My Other Half

Typical Day

"SIMONE! GET YOUR ASS IN YOUR BROTHER'S ROOM AND SHUT HIM UP!" Johnathan's voice boomed from the living room.

I sighed, pushed my binder off my lap, and lifted myself from my bed. I pushed past my cracked bedroom door and rushed through the living room. I freaking hated Johnathan. My brother was screaming and throwing a fit in his room and here he was, lounging on the couch, tv blaring and not giving a single f*ck.

I soon entered Jake's room, hopping over a massacre of Legos and toy trains strewn about. I knelt down beside him. "What's the matter, buddy?" I asked calmly.

Hot tears streaked Jake's red face as he pointed to an attempted Lego creation. I looked down at it sympathetically. He had tried to build a plane again, but it hadn't worked. He had run out of a particular gray piece needed to make the wings, and he had tried to jab on a different one to substitute. It wasn't fitting.

This was nothing new. In fact, it was practically routine for Jake and I. A typical event from a typical day. Jake would try to make something, he would mess up, get upset, and I'd have to come in and make him feel better. Jake's autism caused him to feel really frustrated when something didn't go right. It didn't happen as frequently as it used to, but it still hurt my eardrums yet broke my heart just the same.

"Here, Bud...look," I picked the plane up gently in my hands. "I'm sure we can find something else to fit..."

Jake shrieked loudly in my face and snatched the tiny plane from me, throwing it to the floor. It smashed into a bunch of Lego pieces, each one scattering along the hardwood. Most flew against the closet, others underneath his toy chest, and the remaining skidded beneath the bed. He then threw himself onto the floor, kicking, hollering, and pounding his tiny fists against the ground. His screams were so loud and explosive I expected him to lose his voice any minute.

As for me, I just sat with my knees against my chest and watched. What else was I going to do? He broke it. He had obviously given up. "Jake..," I moaned, exhausted. "Please, stop. You're going to hurt yourself..."

No matter what I tried, I couldn't quell Jake as easily as I used to. He was getting bigger and older, almost second grade level. His tantrums and outbursts were more explosive, causing me to freak when he flipped because I didn't work well under pressure. He didn't listen to anyone anymore, and Johnathan got really frustrated with him extremely fast. That, might I add, did not help the matter whatsoever. There was only one person who could calm him down within a heartbeat...

"What's going on in here?" Aaliyah rolled in in her wheelchair covered with Transformer stickers (courtesy of Jake's decoration skills).

I looked up at my sister with a tired smile. "Ya boy just smashed his entire Lego plane because one piece didn't fit. It's a shame-it looks like it would've been freaking amazing."

"Jake!" Aaliyah's exaggerated shock was enough to get Jake's attention. He looked up from the floor and paused his tantrum. "How could you do that? You know what-we're gonna build another one! Just give me a sec-"

Aaliyah backed up her wheelchair, turned around, and quickly wheeled out the door. She returned minutes later with a bag filled to the brim with a rainbow of different color Legos. She shook the bag with a huge smile on her face.

Jake leapt from the floor and hopped to her excitedly, attempting to snatch the bag. Aaliyah held it just out of his reach. "Uh-uh. What do you say?"

"Pllleeeeeeease?" Jake grinned.

"Of course!" she unzipped the bag and dumped all the pieces out onto the floor. Jake shrieked happily and scrambled to organize and separate them by color.

"Johnathan's gonna kick your ass, Liyah," I sniggered. "His room's already a Toys-R-Us battlefield!"

"Who cares?" Aaliyah laughed. "It's better than Jake waking the dead with his screaming!"

"Guess so." Aaliyah and I continued to help Jake sort his pieces. He was completely calm and focused on his work. "Jeez, Liyah. You really are the master."

Aaliyah crossed her arms boastfully. "I know. Just say it. I WAS BORN A BOSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

We both laughed and chatted for hours as we assisted Jake with his masterpiece. Eventually, all there was left to do was to stick the two halves of the plane together. Jake stuck one wing in my hand, and the other in Aaliyah's. I stood up to level with her wheelchair, and we slowly began to connect the pieces. They snapped together instantly, and the plane was intact! We all clapped and cheered, Jake and I hopping around the room with our hands intertwined. Aaliyah started zooming around in circles in her wheelchair, making wildly accurate Roadrunner noises. I could never handle when she did that, so I fell to the floor laughing and holding my aching sides.

It was a typical day, but a good one.

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Thanks for reading. Please leave questions and comments. I'll be back soon with another chapter!!!!