3 days later
It was getting boring in my room. I had finished watching Stranger Things (that was an emotional roller coaster by the way) and I am already half way through watching Outer Banks.
I was able to fake sick enough to skip school on Friday.
If you ever need to fake puke, just pour an instant oatmeal packet in the toilet and gag a lot. Just don't use strawberry because that might earm you a free trip to the hospital.
On Saturday, I didn't leave my room. Not even to get food. Sunday, was the same thing.
I was going to have to leave my room at some point though, because if I faked sick long enough Orlando was going to drag me out by my hair to take me to the infirmary.
At around 5:00, I heard a knock at my door. I paused Outer Banks and slowly stalked over to the door, looking in my mirror as I did.
I looked like shit.
I opened the door and saw Antonio and Dino standing there. As soon as Antonio saw the state I was in, he pushed his way into my room and sat down at my desk. He glanced at my bed and nodded his head, signaling me to sit down. I sauntered over and plopped down on my bed. Dino walked over and stood by Antonio. They both looked at me with concern.
"What's been going on, Marls?" Dino asked me carefully.
I couldn't tell them what I got in the mail. I knew how they were and that they would try to find out who did it. But I couldn't let them get hurt. They've protected me. It was my turn to protect them.
"I just haven't been feeling well. I must have gotten a stomach bug in school or something." I said standing up to leave to get out of the situation. Antonio stood up with me, planted his hand firmly on my shoulder, and guided me back to my bed.
"We all know that you're lying, Marlowe." Dino said. "It all started after... the incident. If you wanted time to collect your thoughts or just try to start to heal from what happened, you can do that. All you had to do was ask. We're really concerned for you, M. Have you even eaten anything yet today?"
I shook my head and looked at the clock, realizing that I had gone all day without eating.
"Why don't you come downstairs? We ordered takeout, so it should be here any minute. You can share some of my food." Antonio offered me.
I nodded and stood up, ignoring the slight dizziness that I felt. After I brushed my hair, the boys led me downstairs where the rest of our brothers were sitting around a table with some Chinese takeout boxes sitting in the middle of them. Alessandro and Xavier were there, too. As we neared closer to the table, Alessio's head snapped up and smiled when he saw me. I took the empty seat beside Alessandro and sat there for a minute while everyone grabbed their food.
When Vincenzo realized that I wasn't eating anything, he grabbed a box of noodles and dumped some on my plate along with some chicken. I thanked him and picked up my fork to start eating it. We sat in silence for a little bit before Orlando cleared his throat.
I looked up at him, waiting for him to say something.
"So, capretto, how have you been feeling? Better, I hope. Can you go to school tomorrow or do you need another day?" He asked me suprisingly kindly.
I looked over at Dino who gave me a reassuring nod. "I'll be good. I just needed a few days. I think I caught a stomach bug at school or something."
Orlando nodded and we went back to eating. After we were done, I started to head up to my room but Dino ran and caught up to me. He gently grabbed my hand and pulled me back around to face him.
"We were going to watch a movie if you want to join us." He told me.
"What movie?" I questioned him.
"I was thinking along the lines of Grown Ups." Dino gave me an evil smile.
The other brothers definitely did not know about this.
I smiled. "Sure. That's my favorite movie. I'lll watch it with you." I watched Dino's face light up. "As long as we can play arrow roulette afterwards."
The smile on his face quickly left. "That's a horrible idea, Marlowe." The smile came back. "We can definitely do that. I'll go check the armory to make sure that we have a bow and arrow."
Dino turned and skipped away, leaving me with a shocked look on my face.
We have a fucking armory?
I shook my head and started walking to the movie theatre where I found the rest of my brothers and Alessandro and Xavier. I sat down in between Vincenzo and Antonio. We all waited for a minute before the movie started playing. All of my brothers groaned, including Alessandro. Me and Xavier laughed when Grown Ups started playing. The door opened and Dino's happy ass walked in and plonked down beside Alessio, who gave him a murderous look.
