Blended Family

Joey

I still felt like death.  Truly.  There'd been a couple kids at my school who had gotten mono at some point.  I always thought they were being babies about it, but I was completely drained.  My body ached, I had headaches, and worst of all I slept constantly.   I liked my sleep like any teenager, but I also liked to get things done.  Why sleep nine hours a night, when I could get in 6 or 7 and have two more hours to get more work accomplished?

I wasn't a dishonest kid, but I'd admittedly pulled the wool over Dad's eyes on this one.  I'd tell him goodnight and then go to my room and study for hours more.  I was heavy with the concealer under my eyes.  The 5-Hour Energy did wonders for my demeanor.  I was anxious as hell, but I was awake and productive.

The second day I was home from school with mono, I sat on my bed trying to get work done and ended up falling asleep.  It was so frustrating trying to get things done.  I awoke with a startle – Alex screaming and running through the house.

"Alex!" I heard my dad try to whisper-yell at her.  I could hear him chasing after her as she screeched.  I sat up, my head pounding again.  Dad must have covered me up because I had a blanket over me.  I swung my legs over the bed, went to the restroom, then out to the kitchen to find some more meds.  Alex was still screaming.  Nothing was wrong.  She was just joyous and apparently that's how she expressed it.

I found the Tylenol and filled a glass of water as Dad tried to calm her down.  Soon, Jack was screaming from down the hallway where he'd been napping.

"Dammit!" I rubbed at my temples.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Dad told me.  "I'm gonna take them to the park so you can get some peace."

He'd been pulling shoes onto Alex's feet, and he set her down on the ground.  "Indoor voices, Alex," he reminded her gently.  "Joey has a headache."

He rushed down the hallway to get Jack.  A few minutes later he was quiet and finally Alex had quick screaming.  She'd found a doll on the floor and was force feeding it a bottle.  She pounded its head.

I swallowed my pills with a bunch of water, then wandered back towards my room.  Dad was coming out of the bedroom with a still slightly cranky Jack.  "Sorry," he told me, pressing a quick kiss to my head.  "Go back to sleep."

I gladly did, wanting to do nothing more than hibernate until this virus had past.  The really frustrating part was that no one knew how long it would last.  I had stuff to get done.  I didn't have time for this.  Soon, I was back in dreamland.

When I woke up again, it was dark out.  My head and whole body hurt again.  I slowly sat up, groaning and went to the door.  My bladder was completely full so I shuffled to the bathroom, which was luckily free.  After peeing, I quietly opened the door.  I thought I'd heard Dad and Pippa talking in the kitchen.

"I think that's reasonable," I heard Pippa say.  "The first week or so will be the hardest, I'm sure.  She needs peace and quiet to start to recover."

"I just don't want to mess up any progress they're making," Dad said.  "They've been doing so great.  If they get out of their routine and they're with someone else, it might throw them off."

"It's their grandparents though," Pippa said.  "They'd love to spend time with Alex and Jack."

I realized they were talking about sending Alex and Jack away for a few days with their grandparents.  Because of me.  I felt a little guilty that I would be causing this.  They could be loud sometimes, I had to admit.  Having a quiet house for a few days would be nice.  It was crazy how just a few months ago it had been just Dad and me.  Now I was kind of used to a full, noisy house.