Satisfaction

Chapter 3

Chapter3*

I woke up in the hospital.

The room I was in was silent, except for the steady pace of the heart monitor. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what happened. My brain hurt after a few seconds. I must have drifted to sleep, because when I woke up Brissia, my mom, and Sam sat all around my bed.

"What happened?" I asked.

Mom and Sam exchanged looks. Brissia had her head in her hands. Whatever happened must have been really bad because Brissia never cries.

Sam was the first to speak. "After I told you about the new kid, you freaked and passed out. You didn't wake up until 3 days later. We thought you were......." she couldn't finish.

I tried to register that. I was still confused.

"So, do they know why exactly I passed out?"

It was Brissias turn to talk.

" The doctors have diagnosed you with critical anxiety." she sniffed. " They said that you can only get worse. One more attack like this can.... It can kill you."

"What in the world is anxiety?" I demanded.

"Anxiety," Mom began. "Is basically when little things make you go crazy. In severe cases......,like yours, it can be fatal."

Wow. One day I'm worried about the first day of school, the next I'm hoping that I won't die.

The world is a funny place.

"Mom, Sam, can I please have a word with Brissia? Alone?"

"Sure sweatie. And if you need anything, just let us know."

They shuffled quickly out of the room.

Brissia looked up.

"What?"

I reached for her hand.

" Why were you crying, but Mom wasn't?"

She shrugged.

"Mom was crying when they.... when they diagnosed you. I tried to be strong, but when I came to see you earlier today,.... your heart monitor.... it stopped."

She sobbed into her hands.

"You mean....you mean I was..... I was DEAD?"

Her voice sounded muffled. "Yeah, for a couple of seconds. Then they did the whole 'CLEAR!' thingy, and you came back."

Omg. I died and then came back. No wonder I was so cold.

"Anxiety." I repeated. "Do I still have to go to school?"

She giggled. That made me feel better. At least one person felt good today.

"Yes, you still have to go to school."

I sucked my teeth. I've got some weird condition that I didn't even know was a thing until today, and I STILL have to go to school.

Worst. Year. Ever.

"You need to rest." she sighed. "Doctor's orders."

"You're right."

I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

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I woke up alone again. I felt WAY better than I did last time. I looked around. Since I last saw it, the room hadn't changed.

My belly grumbled. I realized that I hadn't eaten anything in 3 days. I pushed my self up, put some slippers on, and walked towards to cafeteria. Or at least tried to. I forgot that I was connected to the heart monitor. I only made it about three steps before it yanked me back into bed. I fumbled with the strings and turned the monitor off.

When I finally reached the cafeteria, it looked to be about dinner time. I spotted Sam and walked towards her. She was at the Mac and cheese station, as always. She loved Mac and cheese.

She saw me and ran towards me, mac and cheese in hand.

"You're awake!"

"Umm.. yeah. I'm awake."

"What do you want to eat. I KNOW you must be hungry, seeing as you haven't eaten anything in days."

I looked at my stomach. All fat that was there was gone now. Now I looked like a human skeleton.

"I'll take some pizza, fries, a buger, a milkshake, and two bluberry muffins."

She nodded and ran to the fast food section.

I found Brissia, mom, and dad. I sat next to them, surprised to see dad. With his new job and everything, he's usually too busy to see us.

He kissed my cheek.

"How ya doin' princess?"

"Alright I guess. I've got critical anxiety now, so that's new."

He stood up to leave.

"Well, I gotta run. Ya know, taking care of a middle school is hard work."

"Dad, you do realize you're the PRINCIPAL, right? It's not just you taking care of the school."

That's right. My Dad's my principal. One of the many reasons why I hate going to school.

He kissed my mom, hugged Brissia, and strolled out of the room. I don't know how he does it , but outside of school, he's always...cheerful.

By this time, Sam had came back with my food. Mom and Brissia stared at me in disbelief.

"What?" I said with my mouth full of fries.

They giggled and ate their food with me. I felt like the world was back to normal.

Then Jackson walked in.