The Days Of Kelsea's

(24) Kelsea - Friday 1st September, just before 12 midnight, My Room.

I remember closing my eyes as I thought about Kale and what he had said. 

At the doctor's you have to book an appointment in advance, and Lucy won't allow me to take her to Accident and Emergency so that she can get seen right away. Therefore I had to book an appointment for tomorrow morning, at eleven. I tucked her into bed with a glass of water and she slept like a baby as I watched her with the curtains drawn, as the sun went down in the world outside. I was glad that I didn't have to make her any dinner; it was just me I'd have to worry about. I didn't have to make anything spectacular.  

I crept downstairs and past mum who was asleep on the sofa annoyingly with a glass of wine. I made beans on toast, and clever me set the smoke alarm off because I didn't watch the toaster (it's old and you can't leave it on it's own) because I was reading an old book I'd dug out. 

The loud screeching sound woke both my angry mother and disorientated little sister, and as I went and got a chair to try and switch the button on the ceiling off, mum stormed in with a screech. 

"What the fuck are you doing!" She yelled angrily, waving her arms around. 

"Go back to sleep!" Was what I screamed back. That was when Lucy's figure appeared in the doorway, shaking and pale. Both of us looked over at her, and I went and stood in front of her, blocking her from mum's view.  

"Go back to sleep, Luce," I whispered, smoothing her hair back. "It was just an accident." 

"She's not been sick again, has she?" Mum demanded in the background, her voice bored. Like always, we both ignored her. Lucy nodded at me timidly and then turned around to slowly walk into the hall and back up the stairs. 

I made my beans on toast in silence. Nothing was burnt. Mother went and sat back in the living room, and I heard the TV come on. I don't know what program it was and I wasn't interested. I sat at the table alone, and I ate, and for the first time in ages, I called Dad. 

He sounded sleepy when he answered, or at least something like it. It was one of those rare occasions where Gillian didn't answer for him. 

"Hello?" 

"Hi, Dad." I tried to sound cheery. Kind of hard when you have a dad like mine. 

Silence for a while. Then, "Kelsea. What's up?" 

"Um," I began. I knew that would make him annoyed, so I rushed on to say, "I don't know, I kind of just wanted to chat. I haven't spoken to you in a while." 

At this point I was standing up, grabbing my coat, and going out into the front garden. It was the best place to talk because no one would hear.  

"I'm kind of busy right now," was the monotonous reply that I expected. It came. "Leo's sick." 

That was no reason for my dad to be busy. Even though he likes Leo more than Lucy and I, he spends limited time with him anyway. Especially not if he's unwell. I've never seen my dad administer medicine or change a nappy or put a child to bed. And I can't imagine it, either.  

Despite all this, I didn't make him know I was annoyed. "So is Lucy!" I replied in one of those high-five kind of ways, but it was nothing to do a high five about. I sat down on a bit of broken wall beside mum's car. "Maybe there is a bug going around, but I mean, Lucy has been sick for a while. I'm getting kind of worried. What with mum not having a job right now either." 

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line, and then, "Well, Kelsea, I do pay child support. Victoria knows that. You shouldn't be struggling that much." 

"I wasn't even asking for help, Dad," I snapped suddenly. "I only wanted to talk to you." 

"Well, you're talking to me right now anyway, aren't you?" He asked in a bored voice.