My brothers accepted their fate and went silent, watching the movie. When we were about 30 minutes through the movie, I started to notice that my ears were itchyand getting warm. I shrugged my head on my shoulder and ignored it.
A minute or two later, my chest starting getting heavy.
It was getting hard to breathe.
I had an idea on what was happening, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to start a ruckus. I didn't know what would have brought it on though. I didn't eat anything recently, just Chinese.
And why would there be peanuts in Chinese food?
My concerns were confirmed when I started coughing, and it was starting to get harder to control them. Vincenzo looked over at me.
"You okay, kid?" He asked.
I nodded painfully, feeling another cough coming on. I tried to stop it but it came out. I started coughing uncontrollably. He patted my back, giving me a concerned look. My coughs were getting louder and my chest started hurting worse.
My coughing fit calmed down a little, but was replaced with a thousand sneezes. Suddenly the lights turned on in the theatre and the movie was paused. Vincenzo was able to get a better look at my beet red face.
"Orlando!" Vincenzo called out.
I heard my brother's footsteps and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Orlando crouching in front of me.
I was able to get out one word that immediatly caused a panic.
"Allergy."
He cursed loudly. "Do you have an EpiPen?"
I nodded. "In my school bag. In my room."
As soon as I said that, I heard the door open and slam. I started coughing worse and wheezing.
Orlando started yelling out orders. "Alessio! Call 911! Where the hell is Antonio? I thought this kid played football? Isn't he supposed to be fast?"
I felt tears start to come to my eyes. I really couldn't breathe.
The door was slammed open again and I heard thundering footsteps running towards where I was.
I felt Orlando place his hand near my knee and turn me slighty, so he would have a better angle. He twisted the cap off the pen and clicked the safety tab off. He then gave me a look.
"You ready?" He asked me gently, but hurriedly.
I shook my head, but he started counting down anyways.
"3, 2-" He swung his arm and stabbed my outer thigh with the EpiPen.
"Fuck." I hissed out. "What happened to one?"
He held it there for a few seconds to let the medicine come out. He pulled it away and threw it behind him. He looked at Alessio. "Is the ambulance here?"
Alessio nodded. "They just passed the front gait."
Orlando gently picked me up and carried me out of the room. He jogged to the front door. Before we reached it, Xavier sped past us. When we got to the door, Xavier threw the door open. The ambulance was just pulling in. The EMTs got out. While one opened the back of the truck, the other one ran up to where Orlando and I were.
I could already breathe better thanks to the epinephrine. The EMT guided Orlando to the back of the truck and told him where to set me down. The other EMT was already sitting in the back, ready with an oxygen mask. Orlando sat down beside me in the ambulance.
They let me breathe with the mask on for a couple minutes while taking my vitals. The other EMT, whose name was Dave, left the back of the ambulance and climbed into the front.
The female EMT, Rhonda, started asking me questions. "When was the last time you ate? What do you think caused this? How long ago did you administer the EpiPen?"
When I could finally breathe without coughing, I started answering her questions. She typed all of my answers down in her laptop. Once she was done, she opened the window that connects the back of the ambulance to the cab. "Hey. We're ready to roll."
I looked at her. "But I'm fine. I can breathe better."
She shook her head. "Your body has calmed down from the reaction, but you still have epinephrine going strong in your system. We need to take you to the hospital just to make sure that it doesn't give you any bad side effects. Since epinephrine is basically liquid adrenaline, it can cause racing heart rates and can cause you to pass out. I'm sure the hospital will only keep you for an hour or two."
I nodded and looked over at Orlando who gave me a small squeeze. Alessio was standing at the back doors of the ambulance. The EMT turned to him. "Which one of you two is her legal guardian?"
Alessio raised his hand. "I am."
She nodded and turned to Orlando. "I'm sorry but we prefer to have the legal guardian ride along to the hosptial."
