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Marco’s finished nearly the entire pizza, and he keeps asking me if I want a slice. I don’t have the heart to tell him that even the smell of it makes me want to puke.
We just finished watching Ant-Man and the Wasp. Marco can’t believe how behind I am in the Marvel movies. It wasn’t bad at all, but with this headache I had a harder time than I should have following the storyline. When I wake up tomorrow, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to tell you what it was about.
“I’m tired,” I admit when Marco asks how I’m feeling. It’s not even night yet, but maybe if I get to bed early, I’ll sleep off this bug and take Marco up on his offer to drive me to the cabin in the morning.
The worst part about today, I mean other than missing the first part of my senior trip, is that I don’t have my phone. Mom’s cell broke, and Dad didn’t want her to drive all the way out to the cabin without one, so she took mine. Marco assures me that she’s told Chris and all my friends what happened, but I feel so cut off. Right now, everyone’s probably on the deck or at the lake. Mom’s getting dinner ready, and it’s going to be something far more refined than Marco’s eleven-dollar-a-box pizza. Everyone’s laughing, everyone’s having the time of their lives ...
I wish I could be there now.
The doorbell rings. “Stay here,” Marco tells me. “I’ll get it.”
The end credits are still rolling, and I wonder if there’s going to be one of those extra scenes at the end. It’s the only reason I haven’t turned the TV off yet. I hear a noise and eventually manage to stumble to my feet. I’m a little hungry but doubt I’ll be able to keep anything down.
Marco’s talking to someone in the foyer. I stop before I reach the hallway and listen. I know that voice but can’t place it right away.
“... wanted to come by and see how she’s doing.” Oh. Right. It’s Sandy from church. The pastor’s wife. What is she doing here?
“That’s really nice of you,” my brother says, “but she’s actually asleep right now.”
Asleep? No, I’m not.
“Well, I’m glad you’ve come home,” Sandy says. “This has been a hard time for your father. I know he appreciates the extra help.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“I guess you heard about what happened earlier today?” Sandy asked. “How she ...”
“Yeah,” Marco interrupts. “That’s the reason I’m missing work in the middle of the week.”
Middle of the week? What’s he talking about?
Sandy lets out a sigh that reverberates from the high ceiling. “It’s got to be so hard on your dad, first what happened to your mom, now this.”
Something seizes in my chest. A flash of clarity that precedes a pulse of pain through my head so intense it feels like my individual hair follicles are shards of glass piercing my skull.
A flash. I see it for just a split second. Come back. Come back. I almost remember ...
Snippets from their conversation flash between my brain. Middle of the week ... what happened to your mom ...
And I know.
I see.
I remember.
I remember everything.
“Mimi?” It’s Marco. I didn’t even hear him in the hallway. “Mimi. You okay?”
I can’t talk. Can’t breathe. I think I’m afraid. Afraid of what?
Afraid of who?
I blink. Who’s talking to me? Marco?
“Was someone here?” I ask. It’s like I’ve forgotten something. Something important. What was it?
“Sandy from church,” he answers. “She heard you were sick and wanted to know if you needed anything.”
He’s studying me quizzically. Why is he staring at me like that?
“You look awful,” he says. “You should have stayed on the couch. Go lie down.”
No, I don’t think that’s what I want to do. I came here for something. Out to the foyer. I was listening to something. I heard ...
What was it?
“My head hurts,” I tell him.
Marco gives me a smile. “I know. Come on. Let me get you some Tylenol and then we’ll watch another movie.”
At first my legs don’t want to follow him down the hallway. I’m afraid I can’t move at all.
He stops and looks behind him. “Coming?”
His voice snaps me out of my confusion, and now I remember where I am. What’s going on.
It’s senior skip weekend. I’m sick. Marco’s here to take care of me, and if I’m better by tomorrow, he’ll drive me to the cabin to join my friends.
I follow him into the living room. A movie sounds like exactly what I need. Something light. Something I’ve seen before so I don’t really need to pay all that much attention. Something funny where I’ll get all the jokes even if I’m listening with my eyes shut.
But first, some Tylenol.