Outcasts

Chapter Twenty-Four (Jeah)

I moan and stretch out my tight limbs. Separating my eyelids, I see the morning light.

When the bright sunlight reflects off of my irises, my head throbs in pain. I wince and snap my eyes closed. I moan again, feeling a wave of drowsiness and confusion hit me like a brick.

Where am I? What happened?

The light seems to dim as my eyes focus, and I begin to make out colors and figures. Beautiful bright circles dance in my vision.

How did I get in my room?

I turn my head and feel the softness of the pillow cradling my neck. The warmth of the blankets make me yawn. I feel a wave of nausea hit me in protest of my early awakening.

Morning.

When I kick off the covers, I immediately regret it. A wave of chill prickles my skin. The pangs in my stomach become sharper as I curl myself into a ball. I am struck with goosebumps and shudders of chilling air. While my teeth chatter, my head continues to ache.

I reach down blindly and pull the covers over me. A sigh escapes my lips and I let the blanket surround me in a comfortable cloud of calmness.

I remember my sister caring me like I was a small infant, like I was lighter than a feather. She had laid me down in bed and kissed my forehead. She tidied up my bedroom and swaddled me in a blanket, caring for me like a sister should. I remember the searing pain in the backs of my eyes that meant my they were glowing. My forehead is still warm where she rubbed it until I fell asleep.

I sit up and look around, feeling alert. I feel aches rush up and down my body in protest. I am freezing once again. My heart beats faster, and my stomach drops when the thought occurs to me.

I have a fever.

"Calm down." Cringing, I hear the unevenness in my hoarse voice.

I turn myself so that my legs dangle off the side of my bed. My feet flex forward, and hover inches above the ground. Like wading into water, my feet become cold and numb when my skin meets the floor. Then I am standing on my own two feet. I give a shaky sigh, remembering the times when my aching feet were propped up on my fluffy mattress. The way the blankets surrounded me like water, threatening to drown me into a sweet bliss, I already miss that.

My head lolls to the side and I catch myself, flinching awake. My eyes strain for their suffering to be relived with endless hours of sleep.

"No." I scold myself. My feet take long lingering steps away from my bed. I whimper at the cold and take my soft comforter along with me. I drape my blanket on my shoulders like a cape and bind my cold self in the heavenly warmth.

Then I rush out of the room, feeling a strange burst of energy. I zip out my room, almost losing my balance and falling on my face.

Oh yeah, I remember. I have super speed now.

I sigh, and try to balance myself. Even as I begin to walk I feel dizzy from the new found speed. The world seems to spiral even when I am standing still. At the top of the steps, I feel like I am about to faint. The world tilts and I grit my teeth for stability.

Each step is a grueling rollercoaster that sends my stomach into waves of nausea. Eventually, I gained a sweet rhythm of descending the steps. The rhythm became a music, healing my mind for just a second. Each step sends my body swaying slightly to the side, but as I hold the railing I manage to keep my balance, and, for the most part, my feet on the ground.

I let out a sigh when I reach the bottom of the stairs. All the tension I had felt was released into complete drowsiness. I feel my knees begin to buckle.

I shake my head to clear all the cloudiness from my head.

Then I remember what I came downstairs for. "Hello?" My raspy voice called out in question, interrogating the silence air. "Anybody home?"

I walked, keeping a hand on the wall for balance.  My mind had settled on a destination as I moved forward slowly down the hall.

I am at the doors of the dining room. I nudge the door with my shoulder and it budges.

Disappointingly, I see no one. Nothing indicates me that anyone had been there in the first place. I am all alone.

And then I see something on the table. Something that stands out so distinctively I knew I should have noticed it a long time ago: a yellow sticky note.

In one stride, I am able to reach the sticky note and snatch it in my hand.  Lifting the note to my eyes, I scan the words that had been scribbled in elegant cursive.

Jeah,

We all hope that you feel better. If you are awake and hungry, help yourself to anything in the kitchen.

Also, we thing you are ready to have this.

Love,

Dad, Mom, Aunt Laura and Haile

Ready to have what?

Peering down at the bronze colored table, I see a gift waiting for me.

On the table, sits a rectangle structure that could fit in my hand. The screen still gleams, clean of fingerprints and scratches. But even among these things, I can only see one thing: a phone.

I squeal and pick up the phone. I dance around, holding my blanket-cape securely in place.

But when I open the phone I gasp when I see the date. It's Friday afternoon. Laughing crazily, I look at the date and time over and over again. Wow! I really did sleep in!

I peer down at the sticky-note and re-read the words.

Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.

My head starts to spin when I think of the kitchen. With one look to my right, I see the kitchen door, closed like always.

It stands before me like a powerful guardian, blocking my path to the kitchen.

And then I am suddenly standing in front of it, feeling for the doorknob, and flinging open the door. Instead of seeing the grassy plain I had somewhat wished to see, I saw a kitchen. A real kitchen! A microwave, fridge, stove, oven, and counters and cabinets. My feet become stone cold when they brush against the white tile. My breath catches in my throat.

My stomach growls and my hands fidget. Darting around, my eyes spot many colors of the wonderful foods. Opening the fridge, I see the shelves adorned with even more ingredients.

I spot a red tomato and an idea forms. Reaching for my phone, I know just what recipe to look up. Dropping my blanket, I free my other hand to begin hunting for a spoon.

And then I went to work, feeling more at home than ever before.