"... fifty-nine... Sixty." I jump to my feet. "One minute, Sixty pushups."
Jason gets up and crosses his arms. "Hey, no fair you cheated."
"You're just too slow." I pull him into my side and give him a light noogie. He starts squirming and twisting to get away.
"I'm gonna get you back."
"In your dreams." I laugh.
Jayda's screaming erupts from the house. I let go of Jason and we run inside. She stops screaming but I know exactly where it came from.
The kitchen, where she is not supposed to be. I find her on her knees right next to the stove. A hand over her mouth trying to muffle her crying.
I eye her. "Who told you you could go to the oven?" She came inside to use the bathroom. I should have known she would end up here.
"I just wanted to do something nice to cheer everyone up."
I sigh and turn off the oven. "Then why didn't you ask for help... Are you trying to get hurt or burn down the house!"
"No." Her voice cracks.
"Don't start, you know you're not supposed to be playing with fire. Can't you stop being stupid for once Jayda what were you doing?"
"Trying to kill us all with her poison cookies" Jason jeered waving a bowl of cookie dough at us.I shoot him a look and he just grins in return. "Shut it."
"Mark likes my cookies... If he smells them he'll wake up like always." She sniffles.
Shit. Here I am being a mean asshole while she just wants to help. I look at her. She has her head down trying to secretly nurse her arm. I hope my daughter stays out of the kitchen in her early years. Jayda gives me enough grey hairs as it is.
I kneel to level with her. "Let me see."
She looks up at me with her glassy eyes. Then puts her hand in mine. Her palm and wrist are red. She put her hand in the oven without covering it.
"See why you're not supposed to be in here alone."
I pull her up and take her to the sink to get some running water on her hand."Jase get the first aid kit." He nods and runs off.
Jayda sniffles. "I'm sorry. I just miss Mark, he promised that he wouldn't leave and now he won't wake up."
I wipe away Jadya's tears. They haven't been able to see mark because of the condition he is in. We have not even told them about his failing heart. It is too much for them to process and we don't want to scare them. "Mark's gonna wake up potato, he won't leave us... And he's gonna kick my butt for this."
After fixing Jadya's hand I make us some snacks and we all settle in the living room to watch cartoons it was two against one and I can never win when they gang up on me.Everyone has been on edge since Mark was attacked. His odds of living through this are getting slimmer. Losing hope is not an option for us but with his heart failing... No, he's gonna pull through this. Please pull through this Mark.
Half an hour later the doorbell rings. I head to the door half expecting it to be Angelica.
"Hello."
I smile, it's not Angelica. "Hi, can I help you?"
She narrows her eyes at me and places her hands on her hips. "Where is Mark. If he is hiding in there tell him to come out or I will come in and get him myself." She huffs.
Wow, she just took one look at me and knew I was not Mark. A lot of people have a hard time figuring which is which. He does look like me after all. I wonder why Mark has neglected to tell me about this pretty little fireball in his life. "And you are?"
"His worst nightmare."
I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows. "Does that mean you two are friends?"
She starts blushing. "Yeah, sort of. If you can call our constant bickering that."
My eyes widen in shock but I recover before she notices. Mark has mentioned her. This has to be Afé. The girl Mark claims that he hates because she is as frustrating as life itself. The girl my little brother does not know he is in love with.
"He's not here."
The hope in her eyes fade. "Oh, tell him Afé stopped by then."
It's then I realize that I have neglected to tell Mark's friends about what happened to him. Not that he would want them to know. That boy has more pride than he knows. Now I feel a little bit guilty for turning off his cellphone. His friends must think that he's abandoned them. She must have thought that he abandoned her. Nice going, Jared.
I check the time on my watch. "Wait," I call. She looks back at me. "I'll take you to him."
"Uhh, that's okay. I'll see him whenever he decides to show up for counseling again."
I now hate that I have to tell her this. "He's in the hospital Afé."
She goes from disappointed to shock and worry in a split second. "What? Urghh that stubborn pig why didn't he call or something."
"He can't." I sigh. "I'm sorry, I turned off his phone."
"Is he alright, what happened to him?"
"Hold on and I'll take you to him." She nods and I head inside to get the potatoes and my car keys.
***"Why are we on the ICU wing?" Afé asks when we step out of the elevator.
On the entire way over I was trying to find a way to break it to her but clearly, I have not. How do I tell her Mark was beaten into a near-death state. Not to mention it was all probably my fault. This is why I turned off his phone.
"Mark's in a coma." I take a breath. "He was attacked on his way home three weeks ago. He's not doing too well Afé."
"Oh my gosh." She gasps as her eyes gloss over.
We stand in silence for a moment. I let her process the information. "Come on," I say putting my arm around her shoulder and leading her to Mark's bed.
Since Afé was not family I had to go in with her and her reaction to Mark surprises me. She runs over to him and starts crying, smooths his hair, caresses his cheek with one hand, and takes his hand in the other. I thought these two hated each other but this girl is in love with my brother. Again the question of why Mark floods my mind. What did he do to deserve this? Was his heart disease not enough?
My phone starts ringing. I step away and answer.
"Hello, Jared?" Shanell's voice asks.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Oh good, can you tell Shane she forgot the cold medicine for Javed and Janaé."
"Uhhh are they on their way to my place?"
"Well they should be there by now, they left this morning to spend the weekend with you."
You know the sound an alarm makes when a place is about to be hit by some natural disaster. Yeah, that's what I am hearing in my head now. That loud wailing sound of doom and destruction. Frantically warning everyone that there is a tornado, tsunami, or volcano eruption. Also, I think I just got hit by them.
"This morning." I choke out. "They didn't come over... Are you sure?"
"Yeah she wanted to surprise you, Hmmm I don't get it, she wouldn't lie. Oh geez!" She cried out. "what if something's happened to them?"
This woman is trying to give me a heart attack with her loud thoughts. I can't even bring myself to think of them getting hurt.
"Did you call her cell?"
"That's another thing, her phone, she forgot it here. Oh and Janny's favorite teddy. Wait a minute... their sleepover bags are still here... With a note?"
"What's it say?" I swallow not liking where this is heading. Please do not say what I think you are going to say note. Please be like some kind of April fools note or some prank. Please note anything but...
"Oh dear Lord.." Shanell starts crying.
"What's wrong? what does it say?"
She takes a breath trying to calm herself on the other end. "We're leaving...."
The phone slips out of my hand. My whole chest feels like it has just been ripped out. I sink to the floor. The alarms die. So do I.
******************************
Who is this little fireball named Afé does she have timing or what?
Please Mark wake up for crying out loud... Got Afé crying n all.
And Shane, how could she? Why would she? She's got a bad habit of running away from Jared that's for sure. Things were getting so good for them now she's gone with the twins. Why would you do something like that Shane are you really trying to make him pay for what he did to you? Wait til I get my hands on you Missy.
Oh no, Jared don't die. What's happening here? Oh no, I think I'm gonna die. Please let this be a dream.
Quick help Jared recover with
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And stay tuned to find out what happens next.
On a further note last chapter previously named 'Escape Button' had to be unpublished for technical reasons it has been reposted as 'Slip Away.'
Lastly I have to cut back on updating since a few of my draft chapters went M.I.A in some sort of technical glitch, especially the ending I'll work on what I have and I post as soon as I can (which won't be long I promise.) Sucks cause I finished this book weeks ago.. This is what I get for not backing up my work... Sigh .. Bear with me people... Hope you enjoyed this chapter though.