Wide Awake: Opening the eyes of a Mermaid

Competition Day!

     It was the big day. The state competitions. I'd trained long and hard all year, at least twenty hours of practice a week. None of us were sure we were ready, we were all shaky and not to mention about half our team was sick meaning we were already at a disadvantage. I was perfectly fine though, I wasn't sick or injured or compromised at all. Heck I was probably the most excited on the team. "Kai you ready?" My dad poked his head into my room. I looked back at him from my desk. "Heck yeah I'm ready." I was putting on my waterproof mascara, and puling my hair back. My dad smiled at me, holding something behind his back. He brushed his hand through his hair. I looked back to my mirror putting on some more mascara. "Hey Kai." My dad walked into my room. "Yeah dad?" I stood up and turned around. He walked up to me putting his hands on my shoulders. "Your going to do great today." He smiled. "Thanks dad." I hugged him before quickly pulling away and jumping to get my bag packed. 

     My dad left my room as I put some things into my bag. I grabbed a towel, some extra clothes, my phone charger, headphones, snacks and a large bottle of water. I zipped the bag shut before throwing on my suit, and pulling on some sweatpants and my green t-shirt. I went out to the kitchen putting my stuff down by the door and going to eat breakfast. My sister Marissa was already up, in her pajamas and cat slippers eating a slice of toast. My baby brother Brady was up too. He was bouncing up and down in his crib, holding his blanket with his pacifier in his mouth. My dad swooped by lifting Brady into his arms, causing Brady to laugh.

     I was eating my toast as the doorbell rang. I got up to answer it, I looked through the peephole seeing Dylan. I quickly opened the door. "Hey Dylan! You ready?" He walked inside as I asked. "Yeah. I hope I do okay." I could tell he wasn't feeling his best. "We're all going to do great, even if none of us get above our personal bests, half the team is sick, including you and I'm still recovering from the dislocated shoulder last month. Dylan nodded in response. "Yeah." My dad walked up to me and Dylan. "Hey Dylan! You ready for today?" He asked. "Yeah. I'm ready for it." Dylan replied with false enthusiasm. "That's good to hear." My dad grinned happily. "What time do you guys need to be there?" My dad asked. "Ten." I replied. My dad nodded. "Ok Marissa can stay home, I'm gonna bring Brady with use. He wants to watch his sissy swim." He looked at Brady. Brady giggled in response. 

     Within two hours we were at the competition. We were warming up, the water was freezing which obviously wasn't a good thing for Dylan or the other sick swimmers, because they were all freezing cold and said they were sore. I was cold too but I didn't want to complain. Dylan walked up next to me after we'd warmed up. "I seriously want to go home. That water is so freezing cold. I feel even worse . than before." He muttered quietly. "I know how that feels. Just try to relax until we start." We sat down and before long Dylan was dead asleep. I lightly shook his arm to see if he was awake but he didn't respond. I got a text from my dad. 'Is Dylan alright' My dad texted me. 'Yeah i think he's just really tired' I replied. 'ok.' My dad replied. I mentally facepalmed myself. "Who puts a period at the end of a text?" I asked myself.

     It was another thirty minutes until the competition started. My coach called us over and told me to wake up Dylan. I felt bad but I woke Dylan up anyways. "Come on Dylan. We've gotta go swim." Dylan reluctantly got up, walking over to that start with us. My coach looked at Dylan closely. "You doing alright Maxwell?" My coach asked Dylan. "Yeah I'm alright." Dylan replied. My coach eyes him then looked away. "Okay you guys know what you're swimming. Stay in this general area and get ready to go when your'e up in two turns.

     We hung out for a while until I could tell Dylan was progressively getting worse. I walked up to our coach. "Hey Coach. I don't think Dylan needs to be here. He's really sick I can tell." I claimed. My coach looked at me. "He'd have to be the one to determine that. I can't make him go home. He needs to tell me. I know he isn't feeling well but i can't make the call. He needs to acknowledge it first. I was about to speak when Dylan walked up ready to swim. My coach looked at him. "You ready Maxwell?" He asked. "I'm ready." Dylan replied.