Thank You, Corona

6. Jack

'Where- The- Hell- Were- You?' said Dad slowly, his hands on my shoulders. I assumed he had called Alex over to help him search for me.

'I was with Chase and Carmen. We accidentally dozed off, so we lost track of time,' I explained.

Dad sighed and to my surprise, he hugged me. He messed my hair up, and then whispered,

'Be careful next time, ok? I can't lose you too.'

My throat went dry. My stomach was bubbling with guilt. I nodded in reply, and sneezed too. Dad frowned, and kept his hand on my forehead.

'No fever,' he commented. He looked at me carefully then said,

'Go and rest now.' I looked at him in shock. I wasn't grounded? No pocket money for a month?

He smiled back and dropped a kiss on my forehead.

'Go, sweetie, you'll tire yourself out,' he said. I was very relieved. I waved goodbye to Alex and went to the kitchen to drink some milk before I went to bed.

As I was opening the door fridge, Alex came in, his curly black hair all over the place.

'Oh hey!' I said.

'Hey kiddo. I'm gonna get straight to the point ok?'

I looked at him confused.

'Be careful,' he said,' Be careful around everyone.'

'What do you mean?'

Alex looked at me for a minute, probably deciding whether to tell me the truth or not. I suppose he decided on lying, because his next words were very unconvincing.

'You don't want to worry your father, do you?'

I went upstairs, thinking about his words.

Be careful...

Something was definitely going on. I felt worried. Very worried. My stomach felt like it was rolling around in places. Creature felt uneasy too.

I went to my room and kicked off my shoes. I sat on my knees on the carpet and took out a large black box from underneath my bed. I opened it and took out a wrapped with blue lollipop.

Yeah, lollipop. Funny where I got them from. I was looking for a towel in mom's cupboard a few months ago, but then I found this box. Curious, I had opened it, and saw they were lollipops. I took one and tasted it. It was so yummy, and was a bright red, with a very strong smell. It was raspberry flavored. After I ate that one lollipop I wanted to eat more. It was just too amazing. So addicting. When I ate it, it felt like all my worries were gone. But mom had never told me about them, so I thought I wasn't allowed to have them. With much difficulty, I had restrained myself from taking another one.

But after mom's death, when I couldn't bear it any longer, I sneaked into her room one day and took the whole box. I needed them. Creature was now starting to fidget uneasily inside me.

I ripped the wrapper of and put in my mouth, taking in the heavenly goodness. My brain felt fuzzy, and Creature felt happy too. I could hear my phone vibrating, probably with messages from Chase and Carmen, but I was too lazy to get up and pick it up from my study table. Why bother, I thought dreamily, sucking the lollipop. Everything was fine. Just fine. Right?

I woke up next morning, a thin black stick in my hand, from the lollipop. I groaned. I felt sick, and was about to-

I got up and ran to the toilet, slamming the door behind me. After I threw up, and cleaned myself up, I came out and fell on my bed once again. I had a blinding headache. I rolled over, kicking my blanket away. I checked what time it was and the clock in my room read 11.00 pm.