and the one that contained what could have been used had a very big problem with it. It got tossed in the trash immediately. Sighing, I closed the drawer and pressed my forehead against the wood. Lunchtime was only just slowly creeping up on us, and I was already exhausted. A headache was forming in my temples as well. The tingling ringing that then echoed throughout the house was the main source of that. The sound had been going non-stop.
Glade, the one ringing the bell that was making the noise, was simply going to have to wait. Mom seriously had spoiled her a little too much. It was about time she learned that all our attention couldn't constantly revolve around her. I ignored the bell as I made mom's room my first stop then.
"Mom, you need to stop getting up. Don't worry about Glade. I'll be getting her in a second." I instructed, rushing over as mom was unsteady even just trying to sit.
"I know you will," mom said weakly and quietly as she gave me the smallest of smiles, "You've lectured me enough today to make me stop trying. I'm just going to the bathroom, Coal."
"Oh. Okay. Do you need any help walking over?"
"No, I'm fine." mom declined.
She wobbled on her feet as she stood, but using the post of her bed allowed her to find her balance. Her gaze fell upon my empty hands, and I had to relay the news.
"We're all out of medicine. The one box we did have left was super expired. I'll make a quick run to the drugstore once I go upstairs and take that damn bell away from Glade. I can't believe Uncle Blaze thought to give it to her."
"I wonder if he knew he wouldn't be around to have to listen to it." mom joked tiredly.
It was winter, and sickness had struck the Vivid household. That wasn't a surprise in the slightest, but everyone was being struck down much harder than normal. Well, save for mom. She was holding up well for her. It was Uncle Blaze who was in the hospital this time around with a ridiculous fever. His absence meant it was solely up to me to keep the household under control, and the task was proving difficult.
I had no clue how Glade had that much energy to keep ringing that horrible bell. She would not stop until I entered the room. It was finally put down when she spotted me, and she looked absolutely miserable half sitting up as she looked my way.
"I thought you had managed to fall asleep." I said, moving closer.
"I thought I did too," she pouted, looking as if she wanted to cry, "But my head hurts too much. I woke right back up."
Those watery eyes of her snatched away most of my annoyance. Besides Uncle Blaze, Glade was the one having the worst time. Her headache was monstrous, or so she claimed. Glade didn't handle pain all that well, which meant it could be difficult to tell just how intense the ailment actually was. There had been times where she got a simple paper cut and went on about it as if she lost her finger. In this case, the lone thing that Glade claimed gave her any relief was me stroking her hair as she kept on trying to fall asleep.
Getting her to doze off was something I definitely had to accomplish this time around. Nothing would get better for her or mom until I ran out to get that medicine, but if I left the house Glade would go downstairs to pester mom if I departed before she was in dreamland. So, I gave it my all. It had to have been a good ten minutes or so I sat there with an aching arm petting my sister's hair. The repetitive motion having been going on for the entire morning was taking a toll on my muscles. However, the effort wasn't useless. Glade had received the last dose of medicine we did have, and it finally worked its magic on her. Her fussy turning and twisting stopped, her breaths slowed, her eyes closed, and her stillness signaled to me that I was free to leave.
"And I'll be taking that." I whispered, picking up the bell after giving Glade a quick kiss on the forehead.
I hid the bell in my room before putting on my coat. However, I couldn't leave right away. There were two main reasons for that, and one of them was that Cerise was giving me problems as well. She remained sat where she had been sitting for practically the past half hour. The food on her plate hadn't been touched since the last time I glanced her way.
"Ceri, it's almost time for you to leave. You know the bus won't be stopping until you guys reach your hotel, so if you don't have lunch now you won't be eating anything until tonight." I warned her for the dozenth time.
Cerise's class was taking a weekend field trip. The school had sent out a notice saying the students attending had to eat lunch beforehand, but my sister was having problems with that. She poked at what I provided her with a look of mild disgust.
"I'm sorry there's nothing left to eat but leftover grilled cheese, but I've kinda been a bit busy with more important matters," I rebuked lightly, "That sandwich better be gone before you need to leave, or I'm not going to let you take off."
With a drooping of her shoulders and a defeated stare, Cerise picked up the sandwich and reluctantly stuffed half of it into her mouth.
A gust of winter wind and the slight creaking of the front door that needed to be oiled told me the other reason preventing me from leaving was no longer an issue. Reinforcements have arrived.
"Thank god. I'm so glad to see you." I eagerly welcomed my brother with a big hug.
"Been having a fun time, huh?" Wisp chuckled.
"It's been a nightmare since last night when Uncle Blaze had to be ushered off to the hospital. I haven't had a moment to think."
"Hopefully we can help. We brought a little present," Papaya joined in, holding up a box of medicine, "Your mom just managed to send us a text right before we left saying you guys were out. This was the last one from our stock though, and it's almost out too."
"That's alright. At the rate mom and Glade are going through it, I would still need to go get some more even if it was a full box. That at least can tide mom over. Glade's finally fallen asleep."
"Mom said to beware her and her bell?" Wisp wondered curiously.
"You don't need to worry about that anymore. I took it away." I said proudly.
"Good to know."
There came a clattering sound behind me. The conversation halted as Wisp and Papaya's heads as well as my own whipped towards the sound of the noise. Cerise had leapt off the bar stool as if she was about to bolt to the other side of the house in the flash, but her legs trembled as soon as her feet touched the ground. She heaved and a deep rattle shook her throat. I knew what was coming when she hunched over as she clutched her stomach, and yet I still wasn't fast enough to turn my gaze back away. All these years and I continued to be unable to stand vomit. A great blast of it erupted from Cerise's mouth to splatter over the white carpet. I guess we were lucky in a way, because that one great retch was all there was. Cerise simply stood hunched while breathing heavily.
"This is going to be a fun time, huh?" Wisp whispered incredibly quiet to me.
I refused to be the first one to move. I would just throw up myself if I tried to get involved with the sticky mess my sister made. With Wisp and Papaya hesitating as well, nothing happened for several seconds while poor Cerise just stood there pitifully. Wisp sighed before taking the initiative. Since Cerise managed to not get anything on her, he passed the responsibility of getting her taken care of over to me while he and Papaya began the cleanup. I led her into the restroom and sat her on the counter before popping the thermometer in her mouth.
"Yup, looks like you're sick too," I went with the obvious conclusion when it confirmed the fever burning her forehead that I felt with my hand as well, "I thought it was strange that you were refusing to eat. Guess it wasn't actually the sandwich that was the problem."
"I feel fine now though. Perfectly fine." Cerise looked up at me with a big smile forcibly on her lips.
"Then why does this thermometer say 100.5, hmm?"
"It's probably broken."
"It was only bought last week. However, I suppose I could dig out that old rectal one we have around somewhere if you feel that strongly that you're right." I teased.
"I'm fine, Coal!" Cerise's mood instantly snapped to something less than pleasant.
The death glare she sent me had me losing a great deal of sympathy for her.
"Don't get angry at me. I'm not the one who got you sick. It's not my fault you're going to have stay home."
"I'm going on the field trip! I've been looking forward to it for months!" Cerise retorted with harsh determination.
