Hope «h.s.»

Eleven.

Chapter 11:

Waking up to the sound of glass breaking was not a good way to wake up. I rolled over in my bed, faintly seeing a message from Scottie. I lazily closed my eyes again and reached for the stupid phone. I went straight to bed after all the high emotions from last night. Rene fell asleep to her book, so there was nothing else to do, so I slept. And at the early hour of seven, my eyes still barely wanted to open.

But eventually I got them to, reading the message faintly. It said the shop would be closed today, which was good. I did not want to get up. My head was starting to hurt for some reason. I knew, if I got sick, that that would be the end of me.

But it turned out my head was not pounding, it was a noise coming from outside my room, but in the house. Determined to make it end, I slid my covers off and slowly rubbed my eyes as I sat at the end of my bed. It was getting louder by the second so I stood up and quickly grabbed my hairbrush and swept the bristles through my tangled mess of hair before opening my door to the pounding sound amplified to a hundred.

When the living room and kitchen came into view, I saw dad standing there stomping his feet and literally banging pots and pans. Was he really that high?

"Piper!" He shouted and set down the pot and pan, taking me in an embrace. "You're awake. I got you something."

I pushed him back sooner than he expected because the scent of smoke could be smelt on him from a football field away. I smiled, already knowing what it was. He expanding his arm and held out a pack of cigarettes: a usual gift from my loving dad after his surprise vacations.

"No thanks dad, I'm not a smoker," I said for what feels like the millionth time to him. Why does he keep insisting I smoke? I've been in health class, I know what they do to you and what is in those nasty things.

Dad just smiled and shook his head. "One day Pipey, you'll have to give in just like the rest of us," he said.

I gave him my fake smile, accepting the gift and thinking of ways to unnoticeably dispose of it. I sighed. It is good to have him back.

I walked over to Rene's room. She surprisingly did not wake up from the banging, which I found odd. I lightly knocked before peeping my head through.

"Piper?" Rene's soft voice spoke out.

I entered the bedroom fully. "Yeah."

Only the top of her head could be seen because of the covers pulled onto her face. "I don't feel good," she whispered, slowly pulling the sheets off of her head.

I stood there in shock. She was paler than usual. "What hurts?" I asked, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

Rene's arm popped out from underneath the covers and pointed to her stomach.

"You have a stomach ache?" I asked lightly.

She nodded. To be honest, I had no idea what to do. I was so drained from yesterday and just a few minutes ago, seeing that dad came back, that I too felt a bit fatigued. Maybe we all got it from Scottie. He was sick.

Then I thought. Scottie. I always went to Scottie when bad things happened like this. But now he was sick and I knew he would know just what to do for Rene. He could buy medicine, he was eighteen now and legal. What was I going to do if Rene got worse? Ask dad? Maybe we had some stored in the bathroom just in case...

I sighed. Maybe waiting this out would be best.

"Just stay in bed for a while. You might feel better. I'll make some soup for you," I said, brushing some of Rene's thick brown hair off her tan face. She looked just like me. She was my little mirror and it always hurt me to see her sick.