Beautifully Insane

XI. Max

When he sees Axel his eyes go big and he says,
"Axel! What a surprise, welcome home, help me with these bags would ya." He grabs the bags out of dad's hand and I  go outside to get the rest of them. Dad follows me to his car and I grab two bags out of the trunk.

"Did you know Axel was coming home today?" My dad ask as we walk inside with the last of the bags. I put the bags down in the kitchen and start to look inside them.

"I'm just as surprised as you dad," I say while pulling out a carton of eggs.
"I wanted to surprise everyone," Axel says from behind the refrigerator.
"Well you succeeded," dad says while smiling.

For the next three minutes we finish putting the groceries up and then my sister comes back home. When she sees Axel she hugs him and says,

"Oh my gosh Axel! What are you doing here? Did you drop out of college? Did you get kicked out? Jeez Axe it's only been a week and you've already screwed up." She's talking so fast I only catch the last part.

Everyone is so excited to see him. I'm not the only one who hasn't seen him in months. He's been so busy with football and college, the only time we see him is on t.v.

"It's nice to see you too Sam, and no I did not get kicked out of college. Couch gave us the weekend to go back home before the season starts, also because he had some home issues to sort out but that's none of my business." He chuckles and we chuckle too.

"Well I'm just glad my son is back," dad says while patting his back and smiling. We all go into the living room and talk about football, college, Axel, etc. This is just like old times. All of us, except mom, gathered around just talking.

"How bout we all go out to dinner?" My dad says after awhile. It's a Friday night, the first Friday of senior year and everyone will be out tonight. I'd rather stare at the ceiling than go out to eat where I could potentially see my classmates.

"What about mom?," Axel asks. I'm kinda wondering the same thing, she usually doesn't stay at work this long, it's almost 9 o'clock.

"She took on this huge job so she won't be home till early morning, and I don't know about you but I'm pretty hungry," he says excitedly. I haven't seen my dad this happy since Axel graduated about two years ago.

"I can eat some Chinese," Samantha says suddenly.
"Alright Chinese it is." My dad gets off the couch and disappears up the stairs. I get up and go to the bathroom. I close the door behind me and open the medicine cabinet.

Time for my evening pill. The doctor said to take them twice a day, morning and evening. The thing about these pills are, they make me a little tired and drousy. I take lithium as a mood stabilizer and Xanax for anxiety. I hate everything about them but I can't go back to the way I was before.

I was out of control and basically a ticking time bomb. The only thing that kept me somewhat sane was being with Jack. That's all over now and now it's time for me to take over.

I walk out the bathroom and grab a light jacket and my purse. When I go downstairs everyone seems to be waiting for me.
"Everything okay, you were in there for awhile," Axel says looking worried. I look at everyone and say,

"What, a girl can't poop?" I say while laughing, and then everyone starts laughing as we walk out the door.

I didn't realize I was in there for long, I guess my thoughts were haunting me.