Who's Afraid of Little Old Me

I Become A Certified Zombie

Congratulations, you're reading a book. If you think this will be a happy story, you're dead wrong, this is the story about how a plane completely fucked up my and my family's life.

It was a day like any other, my family and I were waiting in an airport for our plane, we had just taken a vacation in Jamaica. My grandmother said that the vacation was a good chance for us all to get together, me, my siblings, parents, grandparents and my Aunt Michaela. She claimed it was to bring us closer together but I knew the real reason why we went on this vacation, it was to keep my family distracted from just how fucked up it was getting. My brother, Cal, was diagnosed with cancer also 5 years ago when he was 6 years old, lately his cancer has been getting worse and my parents fight almost every waking second about it. My mum wants to enjoy Cal's last few months with him, to accept the unacceptable and let Cal enjoy his life, my dad wants to do the opposite, he wants to keep fighting, keep researching, keep trying to find a way to save Cal, even if that makes spending days on end latched to his computer searching for something that's never been done before, a cure for cancer. 

My aunt, was also struggling, only a few months ago she and her best friend got in a car crash, she survived but her best friend of 19 years didn't.

I wasn't supposed to know any of this but you'd be surprised what a teenage girl with a great ear can find out.

My grandmother was braiding my younger sister's hair, she threw a group of Olive's brown locks over the other, creating a pretty rope material. I've always been jealous of Olive's hair, her and Cal take after my mother, Olive has thick curly brown hair with hazel eyes, she has my mother's Greek tan skin, before Cal's cancer he had the same thick hair but since he's gotten sick, it's thinned out. Cal has the same skin tone as me and my dad, we're pale with yellow undertones, my hair is blonde and blue, I'm the only one out of my siblings with blonde hair but my grandparents, aunt and dad are all blondes too. "It's not just about you, this family needs something to celebrate," my Nan told Aunt Michaela.

Aunt Michaela rolled her eyes, "That's a pretty backwards reason for a wedding."

I scroll on my phone as I listen to their conversation, two weeks ago, before we went to Jamaica, Aunt Mick's boyfriend proposed to her, instead of saying yes or no, she simply asked for some time to decide. My phone start to glitch as the screen went black, "Fuck," I muttered to myself.

"Madilynn Stone! Don't curse," my father scolded me.

"All passengers for Flight 537 to New York John F. Kennedy Airport, your attention please. This flight is oversold. We are offering gift vouchers in the amount of $400 for anyone willing to catch a later flight," the airline lady said over a microphone.

Aunt Michaela stood up, "Yes, that's me."

"Can I go?" I ask my parents.

Mum shook her head, "No-"

"It's $400 per person, Grace. That's our next trip to the clinic paid for," my dad countered.

"I'll go with Dad and Maddie," Cal offered.

"There you go!" Dad high-fived Cal and tried to do the same to me, I crossed my arms.

"High-fives? What am I six?"

"Hey!"

Mum gave in pretty quickly, she didn't want us splitting up but she had to admit, $1200 of flight voucher was a pretty good bargain.

So I watched Mum, Olive and my grandparents board there flight and I waited. I don't know how long I waited for, I have ADHD and sometimes my perception of time can be off, it could of been an hour, maybe 2, maybe even 4, I don't know, all I do know is that the sun had set during the time it took.