"Uh, no. You're not."
The stinging glare my sister had locked on me grew worse and worse with every breath that passed. When her furious look didn't budge me, she leapt from the counter to stomp on my feet.
"I'm going!" she demanded
"Oww! Cerise! You little...! Geez, well, with that stunt you've definitely just ruined your chances of going on your trip. Even if you weren't sick, you deserve to be grounded for that!"
"You can't ground me!"
"Mom has given me full control of this household until she feels better or Uncle Blaze gets back, so, yes, yes I can. If at eleven years old you're still throwing these temper tantrums, you're clearly not mature enough to handle a weekend away from home anyway."
"Screw you, Coal! You're the worst!" Cerise exclaimed.
I stumbled backwards and very nearly fell into the wall behind me when she launched herself at me to push me with a vicious shove. If she was at her full strength, I'm sure I would have taken that good smack against the wall. Cerise was simply that frustratingly strong for her age. Her fever and sapped energy worked out in my favor though. I maintained my balance even if I nearly lost my temper too.
"You keep stomping on me and pushing me, and you won't be able to leave this house until I say so- mom getting better or not! Just because you're the little sister doesn't mean you get to hit me and hurt me however much you want! Only horrible kind of people do that!" I growled at her.
"Shut up!" Cerise shouted, "You're not dad, so stop trying to tell me what to do! I'm sick of you acting all high and mighty just because everyone says you're like him!"
There were no words exchanged after that. The reason behind that was because Cerise suddenly dashed out of the restroom. Well, I say suddenly, but I fully expected it. My sister's goal was the front door, but she barely took five steps before I caught her around the chest to hold her back. As you can imagine, that didn't sit well with her. Cerise threw an absolute fit. She cried out as she struggled. To be honest, I had to resist for a moment the urge to fling her down to the ground because she was going at me like a wild animal. She slammed the back of her heels into my shins again and again while she hit at me with her fists, dug her nails into my arms as hard as she could, and even tried to bite my hand.
"Hey! Enough of that!" Wisp came to rescue me several seconds into the assault.
He yanked Cerise away from me by her arm, and for whatever reason she didn't have a problem with him holding her back. She settled down almost instantly.
"What is the problem?" Wisp then asked in exasperation.
"She's pissed at me because I told her she obviously can't go on her trip with her being sick. She started stomping on my feet and pushing me."
"Cerise..." Wisp sighed at her, "I'm sorry you're disappointed, but this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable."
"But I want to go!" Cerise whined.
"No," Wisp denied shortly and flatly, but his expression softened when Cerise's crestfallen expression showed she caved at that, "C'mon, I'll take you upstairs. We'll get you settled in your fuzzy pjs, and if your stomach feels better we can make some hot chocolate."
"Thanks, Wisp. You're the good brother." Cerise spat the indirect chide as Wisp gathered her up.
"Hey now, don't be like that." he chided her back gently as he took her up the stairs.
Needless to say, I was quite glad when they were out of sight. I folded my arms, huffed, and pouted at Papaya.
"If I ever say I want to have kids, smack me and remind me of this moment. Seriously, everyone has pampered and spoiled Cerise too much. Glade too. The second I try to discipline them, I turn into the bad guy. Cerise should be getting punished right now. Not tucked into bed like a princess and being gifted hot chocolate."
"I'll talk to Wisp about the hot chocolate. He's too big of a softy," Papaya agreed with a chuckle before ruffling my hair, "I don't think you have to worry about having kids though. You are a good big brother, Coal, no matter what your sisters say to you when they're angry. You're bound to be a great dad too."
I shrugged at that and let some of my anger dissolve. It was hard to do when my legs stung from the kicking and my arms burned from the scratching. Cerise didn't draw any blood from either, but she got real close. I was definitely going to talk to mom later about it. I peeked on her quickly to see why the commotion hadn't drawn her out of her room, and I discovered her exhaustion from her cold had swept her into a dreamland even Cerise's tantrum couldn't reach. Papaya said she would take care of resuming the cleaning of the throw up, so I returned to my original task.
The cold air struck me with the weight of a bag of bricks. I would have turned around to get a warmer coat, but I didn't have any desire to get any closer to Cerise than I had to at the moment. I was not in the mood to catch more of her bellyaching as I passed her room. Then I was also a little worried me moving around on the second floor would wake Glade up. With both Wisp and Papaya busy, I would be the one to have to comfort her again. So, I kept on walking despite the light shivering that started first around my lower arms before moving up to my shoulders. The frigid air also tightened up my throat as I inhaled and watered my eyes. It was all a bit strange though. The weather channel had said it was supposed to be warmer today, which is why I had gone with a lighter outfit in the first place.
Still, I wasn't overly concerned about the drop in temperature. The drugstore was right down the street. Seven minutes later I was in the warm building standing in line with a few new boxes and bottles of every medicine we might need. We went through the stuff fast. Mom, as always, was a main culprit in its use. Getting sick often during the winter had been a constant in her life ever since she escaped to the real world. Glade had her own problems as well. Mom fretted for a time that she had passed her poor immune system on to her youngest, but the truth was Glade's moderately lowered ability to fight off illnesses stemmed from the fact that she had been born prematurely. The C-Section had also prevented her from getting some immunity protection that babies apparently get only when they're born the natural way.
With my main task out of the way, I chose to make a quick stop to the cafe right nearby. Even being inside it was difficult to shake off the shiver. If Wisp did go ahead and make Cerise hot chocolate, then I was going to one up them by getting the best hot chocolate the cafe had to offer. It had caramel in it, a big dollop of whipped cream on top, and a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon on top of that. I took a quiet, peaceful moment to enjoy the sugary delight by sitting down at one of the tables and playing a few games on my phone before I had to face the trek home.
However, I would not make it home for some time. The walking, purchasing of the medicine, and the drinking of my treat had kept me away for about twenty minutes. Wisp and Papaya were probably wondering why it was taking me a little longer than expected, so I started walking fast. Then I spotted something familiar out of the corner of my eye. I had been blind to her before because perspective had her perfectly hidden behind the wall she crouched against. Sliding just a little more to my left brought her more properly into view. There was Cerise. Not in her pajamas. Not in her bed. Clearly not having noticed me yet, she kept careful watch on the roads in front of her. I suppose she was waiting for the few cars coming down the road in front of her to pass before she darted to her next location. I heaved out a massive sigh. What I wanted to know was how the hell she managed to slip out of the house without anyone noticing. Mom and Glade were both asleep. Cerise was the only one to watch. What in the world were Wisp and Papaya doing?
There was no doubt in my mind that Cerise would do a runner the second I called out to her. That's why I used her blindness towards me to stealthily creep across the street in order to get as close to her as possible. I most likely would have gotten right up to her without her noticing if it had been any other season than winter. The soft sounds of the snow crunching under my shoes gave me away. Still, I was close enough. That's what I thought at least.
"Cerise." I growled at her again when I saw her head starting to turn towards me.
She didn't finish that glance. As soon as Cerise heard my voice, she was off like a bullet.
"Cerise!" I called after her as I ran too.
