Welcome to the Life of A.J. Taylor

Walking home from the local corner store, after school, had become a kind of ritual for me ever since my mom died. This had been going on for about a year and a half now and it seemed to help clear my head before I stepped foot into my house. I just couldn’t let my personal problems come home with me, which would affect my dad too much. You see, my dad is suffering from paranoia. He used to be a really social person, organising BBQ’s for the neighbours or going to a baseball game with friends but, now he won’t see anyone. No, he can’t see anyone.

He doesn’t trust anyone, he barely trusts me. The only people he sees are his daily carer and me. When I’m at school, his carer helps him do things he wouldn’t do on his own. Without anyone there he wouldn’t get out of bed, he’d just hide under the duvet. His daily carer, Katie, takes him out into the garden and cooks him lunch and waits until I get home.

If we didn’t have Katie, I’m not sure what I would do. I can’t take care of dad on my own, especially with school and homework. When I get home I help Katie get dinner ready and serve it up. Katie stays until about 7pm and then goes home for the night. Dad usually shuffles off to his room at about 8pm and with this, I head upstairs to my room to do as much homework as I can.

I have to work really hard, that way when I’ve finished school and got a good, steady job I can send dad to a special home. It’s not that I want to be free of looking after him, I just don’t think it’s best if he stays with me. I’m only fourteen and I can barely manage my own life, let alone looking after him as well.

Today when I got home, he was having a bad day. He started shouting and coming after me with a baseball bat that he keeps by the door. Katie only just managed to prise the bat from his white knuckled grip. She settled him down in his room, promising to bring in his dinner on a tray so he could rest.

When she came back, I was sitting in the kitchen, trying to steady my breathing. She made three cups of tea, took dads into him and then came and sat down at the kitchen table and placed the cup in front of me. I let the heat work its way into my hands and slowly the shaking subsided. I didn’t look up at her, I just stared at the table.

“It’s only going to get worse isn’t it.” I finally managed to mumble. Katie nodded and looked away.

“I think, it’s time to take him to get checked out.” She paused when she saw my horrified expression.

“It’s just a check up, to make sure we are doing everything right.” Katie finished, not quite meeting my gaze. We sat there until Katie had to leave, not saying anything. As she left, she mumbled a quick farewell and walked out.

That night, I stayed awake for awhile thinking through my options. I finally got to sleep around 3am, hoping I had finally made up my mind. When I woke up, Katie was downstairs making breakfast. I grabbed a piece of toast and buttered it. Katie looked up and smiled at me, I smiled back quickly going over what I had thought of last night.

“Can you book an appointment for dad?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ll book it today.” And with that I smiled and headed off to school.