Rollercoaster

#37 Surviving with the simple stuff

Hi!

Chapter 37 Song

Serotonin (Alex Sampson)

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The next morning, Drake was up before me.

I woke up late to the smell of waffles being made in the kitchen. I got out of bed realising I never slept in the bed. I had fallen asleep on the footpath... Either I had sleepwalked back or Drake had carried me to the bed. I didn't want to think it was the latter. I walked into the kitchen to see bowls of batter everywhere, with half of it on the countertop instead of actually inside the bowl. Drake stood there looking stressed as hell tasting each bowl of batter, making a disgusted face after every lick of his finger. Oh jeez.

"Good morning!" I said, chirpily.

"Oh- uh, hi, good morning," he said while focusing on taking out the waffle maker.

"How's your dad?" I asked.

"He's fine. Still sleeping."

He took out the waffle maker and plugged it in. "Slept well?" He asked.

"Meh. What time did you wake up?"

"6. Why?"

"Just asking jeez... am I not allowed to ask questions anymore?"

"You never were."

"Ouch. You could've stayed in bed for longer you know, it's a Saturday. Plus you slept really late yesterday."

"I can survive just fine with a few hours of sleep. And I like to wake up early," he grunted.

Fumes started coming out of the waffle maker, filling the kitchen with smoke. Drake panicked using the kitchen glove to open the maker and immediately put it into the sink. The sight of him struggling was painful to watch. I offered help, but Drake being Drake wanted to do it himself.

"Have you ever even made waffles before?" I asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"I can help you."

"No, I really don't need your help."

"I can clearly see you're successfully making waffles..."

"I know. You can go and do something else."

I sighed and left to the living room. I sat on the sofa unsure of how to get my mind off my mom. My mom was the most careful, cautious person I knew. She would never just get into an accident. Something must've caused it. I felt so stupid for complaining about my life when I should be worried about my mom even having one anymore. I wouldn't accept it though. There was no way anything could happen to her.

Turns out the doctors would let me in at 12 o'clock according to a text I just received from the reception. It said that my mom's condition was getting better. That was a relief. Just yesterday they were saying it was critical and now they were saying it was getting better? Doctors were really messed up...

I looked to my right and on the side table were pictures of Drake and his family. In a beautiful garden, in front of a huge tree, stood a younger and much healthier version of his dad stood on the right with a baby girl whom I assumed was Courtney in his arms. Courtney had short blonde hair at that time. She was smiling, her dimples very prominent. A younger version of his mom, the blonde woman whom I had met yesterday stood on the left, with baby Drake in her arms. Little Drake was the cutest baby I had ever seen in my life. Even then his black hair was way too messy. He wasn't just smiling, he was laughing. Whatever was making him laugh then really deserved a prize. If there was anything that could make him laugh like that again, it was certainly almost impossible to find.