She definitely hadn't been lying when she said she felt better after throwing up. Wisp had probably given some medicine to help her too. The girl was running as if she was a professional sprinter. I was barely able to keep up even with my longer legs. Cerise's determination to get to the school and on the bus had her flying across the empty field and towards a tighter collection of houses she surely meant to use as cover to escape from my sight.
That first plan of hers fell through. Cerise didn't have the energy to sustain her mad dash. We got past the second street, and her pace dropped significantly. I could have caught her then had the cold seriously not been bothering me. My lungs were dry, and it felt like my whole body was freezing faster than it should be. I managed to really close the gap between me and my sister though when Cerise took us to the back of The Strip- a collection of fancier stores and restaurants halfway between Uncle Eden's house and the beach. Cerise appeared to be spent. The feet separating us rapidly dwindled now.
"Cerise, stop! Seriously! I'm going to catch you anyway, and the farther you run the more trouble you're going to be in!" I shouted the warning after her.
The threat did nothing. Cerise sped around the corner and into what I knew was a tight alley between two of the buildings.
What I didn't know was that a wooden fence had been built in that alley to mark the front from the back for whatever reason. Cerise, however, had to have known it was there. When I rounded the corner I saw her just as she was slipping through the tiniest break in the wood in the right bottom corner. She had problems with it, so there was no way I was fitting through. My attempt to run up to the fence and climb over it resulted in me slipping and getting at least one splinter.
"Damn it!" I muttered viciously to myself as I yanked out the sliver of wood.
My imp of a sister had given herself a great deal of an advantage with that stunt. Naturally, I had no choice but to run around the western half of the buildings to get to the front of them as well as to reach the road that led into the city. I wondered why Cerise was going this way as it was the longer route to the school, but I reasoned it was the one Wisp and Papaya would least expect her to take when they realized what she was up to. I dashed down the road, and frowned as I had to slow. Cerise was nowhere in sight. Yet, she should have been. This stretch of road was massive. Her red and green would stick out like a sore thumb. Knowing something was up, I took a minute to text my brother and his wife to let them know about the predicament in case they didn't already before meandering off the sidewalk to peer around the trees.
"If you've stopped running, then you must be hiding." I spoke once again to myself.
Those were all the words I could speak. My breath caught with my next inhale. The sudden choking sensation had me furrowing my brows and twisting my chest this way and that to get my lungs to cooperate. I was able to start breathing again, but I shouldn't have been nearly as winded as I was. I might not be a superstar athlete, but I consider myself pretty fit. There was no reason for the relatively short amount of running I did to be dragging me down so rapidly. Something was up.
It was something that concerned me greatly, for I only made it to the closest tree before my legs started to give out. No amount of effort kept me up. I half fell, half leaned against the bark before sliding down to the ground rather pitifully. I desperately tried and failed to quell the darkness swarming in the corners of my vision. I shivered something awful, an uncomfortable tingling of nausea danced in my stomach, but my senses soon detached from my body. An exhaustion unlike any I had known rendered me motionless while a massive pressure in my temples seemed to be attempting to crack my skull right open. In an instant my sight darkened further to almost pure black. All sounds of the world around me shifted into warbling echoes.
And there I sat. Hopeless and weak against the force overtaking me, and bound to be stolen away more with every second that passed.
I couldn't recall what happened between when I sat there by that tree and when I woke up next. Falling into that dazed unconsciousness and waking up from it had me thinking I had teleported. I was in the snow in one minute. In the next, I was laying down in a bed. The change in location would have been nice had my body not thought to throw it all back to me at once. Grogginess kept me down, but I could feel all the strange pains and aching pains that gripped every inch of me. The hammering pain in my head was the worst, and so when I opened my eyes I saw nothing but big blurs. Most of them were shades of pink. When I saw one moving, I decided to speak for some reason the one connection my mind was making.
"Candy?"
There was a laugh followed by a girly giggle and long sigh of amusement. I blinked furiously to bring the blurry moving thing into better focus, and my brain thankfully cooperated as I took control of my body back. Lucidity returned to me. Holly, not Candy, was the one who stood nearby. She looked down wearing an absolutely goofy smile.
"I knew it. You've been denying it well, Coal, but I knew you had a thing for her." Holly spoke merrily.
"What are you going on about?" I mumbled even though I knew what she was getting at.
"Oh, are you properly woken up now? Good."
"That's not an answer to my question."
"Please, you know exactly what I mean," Holly scoffed at me, "You've been trying to act as if you aren't interested in Candy, but considering this makes it the third time you've said her name since we've picked you up out of the snow there's no denying it now. Unconscious talking is the way to find out what's really on a person's mind, after all."
"You picked me up out of the snow? What?"
It wasn't my intention to rapidly change the conversation away from something embarrassing, but after I spoke I figured it was the best choice to make. I didn't really want to know if I had been speaking Candy's name, and the confusion of why I was in Uncle Al and Aunt Dahlia's bed was high indeed.
"From what we've heard from Wisp and Paya, it sounds like you were sick too without anyone realizing it. You must have just been in the early stages of it when your sudden physical exertion had it overtaking you before you were ready to handle it." Holly began to explain.
"Oh."
It make instant sense. The temperature hadn't dropped like I thought it had. That was simply my fever starting to take hold. The difficulty breathing, the aches and pains- nothing more than the cold being passed to me.
"Have I been out long?" I asked as I sat up.
After having rested some, the symptoms weren't actually that bad. Annoying, but not debilitating.
"Hmm, about an hour." Holly figured.
"Has anyone found Cerise? Wisp and Paya surely have gotten my text by now, right?"
"They called the school the second they got it. When Ceri made it to the building, they had one of her friend's parents drive her home."
"Good. I'd be pissed if that brat managed to sneak onto the trip while I was the one who passed out on the side of the road." I said bitterly.
"You gave us quite the scare," Holly revealed, "Dad and I were actually heading into the city when we saw you starting to fall down. We were going to take you to the hospital, but you were still a little awake and insisted that you not be. Since you were being so obnoxious about it, we drove you here instead to judge what your state was truly like. You were apparently sensible enough to know you weren't actually in dire straits."
"Why not bring me home?" I wondered.
"We wanted to make sure you didn't have anything serious first that could be passed onto your mom or Glade."
"Ah, right. Good idea." I nodded.
I scratched at the back of my head and fiddled before glancing up at Holly somewhat sheepishly.
"Sorry for causing a mess. You were supposed to meet up with Current at the movies, weren't you?" I apologized.
"We were. That was where dad was driving me to when we spotted you. It's alright though. Current was totally understanding, and we're going to go to a later showing instead."
"So, are you two a thing yet or what? How many dates have you gone on now?"
"We pretty much are, but at the same time...eh, we don't really care too much. We've both basically agreed that we don't see us lasting past high school anyway, so we're just having plain and lighthearted fun at this point," Holly shrugged while wearing another grin, "I want to hear more about you and Candy though."
"Good night."
I buried myself back into the covers and turned away from her.