Orlando nodded with understanding and climbed out of the ambulance, Alessio taking his place. Orlando shut the doors and the journey to the hospital began. Nothing exciting happened on the ride to the hospital, thank goodness.
When we got to the hospital, my brothers were already there. Along with Luciano.
When the fuck did he get here?
The EMTs got me off the ambulance and rolled me in the ER. All of my brothers and Luciano filed into the room. Alessio was on his phone texting someone when the doctor walked in. Immediately his head snapped up.
"Mr. Angeli?" The doctor was looking around the room, not sure which brother he should be talking to.
Alessio stood up. "Yes?"
The doctor looked in his direction, then over to me. "Marlowe can be discharged in probably an hour, due to the fact that her allergric reaction wasn't very severe. We are going to give her a steroid shot, just to be on the safe side."
Alessio nodded. "Thanks, doc."
The doctor walked out of the room and a nurse came in. She looked at all of my brothers. "I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. The steroid shot is going to go in her butt, and I don't think any of you want to see that."
They all shook their heads and walked out the door. The nurse closed the curtains surrounding my bed. She grabbed the shot and walked closer to me. "Hi, hun. My name's Carrie. Can you roll over on your side for me. It's just gonna be a quick pinch, okay?"
"Okay." I said. I could feel it getting harder to breathe and I tensed up. Just as she was about to give me the shot, I rolled over a little too far, falling out of the bed.
Ha. Try and give me a shot now, bitch. There's no way in hell I'm letting that needle near me.
At the sound of the thud, Alessio opened the curtain to make sure everything was okay. I looked up at him from the ground. "I really don't want this shot right now."
Alessio sighed and lifted me off the floor. He put me back down on the bed and gave the nurse an apologetic look. He held me firmly so that I couldn't move. I felt the pinch and took a sharp breath. After about five seconds, she pulled the needle out and let me lay down normally.
Carrie opened the curtain on the way out and let the rest of my brothers come in. Antonio looked like he was trying his best not to laugh when he saw me trying and failing to not put weight on the side of my butt that she gave me the shot in.
I looked at my brothers who seemed like they were all waiting for me to say something.
"I am never eating Chinese again."
-
Hi guys! I'm back! I haven't written 10 chapters, but I couldn't not post anymore. So I thought I would add a little twist to this book. I haven't seen a mafia sibling book before where the main character had an allergy and I wanted to spice it up a little. Marlowe's experience with her allergic reaction is based off of the allergic reaction I had a couple years ago. Thank goodness it wasn't very severe and I only had to spend a couple hours in the hospital. Also some information about Chinese cuisine is that in a lot of Chinese restaurants, they will cook some of the foods with peanuts in the oil. That's how I had my first reaction. Just a heads up, in case you have a peanut allergy or know someone who does, to never get the noodles at a Chinese restaurant.
I've also come to learn that a lot of people don't know how to use an EpiPen. While there are instructions on it, time is an important factor when it comes to dealing with an allergic reaction and waiting just a split second too long can be life or death. The first thing you want to do it take the EpiPen and twist the yellow cap to the left. The cap will come off and uncover an orange tip. Then on the other side of the EpiPen, there is a blue safety release. Pull that tab off. Then stab the EpiPen into the outer thigh. You will know you did it right if it clicks. Hold it there for 3 seconds, then pull it away. the orange tip which was pushed back when the needle came out will go back in place, covering the needle so that it can't be used again.
Even if the person is feeling better after the EpiPen, you still have to go to the hospital or call 911. Epinephrine is basically liquid adrenaline. It can also be used for cardiac arrests. It kickstarts the heart and basically reboots your system. Since you aren't having a heart attack during an allergic reaction, you need to go to the hospital in case your body has a bad reaction to the medicine.
Okay, that's the end of my lecture.
Question of the chapter: Where is your favorite fast food restaurant?
Mine is personally Subway. I absolutely love their Spinach Wraps.
Byeeeeee!