If you have clicked on this story, it either means you are way too curious, or you are one of us. Then again, I have too much curiosity too. Know that once you scroll down, there is no going back. You can't just walk away and forget about it, because the memories and dreams will haunt you. So be ready for the journey ahead. Because it is going to be a tough one. Anyone that isn't ready, go ahead and click out of this page.The rest of you, take a deep breath and scroll down.
The next morning I slept in. It was a weekend, after all. My body wanted to get as much rest as possible, and I ended up sleeping in until 8:30. I looked at the clock the moment I woke up, like usual, and was surprised at the time. “New record,” I muttered. It would be my new record for a long time. Everyone else was likely already awake, so I just decided to watch tv for a while. I was still tired, but everyone is tired in the morning, right? Sure. Let's point it towards that. It was a regular Saturday, cleaning, relaxing, playing outside. I didn't feel much better, but again, I dismissed it to hormones or the anxiety of school. Sunday was the same, just more cleaning. I was excited for the upcoming Christmas, and for when we get our new hardwood floors. I'm a little weird, so one of my passions is organizing, especially when it means packing something up and unpacking it. And we were going to move, once we got our house fixed up a little bit. I mean, four kids and two dogs can seriously destroy the carpet and walls. I'm surprised that we haven't punched a hole in the wall yet!
By Monday, I was starting to worry for myself. As far as I could tell, no one else was this tired. But I went through school like I always do. In Language Arts, Ms. Conch harassed me as usual. P.E. was more pickleball. I told Ivy about my exhaustion, and she tried to reassure me that it was probably normal. “I bet you just have a lot of anxiety or something,” she said, through her tie-dyed mask. They didn't put on any music this time, so my energy didn't return. In Orchestra, we worked on Dragonslayer and holiday music. Playing the cello in that class didn't take too much work, since I was far ahead of almost everyone in the class. It was easy. And cellos get to sit down, so that also helped. In lunch, I just ate and talked to Ivy about random things like our opinions of dragons and dinosaurs. “Dinosaurs are just dragons without wings!” I'd say, between bites of a ham sandwich. “No, dinosaurs are completely different than dinosaurs!” she argued, then we both laughed. Yep, that's me and Ivy. We'll argue and then laugh over it.
I struggled through math. Our teacher was nice, and my class was great, but I HATE MATH. It's honestly a passion. Everything just went in one ear and out the other. I was barely holding an A-, and there was a test on Friday. “When dividing integers and rational numbers…” And that's about all I remember. When I got home, the same routine. Cheetos, my dog, and my bed. It was wonderful. I struggled my way through Tuesday, but Wednesday is when it all fell apart.
I had been more exhausted than before. I managed to stay awake during Language arts, Gym, and orchestra, but at lunch, I just couldn't. The teachers decided, “Hey, let's put on extremely calming classical music at lunch!” I was talking to Ivy about something ridiculous one of my sisters did when they turned on the music. My eyes started closing. My head started to lean forward. Mashed potatoes got closer and closer to my face. “Sky? Sky, are you okay?” Ivy asked, yelling into my ear before everything went black.