Holly teased and lovingly bullied me relentlessly until Aunt Dahlia appeared when she heard the commotion. Aunt Dahlia poked and prodded me like mothers do to make sure I was as well as I proclaimed myself to be. I had a light fever and a bit of a cough, but that was it. I didn't even need anyone to help me stand up, and when Uncle Al came in and we began bantering back and forth about the situation I could have kept up with it for an hour had Aunt Dahlia insisted I head home so I could get some real rest. I was permitted to walk the fifty feet home on my own, and I instantly stopped Wisp and Papaya's fussing over me when I walked through the door. They mentioned that Cerise was awake. That was the issue I wanted to divert my energy towards.
Not that it went down the way I imagined. Cerise, actually in her pajamas now and flopped on her bed, leapt up with all the crazy speed she showed before to barrel into me to crush me with a hug around my waist before I could so much as put the smallest frown on my face. From her muffled face came the sound of tears. I took a deep breath to call her out as I believed it was her typical fake tears meant to make me sympathetic. However, the seconds passed, and I found myself unable to say anything. Cerise truly shook against me, and it wasn't because of her cold. She gripped onto my clothes in a way she hadn't since she was a young toddler. Her tears were vast and unceasing.
"I'm sorry, Coal," her squeaky, terrified, almost broken voice quivered, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I hit you, and yelled at you, and called you a bad brother! I really love you a whole lot!"
"Ohh," I cooed, turning into the sappy pile of mush I always did and hugging my sister back as much as I could, "I know, Ceri. I know."
"I got scared when I heard Wisp saying you were found passed out on the side of the road. I thought maybe a car hit you and that you wouldn't be coming home." Cerise continued to sniffle.
"I'm alright, and I'll be just fine. I'm simply a little sick too." I explained, now understanding clearly while Cerise was so shaken up.
"That's what Paya said." she said softly, nodding.
Cerise probably could have kept herself attached to me for a good hour with the iron hold she had around my chest, but I had to pull away. My nose was beginning to run. I don't think she would have appreciated me dripping snot into her hair. Cerise, thankfully, was calming down. She rubbed at her eyes and sniffled loudly as her fear dissolved. That was when some of my anger reappeared for a brief moment.
"I just want to say, Ceri, that if you ever pull a stunt like that again that I...well, I don't know exactly what I'll do, but you'll be grounded big time for sure."
"Mmhmm. Mom already grounded me big time this time, and Wisp really lectured me hard." she accepted dutifully.
"I won't yell at your a third time then. I just want to know...where did you go?"
"Huh?" Cerise looked up at me in confusion.
"When I ran around to the front side of The Strip, I couldn't see you anywhere." I clarified.
"Oh. I knew you would run around to the front when you couldn't get over the fence. I waited until you started to do that, and then I slipped back through the hole to change my route and go the other way to the school." she revealed.
"You're too smart for your own good." I had to chuckle.
Cerise smiled weakly at that. I grabbed a tissue to help her wipe off her remaining tears before having to steal one for myself when a massive sneezed decided to blast out of my nose. I hoped Wisp and Papaya were planning on taking a lot of medicine too. This cold was going to get everyone at this point.
I was ecstatic with the way my cold affected me. It never got that bad so that I could do nothing other than lay in bed miserably, but it was just bad enough to prevent me from going to school. Basically, I got to stay home for two days doing everything I could normally do. It got me in a lazy mood super quick, so going back to classes the follow Monday was a major pain. All I wanted to do was sleep. I must have yawned a million times that day. I walked to my locker when we were let out feeling as groggy as if I had just woken up. Nothing my friends had done had had any success in waking me up. I figured I would be sleepy until the day I died. Then I heard a laugh.
"Coal, if I see you yawn one more time today I'm going to tape your mouth shut."
It was Candy. She was coming down the stairs, and the strange jolt that always coursed through me when she appeared was what swept away the sleepiness.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize my personal exhaustion had such a damaging effect on the others around me." I teased sarcastically with a giant grin, one that Candy reciprocated.
"You know how contagious yawns are. I've been having trouble with them all day too because you can't keep your mouth shut." she revealed merrily.
"What can I say? It's been a tiresome few days."
"So I've heard," Candy nodded, "I've heard you were almost the gallant hero."
"What?"
"Holly told me about how you were taking care of your mom and sisters when everyone got sick," she revealed, speaking normally now, "Then how you chased after your sister in the snow to stop anything bad from happening when she snuck out of the house."
"Pfft, no, no- it wasn't quite like that," I laughed, "I didn't run after her for a noble cause. I just ran after her because I had to, and because I was pissed that she was being so troublesome."
"Still," Candy said with a gentle smile and tilt of her head, "You help to look after your family really well from what I've heard. That's something I appreciate pretty much more than anything else in a person."
"Yeah?"
My curiosity begged for an answer, but Candy hesitated. She glanced up and down to make sure the hallway was empty before she decided to trust me with whatever she wanted to say.
"My grandfather, my mom's dad, was an absolute ass. He always had trouble holding down a job, so he lived with my parents before I was born. My mom and dad finally kicked him out when I was three."
"That bad, huh?" I said somberly.
"Bad is the nicest way to say it. He was nothing but abusive to everyone around him. Not physically, but in every other way you can bring a person down. He always bullied mom by saying she was the reason he and grandma separated. That she was the reason she never came around, even though he was the one who constantly forced her away. He had such a strong grip on mom that she remained dedicated to him even though he made her life miserable. Dad told me it was constantly chaos between him and grandfather when dad and mom started dating. Letting him live with them when they got married was the only way for grandfather to allow the marriage, because mom wouldn't have had the strength to go against his wishes otherwise."
"Just listening to this makes me want to punch the damn bastard in the face." I spoke bitterly.
"Honestly, I wish I could too," Candy smiled sadly, "He's the reason I'm an only child."
"Really? How did that work out?"
"He always claimed that mom was such a burden on him, but he was completely possessive of her attention. To him, I was nothing more than one big leech stealing his daughter. He convinced mom she was such a bad mother that he prodded her into having a hysterectomy. Of course, she instantly regretted it as she wanted the big happy family she didn't have growing up. It wasn't too long after that when she begged dad to kick grandfather out. He was more than happy to, and as far as I know grandfather's rotting away in some nursing home he was forced into after causing too many disturbances in public."
"That's seriously horrible you all had to go through that. I'm sorry."
Candy smiled gently again and shrugged.
"It's alright. We're all happy now, and mom and dad have talked about taking in foster kids once I move out and clear up a room for them," she spoke more brightly, "And I hope I didn't depress you too much telling you all this. That wasn't what I wanted to do. I just...wanted you to see that, y'know, people notice the good things you do. The good person you are. I do anyway."
I was rendered momentarily speechless while Candy nervously scratched at her cheek after her words grew embarrassed. How I should take the situation from here was a mystery to me, but Candy once again whisked away all my problems.
"So, that's that," she said after clearing her throat, "Um, I guess, well, I wanted to see you if you were available to hang out with last weekend, but since you were sick that didn't happen. Would you want to do something this weekend instead?"
"Yeah, sure." I spoke much more quietly and uncertainly than I liked.
