The Troubles of Growing Up

Chapter 11

I guess a pursuit had just ended in front of the hotel. I went back to the couch bed where Haylee was still sleeping. She was laying on her side now. Kind of curled up in a ball in the slightest way. She was chattering her teeth. It was around 40°F outside, even in Minnesota that's cold. Not near as cold as it gets but still cold. I tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, wake up for a second." She didn't respond. Not even in the slightest. I grabbed the covers and tugged. First slightly, then hard. That woke her up. She woke in a panic as if she was going to fall but I tugged her towards the center of the bed. She looked at me. First with a terrified expression and then an angry one, but then she looked around at the flashing purple room and was confused.

"Police pursuit ended out there" I whispered, pointing at the window. She looked over, she got up and walked over and pressed against the glass. I swear she looked like one of those kids in those movies, you know the ones who press their face against the glass of a toy store when a new toy comes out and they're so astonished by it. Mesmerized. She was fascinated. I tapped her again and she turned around quickly. Startling me.

"Woah." I exclaimed.

"Sorry." She responded.

"Just saying you were chattering your teeth in your sleep. And you're in public clothes. Change and go back to sleep." I told her.

"That's why you woke me?" She seemed disappointed.

"Well I didn't want you to be cold I guess. I'm sorry." I replied. She walked over to the bathroom and came out in her pajamas. I guess she left them in there.

"Happy?" She giggled. She sat in the bed. And I sat next to her. We stared at the purple and then blue and then red ceiling. She laid her head on my shoulder.We sat there staring until there was no more purple, just blue and red. I realized that I had put my arm around her at some point because there it was. Against her back and my hand was wrapping around the top of her shoulder. I let go of her and started to get up.

"We should get back to sleep now." I smiled at her. She smiled and got comfortable and stared at the ceiling. The flashing colors had stopped. I looked out the window and saw just one Charger sitting there, finishing up. Lights off. I laid back in the bed. Haylee leaned towards me sort of rolling onto me closing her eyes. I looked at her and she looked too comfortable for me to disturb so I stared at the ceiling and fell asleep. When I woke up I felt Haylee pressing against me still but she was holding me tighter than when she fell asleep. I looked at her and her facial expression was weird. I tapped her and then she buried her face into my chest. Her expression worsened before it disappeared. It almost looked as if she was in pain, you know how people scrunch their face up to cope with pain. I tapped her again and she grabbed me and squeezed me tighter. Finally I shook her. She pushed away with a gasp and then fell off the bed. I rushed over to make sure she was okay. She sat in a panic. She looked at me, breathing heavily. I got out of the bed and I sat next to her, placing my hand on her back. I tried to comfort her. She just sat there. With her arms around her legs and her face in her arms. I looked over at Paige and my mom. Still sleeping. I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It was 9:37 am. I stayed next to Haylee and pulled up our favorite youtuber. Markiplier. She stayed all cramped up while I started a video. It was an old video. I thought it was the funniest video he had ever posted. It played for a good minute before I heard Hayl chuckle. It was small but still she laughed. After two more minutes went by she finally looked up. She was giggling with the biggest smile. I couldn't really tell because it was half hidden by her arm. But she was giggling nonetheless. We watched a few more videos before the laughter woke up Paige. We all decided to go get breakfast. After that we started to pack up.

"Are you gonna wake mom up?" I asked Paige.

"You wake her up." she boasted. Coincidentally that woke her up.