I started to imitate Dave, falling asleep until god knows when. I woke up to the sound of the room door opening. Zeke and Dad came into the cramped room. No Mom.
“Do you guys want some privacy?” Rhys sensed the atmosphere and started to get up. Where would he go? I don’t know.
“No, no.” Dad waved at him to sit back down. “It’s okay for you to hear this too because we want to ask you for a favor.”
“Sure. Anything.” Rhys agreed blindly to his future request.
Dad looked at the sleeping Dave. Zeke went over and patted him awake, completely gentle. I couldn’t tell if he was patient because Dave was hurt or because we were about to hear some bad news. Dave got up slowly and sat upright once he saw Dad.
Dad took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to say this, but Gramma is getting ready to go.” He grimaced. “Your Grampa has been told to call hospice and prepare for the end.”
“What? Hospice?! When did she get so bad?” Noah’s jaw dropped. The rest of us had similar looks of disbelief.
“Last week, she had an appointment with some doctors.” Dad tried to explained. “We knew there would be some cause for concern, but I guess this morning she took a sharp turn for the worse.”
“What are we going to do?” Kyle stood up. “How’s Mom? How’s Grampa? Why didn’t you guys tell us sooner?”
“We had hoped they would be able to make it down for the holidays.” Dad said. “But since last week, they had cancelled their flights to focus on themselves first. I need you guys to understand that we didn’t mean to keep this from you. But we didn’t know that this morning would change where we stand. For now, we’re making plans to go to them instead.”
“How? It’s practically Christmas.” Kyle stressed. “All the airports are packed and ticket prices are probably insane.”
Dad raised his hands and motioned for Kyle to calm down. “I know, I know. You don’t have to worry about that. The first thing we’re going to do is let Zeke and your mom take the car and hit the road bright and early tomorrow.” He looked to Rhys. “If you don’t mind, the rest of us will ride along with you back to your house.”
“Zeke and Mom are going to drive all the way to Grampa’s?” Dave’s jaw dropped. “Isn’t it over twelve hours by car?”
“Mom needs to be there as soon as possible.” Zeke spoke up. “Flying just isn’t an option right now.”
“I signed up for a flight alert for the rest of us. We’ll just have to play it by ear.” Dad let out a heavy sigh. “I know this isn’t how we expected to spend the holidays, but I hope you boys can cooperate.”
“Of course!” Noah was the first to agree. “It’s not like we had much planned out to begin with. I rather go to Grampa’s than be alone at our place for Christmas.”
I nodded along.
The night became messy as Zeke was packing up to leave our room to go stay in Mom and Dad’s. Dave volunteered to take his place here and to get his stuff in the morning. He was back asleep in minutes. Dad left with Kyle and Zeke.
Rhys fixed the pillow under Dave’s right hand as we also got ready for bed. We all soon fell asleep. Only to be awaken to some groaning and grunting.
I peeked and squinted in the dark, hearing someone fumbling around.
“What’s happening?” Noah asked, sitting up in our shared bed.
“Pain.” Dave spat out.
“I know, I’m coming.” Rhys said. “I’m going to turn the light on guys. Dave needs his painkillers.” A click and the room was lit up. I closed my eyes shut. “Here, Dave, I’ve brought you a Gatorade to drown out the taste.”
“Should we tell Dad?” Noah asked.
“No, he’ll be okay soon.” Rhys told us. “It’ll take some time for the pills to get to work, but he’ll be asleep again in no time.”
“Okay.” Noah laid back down.
Eventually the lights were turned back off and Dave’s complaints became softer.
I felt like I barely slept when Kyle came knocking on our door. It was my turn to let out a groan as I tugged the comforter over my head.
Noah mumbled. “I’m going to take a shower to wake myself up. Hopefully Mom doesn’t leave before I’m done.”
“Mom and Zeke already left.” Kyle declared. I peeked a little out of my shield of blankets to see him sitting down on the chair. “Don’t bother with the shower. Let’s just pack up and hit the road.” His eyes found mine. “C’mon. You can sleep in the car.”
“Or even at my house.” Rhys offered, patting Dave’s leg to wake him up. “Let’s go. I’ll send my mom a text and maybe she’ll make us breakfast.”
“What time did Mom leave?” Noah asked, frowning. “I can’t believe she left without saying goodbye.”
“She…” Kyle hesitated. “Well, it doesn’t matter when. They were up and ready to go, so they went. You can call her if you want. Zeke said he would drive them for the first bit. But wait until we get on the road ourselves.”
With that, the morning started. Kyle and Rhys took charge packing everything and Noah helped after washing his face and brushing his teeth. Dave and I were the slower ones, dragging our feet through the motions.
My ankle was weak and I stumbled through my morning routine. Dave struggled more than me though. As someone who is dominant in his right hand, trying to use his left for things like brushing his teeth was…messy.
“Here, let me help.” Rhys squeezed into the bathroom to help Dave out.
“Rhys, don’t baby him so much.” Noah joked.
Kyle shook his head. “He knows what it’s like. Even more so than Dave.”
Noah hummed. “Yea, yea, I know. I was just making a joke. Lighten the atmosphere.”
It was hard to do. Gramma was dying. Mom and Zeke were gone. The rest of us didn’t even have a plan to get there. Heck, I’m not even sure how we were going to get home from Rhys’s house.
Packed up, we headed downstairs and met Dad in the lobby. Rhys led us to his car and unlocked it. Dad offered to drive but Rhys said he would since he knows the area better. It wasn’t necessarily a long drive, but there was quite a bit of traffic. Some people still worked despite it being Christmas Eve while others were finishing up their shopping.
I rested my eyes until Noah nudged me, hinting that we were here. Both of Rhys’s parents were home and greeted us after he had parked in the driveway. We were soon ushered into the house and straight to the dining room that was set up with a full spread.
“Help yourselves!” His mom said before sitting beside her husband and our dad.. “Wayne, tell me the latest. What do you guys need from us?”
