Claustrophobic (Teddy Duchamp)

7

The front door slammed, waking Teddy up. He had fallen asleep on the couch. He sat up to see a very blurry version of his mom tiptoeing into the living room.

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to wake you up." She came over and sat next to her son on the couch. She pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his head.

"It's alright, Mom," he replied, giving her a reassuring smile.

"How was your first day back at school?" she asked, her usual brightness showing through.

Teddy groped around the couch for his glasses, which had fallen from his face at some point while he was asleep. His mom found them in between the cushions and handed them to him.

"Thanks, Ma," he said as he slipped them on. "It was good. I didn't get into any real trouble yet, so I'd say it was a really good day."

Mrs. Duchamp rolled her eyes and let out a little laugh. "Well, that's good."

"Oh, and Mom, I heated up some soup earlier. There's some left," Teddy told his mom, knowing after her long day that she'd be hungry. "I put the pot in the fridge if you wanted to heat it up."

His mom gave him a very heartfelt smile. "Thanks, Ted. I'll eat in a little while. Now," she stood up, "you need to head to bed."

Teddy groaned as he got up from the couch. He began to walk to his room before turning around. "Hey, Mom, can we go see Dad this weekend?"

A sad look caused Mrs. Duchamp's happy expression falter but then only mixed itself into her smile. "Of course, baby."
_____

By the time Cecelia was done with her shower and such fir the night, it was nearly 11 pm. She always got stuck washing up last. Of course, the few smart people in her family, like her dad and younger brother took showers in the morning.

She walked into her room and went to slide into bed when she noticed someone else was already there. It was Bonnie.

Bonnie usually slept with one of the other girls or their parents, so Cecelia wasn't too sure what to do with the little girl.

Cecelia just lay down where she could and tried to forget about the little snoring mound next to her. That was, until the mound latched onto her like she was some kind of teddy bear.

A sudden feeling of compression came over Cecelia. The child hugging her like a lifeline, the sheets, everything just suddenly felt like they were strangling her. Her breathing became quicker and shorter.

She unattached Bonnie from her and jumped out of the bed. She felt loads better already, but she didn't want to chance it. Therefore, she decided to put Bonnie in Donna's bed.

After making sure they were both still sleeping and alright, she slid back into her own bed. Luckily, the feeling didn't come back to her this time. In a matter of seconds, she was asleep.
_____

Cecelia sat in the same seat she had the day before because it was one of those unspoken rules of school: you keep the same seat unless expressly told to sit somewhere else.

As the class waited for their homeroom teacher to enter and begin class, they all just sat around talking and throwing things because that apparently never gets old. Cecelia took notice of everything around her.

She noticed how each row was evenly spaced, even the desks had an even couple inches between all of them. She liked the spacing, it somehow comforted her to know that there were people there just not right there.

Teddy and Vern were throwing paper balls at each other. Vern trued to throw one at Teddy, but somehow, it hit Cecelia right smack in the back of the head.

She whipped her head around, a stone cold glare set on her face.

Both boys put their hands up in surrender, eyes wide with fear. Teddy lowered one arm to point at Vern.

"It was ol Verno here," he blamed. "I told him not to, but he was so bent on hitting you." Teddy shook his head in mock disappointment.

Vern's face was a deep shade of crimson. "Hey," he dropped his arms, turning to his friend. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"Oh, Verno.. Tsk tsk tsk. Stop being a pussy and just admit you did it. She knows you didn't throw it at her on purpose, you baby blanket," Teddy replied, shaking his head in true disappointment this time.

Cecelia looked at Teddy in question. "Baby blanket? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah Teddy. How am I a baby blanket?" Vern piped in.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "He's soft and kinda dumb." He was talking about Vern but looking at Cecelia.

Her eyebrow remained cocked in confusion. "How is a baby blanket dumb, though?"

"Well, to us bigger people they're dumb because they're too little for us and have stupid little kid stuff all over them."

Realization struck both Cecelia and Vern as they both had an 'aha' moment.

Vern suddenly straightened in his seat and focused his attention to the front of the classroom, as their teacher slammed the door shut.

Cecelia did the same but then turned back around to Teddy.

"Do you always think out your insults so thoroughly?" she asked.

"I don't think anything else out, so I guess I have to think out sonething, right?" he replied, smiling a little.

Cecelia laughed quietly as she turned back around to face the teacher.

Woo another update! I know this chapter wasn't much, but I don't want things to go too fast. Or are they going too slow? Let me know please what you think.

And question: do any if you guys know of Micronesia or the Marshall Islands? Bc I feel like no one at all knows about them. My mom is Pohnpeian, Kosrean (both Micronesian), and Marshallese. So she's very Pacific. Just thought I'd ask. M'kay.

~Mariah