Reality

I stared helplessly at my brother who was lying on the hotel bed, fast asleep. His head rested peacefully on the hotel’s white pillows, and his body lay still under the white sheets. It’s a wonder what a little action in the night can make one do. He wasn’t partying, or drinking, or even smoking for that matter. It was much worse than all combined. 

It forced us to stay an extra day when we were so close to home. It forced everyone’s hopes and dreams and even sanity to lower a bit. It caused my mom more stress and aching. I mean, who would want to watch their son have a seizure, and be the one to help him out of it, nonetheless?

I sighed and turned off my phone. Mom was asleep on the adjoining bed with the same white sheets and same white pillows. I sat at the small table with my laptop as I typed away at a story, recalling the events that happened. 

I came back from the mall with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I hurriedly slipped the key into the door, anxious to assist my mom in any way possible. I failed three times before finally opening the white door into the hotel. Mom was feeding brother as he slept through his stomach. Relief flooded over me as I went into the room. The green curtains were closed, blocking all light really well, and the loud air conditioner was running. The fridge and microwave made a cute couple, one stacked on top of the other. The tiny one-cup coffee pot was something to laugh at. The yellowish white walls surrounded the room. The two beds laid on the south and west wall, and the bathroom was tiny along with the closet. The room was carpeted and lacking in creativity. There was a small table that reached up to my stomach. The room also had a TV and wooden dresser with many drawers. 

I set my bag down and went up to my mom’s side. 

“Anything I can help with?” I whispered softly. 

She wearily looked up, her eyes red from crying. 

“Not at the moment, no, but thanks for offering,” she said with a few sniffles inserted here and there. 

I nodded slightly. My brother started to moan and groan some. I slipped a small glance his way before turning my gaze to the single painting in the room. It was one of reddish rocks making an opening into a valley with more red mountains on the other side. Clear skies were portrayed, and everything seemed rather tranquil. 

‘I wish it were clear and tranquil right now. It’s anything but clear and calm,’ I thought to myself. 

Mom finished feeding him, and she stood to rinse out his bottles. I handed her a tissue, as tears flooded down my face as well. She gave me a hug, and I held her close. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. Just a teenage girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. But, my eyes were puffy, and you could barely tell the color. I blinked and cried into her pink shirt.

I paused my writing for a moment. I tried to remember the exact word she said to me, the ones that made my day just a bit better. 

“It’ll be alright,” she said. “Your brother is just fine, I’m fine, we’re all fine. Sometimes, God works in different ways. This morning, I didn’t know what to do. I called out to Him. He showed me that we weren’t going home today. God doesn’t always reveal all of His plan to you, at least, not all at once. He walks beside you every step of the way. His plan is flawless, and that’s where trust comes in. If I hadn’t trusted God today, then I would have been more panicked. He gave me a peace of mind and heart, He showed me what needed to be done. He provided for us, like He always does. He wanted us to stay here, at least for now,” she said, with a sniff. 

“God is faithful,” I added meekly in a whisper.

“Yes, yes He is. There’s nothing to fear when He’s on our side,” she said. 

We held the embrace for a moment. 

“Since we’re going to be here for a while, go ahead and make yourself comfortable. You’ve got your computer, phone, snacks, anything you need,” mom said. “I’m going to take a rest, but let me know if he wakes up or makes a sound, alright?”

I nodded, and she walked towards the bed.

I stared helplessly at my brother who was lying on the hotel bed, fast asleep. His head rested peacefully on the hotel’s white pillows, and his body lay still under the white sheets, besides the occasional rise and fall of his chest. It’s a wonder what a little action in the night can make one do. It forced us to stay an extra day when we were so close to home. It forced everyone’s hopes and dreams and even sanity to lower a bit. It caused my mom more stress and aching. I mean, who would want to watch their son have a seizure, nonetheless, be the one to help him out of it?

I sighed and turned on my phone. I plugged in my ear buds and pulled up my Christian tunes. The playlist started playing with Nightbirde’s ‘It’s Okay’. I bobbed my head along when a good beat came up. It was just me, myself, and I in our own little world. 

I reviewed the story and made changes and fixes where necessary. I sang along with Leanna Crawford’s ‘Crazy Beautiful You’, in my head of course. 

“It’s time,” I mutter to myself. “It’s time to show the world a peep at my personal life,” I say to myself. I pull up Reedsy and select a prompt at random. It just happened to be ‘write about a character with an unassailable moral compass’. I google the words out of curiosity. 

‘Huh,’ I think to myself. ‘That kinda works in a way. But a story is a story after all, prompt-related to or not, it’s still a story.’

I copy and paste the story from the doc into the story box. I select the categories ‘Creative Nonfiction’, ‘Christian’, and ‘Contemporary’. All that’s left is the title. I think about it for a moment, do I want it to have a hidden meaning? Or perhaps a few lines from the story? Or should it be my usual one-line title? I finally decide on ‘Reality’ to keep the reader guessing. I do a final word count to see if it’s past 1,000 words. 1,122, the doc reads. Satisfied with my work, I push ‘submit story’, and the confetti flies down my screen. 

If you can't tell, this is a real story so yeah.