You would think that would make Candy uncertain too, but the girl wasn't one to hold back. I could tell from the way her eyes shined that she understood my hesitation wasn't the bad kind. She surely let go of any hesitations she held, because, before I could blink, Candy leaned right over to place a kiss on my cheek. Not too hard and not too long, but it blasted that strange but pleasant jolt through me with a greater intensity than ever before. I lost control in that moment, but what happened was exactly what I wanted to happen. Candy had only pulled ever so slightly away before I caught her arm and drew her right back. I didn't have to bring my lips to hers because she dove for mine. Again, the kiss wasn't too hard or all that deep, and yet that was just perfect.
"I'll definitely see you this weekend." I spoke boldly and confidently with a voice that didn't feel like mine when we did take a step back.
"Good. I'll call you later then." Candy replied cheerfully.
I nodded, and she spun away lightly with a smile to walk down the hall with a slight bounce. I turned towards my locker to get the books I would need, but it took me almost a whole minute to get my brain working enough again to remember the combination.
"I thought you had managed to fall asleep." I said, moving closer.
"I thought I did too," she pouted, looking as if she wanted to cry, "But my head hurts too much. I woke right back up."
Those watery eyes of her snatched away most of my annoyance. Besides Uncle Blaze, Glade was the one having the worst time. Her headache was monstrous, or so she claimed. Glade didn't handle pain all that well, which meant it could be difficult to tell just how intense the ailment actually was. There had been times where she got a simple paper cut and went on about it as if she lost her finger. In this case, the lone thing that Glade claimed gave her any relief was me stroking her hair as she kept on trying to fall asleep.
Getting her to doze off was something I definitely had to accomplish this time around. Nothing would get better for her or mom until I ran out to get that medicine, but if I left the house Glade would go downstairs to pester mom if I departed before she was in dreamland. So, I gave it my all. It had to have been a good ten minutes or so I sat there with an aching arm petting my sister's hair. The repetitive motion having been going on for the entire morning was taking a toll on my muscles. However, the effort wasn't useless. Glade had received the last dose of medicine we did have, and it finally worked its magic on her. Her fussy turning and twisting stopped, her breaths slowed, her eyes closed, and her stillness signaled to me that I was free to leave.
"And I'll be taking that." I whispered, picking up the bell after giving Glade a quick kiss on the forehead.
I hid the bell in my room before putting on my coat. However, I couldn't leave right away. There were two main reasons for that, and one of them was that Cerise was giving me problems as well. She remained sat where she had been sitting for practically the past half hour. The food on her plate hadn't been touched since the last time I glanced her way.
"Ceri, it's almost time for you to leave. You know the bus won't be stopping until you guys reach your hotel, so if you don't have lunch now you won't be eating anything until tonight." I warned her for the dozenth time.
Cerise's class was taking a weekend field trip. The school had sent out a notice saying the students attending had to eat lunch beforehand, but my sister was having problems with that. She poked at what I provided her with a look of mild disgust.
"I'm sorry there's nothing left to eat but leftover grilled cheese, but I've kinda been a bit busy with more important matters," I rebuked lightly, "That sandwich better be gone before you need to leave, or I'm not going to let you take off."
With a drooping of her shoulders and a defeated stare, Cerise picked up the sandwich and reluctantly stuffed half of it into her mouth.
A gust of winter wind and the slight creaking of the front door that needed to be oiled told me the other reason preventing me from leaving was no longer an issue. Reinforcements have arrived.
"Thank god. I'm so glad to see you." I eagerly welcomed my brother with a big hug.
"Been having a fun time, huh?" Wisp chuckled.
"It's been a nightmare since last night when Uncle Blaze had to be ushered off to the hospital. I haven't had a moment to think."
"Hopefully we can help. We brought a little present," Papaya joined in, holding up a box of medicine, "Your mom just managed to send us a text right before we left saying you guys were out. This was the last one from our stock though, and it's almost out too."
"That's alright. At the rate mom and Glade are going through it, I would still need to go get some more even if it was a full box. That at least can tide mom over. Glade's finally fallen asleep."
"Mom said to beware her and her bell?" Wisp wondered curiously.
"You don't need to worry about that anymore. I took it away." I said proudly.
"Good to know."
There came a clattering sound behind me. The conversation halted as Wisp and Papaya's heads as well as my own whipped towards the sound of the noise. Cerise had leapt off the bar stool as if she was about to bolt to the other side of the house in the flash, but her legs trembled as soon as her feet touched the ground. She heaved and a deep rattle shook her throat. I knew what was coming when she hunched over as she clutched her stomach, and yet I still wasn't fast enough to turn my gaze back away. All these years and I continued to be unable to stand vomit. A great blast of it erupted from Cerise's mouth to splatter over the white carpet. I guess we were lucky in a way, because that one great retch was all there was. Cerise simply stood hunched while breathing heavily.
"This is going to be a fun time, huh?" Wisp whispered incredibly quiet to me.
I refused to be the first one to move. I would just throw up myself if I tried to get involved with the sticky mess my sister made. With Wisp and Papaya hesitating as well, nothing happened for several seconds while poor Cerise just stood there pitifully. Wisp sighed before taking the initiative. Since Cerise managed to not get anything on her, he passed the responsibility of getting her taken care of over to me while he and Papaya began the cleanup. I led her into the restroom and sat her on the counter before popping the thermometer in her mouth.
"Yup, looks like you're sick too," I went with the obvious conclusion when it confirmed the fever burning her forehead that I felt with my hand as well, "I thought it was strange that you were refusing to eat. Guess it wasn't actually the sandwich that was the problem."
"I feel fine now though. Perfectly fine." Cerise looked up at me with a big smile forcibly on her lips.
"Then why does this thermometer say 100.5, hmm?"
"It's probably broken."
"It was only bought last week. However, I suppose I could dig out that old rectal one we have around somewhere if you feel that strongly that you're right." I teased.
"I'm fine, Coal!" Cerise's mood instantly snapped to something less than pleasant.
The death glare she sent me had me losing a great deal of sympathy for her.
"Don't get angry at me. I'm not the one who got you sick. It's not my fault you're going to have stay home."
"I'm going on the field trip! I've been looking forward to it for months!" Cerise retorted with harsh determination.
"Uh, no. You're not."
The stinging glare my sister had locked on me grew worse and worse with every breath that passed. When her furious look didn't budge me, she leapt from the counter to stomp on my feet.
"I'm going!" she demanded
"Oww! Cerise! You little...! Geez, well, with that stunt you've definitely just ruined your chances of going on your trip. Even if you weren't sick, you deserve to be grounded for that!"
"You can't ground me!"
"Mom has given me full control of this household until she feels better or Uncle Blaze gets back, so, yes, yes I can. If at eleven years old you're still throwing these temper tantrums, you're clearly not mature enough to handle a weekend away from home anyway."
"Screw you, Coal! You're the worst!" Cerise exclaimed.
I stumbled backwards and very nearly fell into the wall behind me when she launched herself at me to push me with a vicious shove. If she was at her full strength, I'm sure I would have taken that good smack against the wall. Cerise was simply that frustratingly strong for her age. Her fever and sapped energy worked out in my favor though. I maintained my balance even if I nearly lost my temper too.
