Admiring the Light

Ep 33

Present

"Are you gonna shovel or no? Are you just gonna sit on your lazy ass all day?" Katherine had no patience as her daughter lounged around on the couch. But Natalie felt like she wanted to bend over the toilet holding her stomach. In a hour she'd went from 0 to 100. "Urgh... what do you think?"

"I see you just sitting on the sofa for hours on end, and wonder where I went wrong." She muttered in annoyance.

"I feel sick, mom..." She grumbled. She wasn't big on getting annoyed, but did her mother not see she wasn't feeling good?

"Well, take something! Why are you just sitting there?!" Katherine snapped.

"Nothing stays down?!"

"Force it. Drink some water."

"Water only makes it worse!" Natalie rushed off to the bathroom down the hall, chunks hurled into the garbage bin. "Blegh-"

She couldn't believe how much came out on the second round, a pile of vomit in the garbage. Something out of a horror movie. The smell could've been making her puke by now. "Fuck..."

"Will you be able to eat tomorrow?"

Natalie snapped, her mother's only concern was her ability to eat. She was keeling over the toilet vomiting, and Katherine didn't seem to care one bit. "THAT'S YOUR CONCERN?!"

"Uhm-"

"Please, just don't. I need help, mom." She sighed. And to her surprise, Katherine walked off.

Natalie couldn't even keep pills or chewables down, as she pulled a small rosary from her pants. "Our father, who art in heaven..."

"Paper towels?"

"Thanks-"

"Sorry for pushing you."

"Uh- it's fine... urgh-" Natalie heaved again.

"Lost a few pounds there, didn't you, Natalie?" Katherine glanced down at the mound of rotten vomit in the trash.

"If that's a lot to you, you've never seen my shits, Mom."

"Pffft."

"This could pollute the fucking water supply, Scarecrow style." She lifted the can to hand it off to her mother, careful not to get any of the wet, regurgitated food on her hands. "It's so icky... I hate the smell."

"I'll go dump it in the woods."

"Don't kill the animals!" Natalie added.

...

Katherine had never seen her daughter reject a plate of fried food before. "You're sick as a fucking dog, my god." She huffed.

"I'm just a little tired, no issue."

Head to the forehead, she could instantly disprove that claim with the heat radiating from her. "You're burning up, Natalie."

"I feel fine, it's no problem." Natalie tried to shoo her mom away.

"You're taking another round of meds, you need to fight this."

"Fight what?!"

"THIS FUCKING BUG YOU HAVE!" Katherine snapped.

"Okay! Okay, I'll take flu medicine."

"Hmph."

Katherine looked over again, and Natalie was hunched over into sleep.

"What am I going to do with her..."

...

Natalie liked that she'd come to mass alone, Guinevere and her mother got a chance to rest before thanksgiving started. She and Lola could just sit in quiet and enjoy the service.