Survivin' - [B.C.]

Chapter 9: Only Family

"You're gonna be fine," I whispered. I was an inch away from unconsciousness.

"Oh - and I love you."

========== SURVIVIN' ==========

I woke up on the floor, drenched in sweat with a strangled scream caught in my throat. But I didn't know what I was trying to scream about. No harsh nightmares or images flashed before my eyes - not even the picture. I couldn't recall anything remotely alarming. All I remember was last night when Ben had hummed me straight to sleep, his last words telling me I'd be fine. It almost felt like a dream. Maybe that's what the scream was meant for - demanding I wake up because there's something good waiting for me. But why was I sweaty?

I slowly heaved myself off the floor. My head rushed for a moment as I stood and leaned against the door for support. I felt better. Something inside me just... I don't know. There was something there that hadn't existed before.

Remembering my phone going off all day yesterday, I walked over to my bed and unplugged it from the charger. I had 47 missed calls from Toby and a shit ton of chats he left behind. I immediately started worrying and opened his chats.

TOBYYY
✨RiSe AnD sHiNe✨
Yo are you up?
🐁🐀🐿🦫🐁🐀🐿🦫🐁🐀🐿🦫
Cal?
Hey, Cal
Caaaaaalllllllllll
No seriously are you okay???
Cal?
Shit Cal normal people aren't still asleep at 12:00 PM 😭
Are you alive????!!!!
I just called you like ten times!
I guess not
Okay I have something to say
If you're dead, you're not gonna see it so I guess it's fine for me to say it up here now
Okaysobasicallyihavethislikemajorcrushonyouandiknowithasn'tevenbeentwoweeksyetbutijustwantedyoutoknowthatilikereallylikeyouokaylikeilikelikeyouliketheboogeymanloveschildren'ssouls...
Well shit I guess if you weren't talking to me before then you def won't talk to me now
Does that mean I can do this?
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
hehe <3
do do do do do...
Wait no because it's almost 3PM now and you haven't even opened my messages
Cal are you okay?
CAL!
Cal???
Cal
Cal
Cal
Cal
Cal goddamnit im crying im literally so worried are you ok
oh no
Oh no please don't be dead
cal I'm so sorry
is this my fault
omg cal no

I couldn't decide whether to laugh, cry, or throw up at Toby's messages. Some of them were funny. Most of them made me feel bad. One of them made me want to puke my guts out because it made so happy, excited, and scared. I immediately started to answer him. Before I even typed two letters out, his bitmoji appeared in the left corner of my screen.

'hi Toby :) I'm sorry i didn't respond to any of your messages. i was, uh, pretty busy yesterday hehe... but no I'm alive and i'm okay :)) p.s - ireallylikelikeyoutoo'

I exited Snapchat and decided to change into some clean clothes and enter the mystifying world below my cooped bedroom.

I slowly crept down the three flights of stairs, trying my best not to make too much noise so as to not alarm any living beings that may still reside in this house. I peeked inside the kitchen and only saw Rodney.

Rodney Markellini (or just Rodney or Rod) was a 35-year-old guy who Ben and Sophie hired some time ago to manage the house while they were gone or when they couldn't manage it themselves. I always thought that if you won't ever have the time to clean it and keep up with it, why buy a huge and expensive house? It doesn't make much sense.

But Rodney's cool. He tries his best. Works his hardest. Ben and Sophie said they treat him like family because he's doing what they would do for other family members (even though he's getting paid big time for it). I was told to treat him the same because he's such a nice guy anyway. I hadn't actually met him in person before then. Ben and Sophie had just told me all these stories about him.