"You keep stomping on me and pushing me, and you won't be able to leave this house until I say so- mom getting better or not! Just because you're the little sister doesn't mean you get to hit me and hurt me however much you want! Only horrible kind of people do that!" I growled at her.
"Shut up!" Cerise shouted, "You're not dad, so stop trying to tell me what to do! I'm sick of you acting all high and mighty just because everyone says you're like him!"
There were no words exchanged after that. The reason behind that was because Cerise suddenly dashed out of the restroom. Well, I say suddenly, but I fully expected it. My sister's goal was the front door, but she barely took five steps before I caught her around the chest to hold her back. As you can imagine, that didn't sit well with her. Cerise threw an absolute fit. She cried out as she struggled. To be honest, I had to resist for a moment the urge to fling her down to the ground because she was going at me like a wild animal. She slammed the back of her heels into my shins again and again while she hit at me with her fists, dug her nails into my arms as hard as she could, and even tried to bite my hand.
"Hey! Enough of that!" Wisp came to rescue me several seconds into the assault.
He yanked Cerise away from me by her arm, and for whatever reason she didn't have a problem with him holding her back. She settled down almost instantly.
"What is the problem?" Wisp then asked in exasperation.
"She's pissed at me because I told her she obviously can't go on her trip with her being sick. She started stomping on my feet and pushing me."
"Cerise..." Wisp sighed at her, "I'm sorry you're disappointed, but this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable."
"But I want to go!" Cerise whined.
"No," Wisp denied shortly and flatly, but his expression softened when Cerise's crestfallen expression showed she caved at that, "C'mon, I'll take you upstairs. We'll get you settled in your fuzzy pjs, and if your stomach feels better we can make some hot chocolate."
"Thanks, Wisp. You're the good brother." Cerise spat the indirect chide as Wisp gathered her up.
"Hey now, don't be like that." he chided her back gently as he took her up the stairs.
Needless to say, I was quite glad when they were out of sight. I folded my arms, huffed, and pouted at Papaya.
"If I ever say I want to have kids, smack me and remind me of this moment. Seriously, everyone has pampered and spoiled Cerise too much. Glade too. The second I try to discipline them, I turn into the bad guy. Cerise should be getting punished right now. Not tucked into bed like a princess and being gifted hot chocolate."
"I'll talk to Wisp about the hot chocolate. He's too big of a softy," Papaya agreed with a chuckle before ruffling my hair, "I don't think you have to worry about having kids though. You are a good big brother, Coal, no matter what your sisters say to you when they're angry. You're bound to be a great dad too."
I shrugged at that and let some of my anger dissolve. It was hard to do when my legs stung from the kicking and my arms burned from the scratching. Cerise didn't draw any blood from either, but she got real close. I was definitely going to talk to mom later about it. I peeked on her quickly to see why the commotion hadn't drawn her out of her room, and I discovered her exhaustion from her cold had swept her into a dreamland even Cerise's tantrum couldn't reach. Papaya said she would take care of resuming the cleaning of the throw up, so I returned to my original task.
The cold air struck me with the weight of a bag of bricks. I would have turned around to get a warmer coat, but I didn't have any desire to get any closer to Cerise than I had to at the moment. I was not in the mood to catch more of her bellyaching as I passed her room. Then I was also a little worried me moving around on the second floor would wake Glade up. With both Wisp and Papaya busy, I would be the one to have to comfort her again. So, I kept on walking despite the light shivering that started first around my lower arms before moving up to my shoulders. The frigid air also tightened up my throat as I inhaled and watered my eyes. It was all a bit strange though. The weather channel had said it was supposed to be warmer today, which is why I had gone with a lighter outfit in the first place.
Still, I wasn't overly concerned about the drop in temperature. The drugstore was right down the street. Seven minutes later I was in the warm building standing in line with a few new boxes and bottles of every medicine we might need. We went through the stuff fast. Mom, as always, was a main culprit in its use. Getting sick often during the winter had been a constant in her life ever since she escaped to the real world. Glade had her own problems as well. Mom fretted for a time that she had passed her poor immune system on to her youngest, but the truth was Glade's moderately lowered ability to fight off illnesses stemmed from the fact that she had been born prematurely. The C-Section had also prevented her from getting some immunity protection that babies apparently get only when they're born the natural way.
With my main task out of the way, I chose to make a quick stop to the cafe right nearby. Even being inside it was difficult to shake off the shiver. If Wisp did go ahead and make Cerise hot chocolate, then I was going to one up them by getting the best hot chocolate the cafe had to offer. It had caramel in it, a big dollop of whipped cream on top, and a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon on top of that. I took a quiet, peaceful moment to enjoy the sugary delight by sitting down at one of the tables and playing a few games on my phone before I had to face the trek home.
However, I would not make it home for some time. The walking, purchasing of the medicine, and the drinking of my treat had kept me away for about twenty minutes. Wisp and Papaya were probably wondering why it was taking me a little longer than expected, so I started walking fast. Then I spotted something familiar out of the corner of my eye. I had been blind to her before because perspective had her perfectly hidden behind the wall she crouched against. Sliding just a little more to my left brought her more properly into view. There was Cerise. Not in her pajamas. Not in her bed. Clearly not having noticed me yet, she kept careful watch on the roads in front of her. I suppose she was waiting for the few cars coming down the road in front of her to pass before she darted to her next location. I heaved out a massive sigh. What I wanted to know was how the hell she managed to slip out of the house without anyone noticing. Mom and Glade were both asleep. Cerise was the only one to watch. What in the world were Wisp and Papaya doing?
There was no doubt in my mind that Cerise would do a runner the second I called out to her. That's why I used her blindness towards me to stealthily creep across the street in order to get as close to her as possible. I most likely would have gotten right up to her without her noticing if it had been any other season than winter. The soft sounds of the snow crunching under my shoes gave me away. Still, I was close enough. That's what I thought at least.
"Cerise." I growled at her again when I saw her head starting to turn towards me.
She didn't finish that glance. As soon as Cerise heard my voice, she was off like a bullet.
"Cerise!" I called after her as I ran too.
She definitely hadn't been lying when she said she felt better after throwing up. Wisp had probably given some medicine to help her too. The girl was running as if she was a professional sprinter. I was barely able to keep up even with my longer legs. Cerise's determination to get to the school and on the bus had her flying across the empty field and towards a tighter collection of houses she surely meant to use as cover to escape from my sight.
That first plan of hers fell through. Cerise didn't have the energy to sustain her mad dash. We got past the second street, and her pace dropped significantly. I could have caught her then had the cold seriously not been bothering me. My lungs were dry, and it felt like my whole body was freezing faster than it should be. I managed to really close the gap between me and my sister though when Cerise took us to the back of The Strip- a collection of fancier stores and restaurants halfway between Uncle Eden's house and the beach. Cerise appeared to be spent. The feet separating us rapidly dwindled now.
"Cerise, stop! Seriously! I'm going to catch you anyway, and the farther you run the more trouble you're going to be in!" I shouted the warning after her.
