I apologize for this wait. It was long and drawn out but please forgive me. ☹️
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The next morning
Omniscient
"Kaine, get up," Kharisma repeated for the third time in a more stiff tone of voice before putting her finger under his nose to check if he'd stopped breathing.
When he realized that there was something blocking his airway, Kaine frowned in his sleep, reached up towards his nose, and swatted Kharisma's hand away from his face.
Riz smacked her lips and folded her arms across her chest, satisfied that Kaine hadn't passed in his sleep but also extremely irritated with him. She was still dressed in her night clothes because Kaine didn't wake her up like he usually did.
A few minutes shy of thirty minutes after Kaine was supposed to come in her room, Kharisma rolled over and noticed that it was beginning to get light outside. After hurrying to brush her teeth, wash her face, and handle other hygiene matters, Riz ran into Kaine's room to find him still sleeping.
Luckily the two of them still had time to get to school but stopping for breakfast was out of the question.
"Kharisma leave me alone, bro," Kaine groaned in frustration and rolled over to the other side of his large bed before pulling the comforter over his body and putting a pillow over his head. He felt terrible.
Furrowing her eyebrows, Kharisma became concerned about her brother's condition. "What's wrong with you?"
Their family, besides Victoria who got the flu every year during that season, had pretty strong immune systems so it was uncommon for them to get sick.
"Ion feel good," Kaine stated, his voice sounding extremely nasally since his nose was stopped up and also muffled since his head was still placed under the pillow.
"Want me to go get momma," Riz asked, raising an eyebrow as she made her way to the door of Kaine's room without giving him an opportunity to respond.
"Mhm," Kaine mumbled in response before pulling the comforter up further and completely over his head even though he was already hot.
Knocking on the door to her mother's room, Kharisma spoke, "Ma." Luckily Victoria was already awake so that she could take Kaydence to school and then head to her beauty salon.
"Come in," Victoria yelled from deep inside her closet. She was searching for her favorite pair of black jeans to wear. They always made Victoria's behind look nice and she felt like having people's eyes on her that day.
"Kaine doesn't feel good. He told me to come and get you so you can see what's wrong," Riz replied, walking over to Victoria's dresser and picking up more than ten red Pappadeaux peppermints. Every time that Victoria visited her favorite restaurant she managed to walk out with almost the entire bowl of mints stuffed into her purse but she didn't care.
"Tell him I said to get his ass up and get ready for school," Victoria spoke, walking out of the closet as she buttoned up her jeans. She wasn't taking Kharisma seriously because she knew that her three children liked to play hookie on occasions and stay home from school. Victoria assumed Kaine had a presentation or something that he wasn't mentally prepared for.