The threat did nothing. Cerise sped around the corner and into what I knew was a tight alley between two of the buildings.
What I didn't know was that a wooden fence had been built in that alley to mark the front from the back for whatever reason. Cerise, however, had to have known it was there. When I rounded the corner I saw her just as she was slipping through the tiniest break in the wood in the right bottom corner. She had problems with it, so there was no way I was fitting through. My attempt to run up to the fence and climb over it resulted in me slipping and getting at least one splinter.
"Damn it!" I muttered viciously to myself as I yanked out the sliver of wood.
My imp of a sister had given herself a great deal of an advantage with that stunt. Naturally, I had no choice but to run around the western half of the buildings to get to the front of them as well as to reach the road that led into the city. I wondered why Cerise was going this way as it was the longer route to the school, but I reasoned it was the one Wisp and Papaya would least expect her to take when they realized what she was up to. I dashed down the road, and frowned as I had to slow. Cerise was nowhere in sight. Yet, she should have been. This stretch of road was massive. Her red and green would stick out like a sore thumb. Knowing something was up, I took a minute to text my brother and his wife to let them know about the predicament in case they didn't already before meandering off the sidewalk to peer around the trees.
"If you've stopped running, then you must be hiding." I spoke once again to myself.
Those were all the words I could speak. My breath caught with my next inhale. The sudden choking sensation had me furrowing my brows and twisting my chest this way and that to get my lungs to cooperate. I was able to start breathing again, but I shouldn't have been nearly as winded as I was. I might not be a superstar athlete, but I consider myself pretty fit. There was no reason for the relatively short amount of running I did to be dragging me down so rapidly. Something was up.
It was something that concerned me greatly, for I only made it to the closest tree before my legs started to give out. No amount of effort kept me up. I half fell, half leaned against the bark before sliding down to the ground rather pitifully. I desperately tried and failed to quell the darkness swarming in the corners of my vision. I shivered something awful, an uncomfortable tingling of nausea danced in my stomach, but my senses soon detached from my body. An exhaustion unlike any I had known rendered me motionless while a massive pressure in my temples seemed to be attempting to crack my skull right open. In an instant my sight darkened further to almost pure black. All sounds of the world around me shifted into warbling echoes.
And there I sat. Hopeless and weak against the force overtaking me, and bound to be stolen away more with every second that passed.
I couldn't recall what happened between when I sat there by that tree and when I woke up next. Falling into that dazed unconsciousness and waking up from it had me thinking I had teleported. I was in the snow in one minute. In the next, I was laying down in a bed. The change in location would have been nice had my body not thought to throw it all back to me at once. Grogginess kept me down, but I could feel all the strange pains and aching pains that gripped every inch of me. The hammering pain in my head was the worst, and so when I opened my eyes I saw nothing but big blurs. Most of them were shades of pink. When I saw one moving, I decided to speak for some reason the one connection my mind was making.
"Candy?"
There was a laugh followed by a girly giggle and long sigh of amusement. I blinked furiously to bring the blurry moving thing into better focus, and my brain thankfully cooperated as I took control of my body back. Lucidity returned to me. Holly, not Candy, was the one who stood nearby. She looked down wearing an absolutely goofy smile.
"I knew it. You've been denying it well, Coal, but I knew you had a thing for her." Holly spoke merrily.
"What are you going on about?" I mumbled even though I knew what she was getting at.
"Oh, are you properly woken up now? Good."
"That's not an answer to my question."
"Please, you know exactly what I mean," Holly scoffed at me, "You've been trying to act as if you aren't interested in Candy, but considering this makes it the third time you've said her name since we've picked you up out of the snow there's no denying it now. Unconscious talking is the way to find out what's really on a person's mind, after all."
"You picked me up out of the snow? What?"
It wasn't my intention to rapidly change the conversation away from something embarrassing, but after I spoke I figured it was the best choice to make. I didn't really want to know if I had been speaking Candy's name, and the confusion of why I was in Uncle Al and Aunt Dahlia's bed was high indeed.
"From what we've heard from Wisp and Paya, it sounds like you were sick too without anyone realizing it. You must have just been in the early stages of it when your sudden physical exertion had it overtaking you before you were ready to handle it." Holly began to explain.
"Oh."
It make instant sense. The temperature hadn't dropped like I thought it had. That was simply my fever starting to take hold. The difficulty breathing, the aches and pains- nothing more than the cold being passed to me.
"Have I been out long?" I asked as I sat up.
After having rested some, the symptoms weren't actually that bad. Annoying, but not debilitating.
"Hmm, about an hour." Holly figured.
"Has anyone found Cerise? Wisp and Paya surely have gotten my text by now, right?"
"They called the school the second they got it. When Ceri made it to the building, they had one of her friend's parents drive her home."
"Good. I'd be pissed if that brat managed to sneak onto the trip while I was the one who passed out on the side of the road." I said bitterly.
"You gave us quite the scare," Holly revealed, "Dad and I were actually heading into the city when we saw you starting to fall down. We were going to take you to the hospital, but you were still a little awake and insisted that you not be. Since you were being so obnoxious about it, we drove you here instead to judge what your state was truly like. You were apparently sensible enough to know you weren't actually in dire straits."
"Why not bring me home?" I wondered.
"We wanted to make sure you didn't have anything serious first that could be passed onto your mom or Glade."
"Ah, right. Good idea." I nodded.
I scratched at the back of my head and fiddled before glancing up at Holly somewhat sheepishly.
"Sorry for causing a mess. You were supposed to meet up with Current at the movies, weren't you?" I apologized.
"We were. That was where dad was driving me to when we spotted you. It's alright though. Current was totally understanding, and we're going to go to a later showing instead."
"So, are you two a thing yet or what? How many dates have you gone on now?"
"We pretty much are, but at the same time...eh, we don't really care too much. We've both basically agreed that we don't see us lasting past high school anyway, so we're just having plain and lighthearted fun at this point," Holly shrugged while wearing another grin, "I want to hear more about you and Candy though."
"Good night."
I buried myself back into the covers and turned away from her.
Holly teased and lovingly bullied me relentlessly until Aunt Dahlia appeared when she heard the commotion. Aunt Dahlia poked and prodded me like mothers do to make sure I was as well as I proclaimed myself to be. I had a light fever and a bit of a cough, but that was it. I didn't even need anyone to help me stand up, and when Uncle Al came in and we began bantering back and forth about the situation I could have kept up with it for an hour had Aunt Dahlia insisted I head home so I could get some real rest. I was permitted to walk the fifty feet home on my own, and I instantly stopped Wisp and Papaya's fussing over me when I walked through the door. They mentioned that Cerise was awake. That was the issue I wanted to divert my energy towards.
Not that it went down the way I imagined. Cerise, actually in her pajamas now and flopped on her bed, leapt up with all the crazy speed she showed before to barrel into me to crush me with a hug around my waist before I could so much as put the smallest frown on my face. From her muffled face came the sound of tears. I took a deep breath to call her out as I believed it was her typical fake tears meant to make me sympathetic. However, the seconds passed, and I found myself unable to say anything. Cerise truly shook against me, and it wasn't because of her cold. She gripped onto my clothes in a way she hadn't since she was a young toddler. Her tears were vast and unceasing.
"I'm sorry, Coal," her squeaky, terrified, almost broken voice quivered, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I hit you, and yelled at you, and called you a bad brother! I really love you a whole lot!"
"Ohh," I cooed, turning into the sappy pile of mush I always did and hugging my sister back as much as I could, "I know, Ceri. I know."
"I got scared when I heard Wisp saying you were found passed out on the side of the road. I thought maybe a car hit you and that you wouldn't be coming home." Cerise continued to sniffle.
"I'm alright, and I'll be just fine. I'm simply a little sick too." I explained, now understanding clearly while Cerise was so shaken up.
"That's what Paya said." she said softly, nodding.
Cerise probably could have kept herself attached to me for a good hour with the iron hold she had around my chest, but I had to pull away. My nose was beginning to run. I don't think she would have appreciated me dripping snot into her hair. Cerise, thankfully, was calming down. She rubbed at her eyes and sniffled loudly as her fear dissolved. That was when some of my anger reappeared for a brief moment.
"I just want to say, Ceri, that if you ever pull a stunt like that again that I...well, I don't know exactly what I'll do, but you'll be grounded big time for sure."
"Mmhmm. Mom already grounded me big time this time, and Wisp really lectured me hard." she accepted dutifully.
"I won't yell at your a third time then. I just want to know...where did you go?"
"Huh?" Cerise looked up at me in confusion.
"When I ran around to the front side of The Strip, I couldn't see you anywhere." I clarified.
"Oh. I knew you would run around to the front when you couldn't get over the fence. I waited until you started to do that, and then I slipped back through the hole to change my route and go the other way to the school." she revealed.
"You're too smart for your own good." I had to chuckle.
Cerise smiled weakly at that. I grabbed a tissue to help her wipe off her remaining tears before having to steal one for myself when a massive sneezed decided to blast out of my nose. I hoped Wisp and Papaya were planning on taking a lot of medicine too. This cold was going to get everyone at this point.
I was ecstatic with the way my cold affected me. It never got that bad so that I could do nothing other than lay in bed miserably, but it was just bad enough to prevent me from going to school. Basically, I got to stay home for two days doing everything I could normally do. It got me in a lazy mood super quick, so going back to classes the follow Monday was a major pain. All I wanted to do was sleep. I must have yawned a million times that day. I walked to my locker when we were let out feeling as groggy as if I had just woken up. Nothing my friends had done had had any success in waking me up. I figured I would be sleepy until the day I died. Then I heard a laugh.
"Coal, if I see you yawn one more time today I'm going to tape your mouth shut."
It was Candy. She was coming down the stairs, and the strange jolt that always coursed through me when she appeared was what swept away the sleepiness.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize my personal exhaustion had such a damaging effect on the others around me." I teased sarcastically with a giant grin, one that Candy reciprocated.
"You know how contagious yawns are. I've been having trouble with them all day too because you can't keep your mouth shut." she revealed merrily.
"What can I say? It's been a tiresome few days."
"So I've heard," Candy nodded, "I've heard you were almost the gallant hero."
"What?"
"Holly told me about how you were taking care of your mom and sisters when everyone got sick," she revealed, speaking normally now, "Then how you chased after your sister in the snow to stop anything bad from happening when she snuck out of the house."
"Pfft, no, no- it wasn't quite like that," I laughed, "I didn't run after her for a noble cause. I just ran after her because I had to, and because I was pissed that she was being so troublesome."
"Still," Candy said with a gentle smile and tilt of her head, "You help to look after your family really well from what I've heard. That's something I appreciate pretty much more than anything else in a person."
"Yeah?"
My curiosity begged for an answer, but Candy hesitated. She glanced up and down to make sure the hallway was empty before she decided to trust me with whatever she wanted to say.
"My grandfather, my mom's dad, was an absolute ass. He always had trouble holding down a job, so he lived with my parents before I was born. My mom and dad finally kicked him out when I was three."
"That bad, huh?" I said somberly.
"Bad is the nicest way to say it. He was nothing but abusive to everyone around him. Not physically, but in every other way you can bring a person down. He always bullied mom by saying she was the reason he and grandma separated. That she was the reason she never came around, even though he was the one who constantly forced her away. He had such a strong grip on mom that she remained dedicated to him even though he made her life miserable. Dad told me it was constantly chaos between him and grandfather when dad and mom started dating. Letting him live with them when they got married was the only way for grandfather to allow the marriage, because mom wouldn't have had the strength to go against his wishes otherwise."
"Just listening to this makes me want to punch the damn bastard in the face." I spoke bitterly.
"Honestly, I wish I could too," Candy smiled sadly, "He's the reason I'm an only child."
"Really? How did that work out?"
"He always claimed that mom was such a burden on him, but he was completely possessive of her attention. To him, I was nothing more than one big leech stealing his daughter. He convinced mom she was such a bad mother that he prodded her into having a hysterectomy. Of course, she instantly regretted it as she wanted the big happy family she didn't have growing up. It wasn't too long after that when she begged dad to kick grandfather out. He was more than happy to, and as far as I know grandfather's rotting away in some nursing home he was forced into after causing too many disturbances in public."
"That's seriously horrible you all had to go through that. I'm sorry."
Candy smiled gently again and shrugged.
"It's alright. We're all happy now, and mom and dad have talked about taking in foster kids once I move out and clear up a room for them," she spoke more brightly, "And I hope I didn't depress you too much telling you all this. That wasn't what I wanted to do. I just...wanted you to see that, y'know, people notice the good things you do. The good person you are. I do anyway."
I was rendered momentarily speechless while Candy nervously scratched at her cheek after her words grew embarrassed. How I should take the situation from here was a mystery to me, but Candy once again whisked away all my problems.
"So, that's that," she said after clearing her throat, "Um, I guess, well, I wanted to see you if you were available to hang out with last weekend, but since you were sick that didn't happen. Would you want to do something this weekend instead?"
"Yeah, sure." I spoke much more quietly and uncertainly than I liked.
You would think that would make Candy uncertain too, but the girl wasn't one to hold back. I could tell from the way her eyes shined that she understood my hesitation wasn't the bad kind. She surely let go of any hesitations she held, because, before I could blink, Candy leaned right over to place a kiss on my cheek. Not too hard and not too long, but it blasted that strange but pleasant jolt through me with a greater intensity than ever before. I lost control in that moment, but what happened was exactly what I wanted to happen. Candy had only pulled ever so slightly away before I caught her arm and drew her right back. I didn't have to bring my lips to hers because she dove for mine. Again, the kiss wasn't too hard or all that deep, and yet that was just perfect.
"I'll definitely see you this weekend." I spoke boldly and confidently with a voice that didn't feel like mine when we did take a step back.
"Good. I'll call you later then." Candy replied cheerfully.
I nodded, and she spun away lightly with a smile to walk down the hall with a slight bounce. I turned towards my locker to get the books I would need, but it took me almost a whole minute to get my brain working enough again to remember the combination.
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