Third grade was very different from Catholic school, which I attended in first grade, and for once, I didn’t want to leave. But, like all good things, it had to come to an end, and I was to spend the summer with my father, a stranger to me at the time. He had signed me up for summer camp, also foreign to me at that age.

The car ride to his town was dreadful. I sat in the backseat, tugging at my seat belt to remove it from my blistering neck for 45 minutes. My mother sang along to her Destiny’s Child CD, while I kicked my legs to the beat and looked out the window. All the signs were familiar and I could feel us getting closer and closer to his house.

Once we arrived, my mother got out of the driver’s seat and walked around the car to meet me in the backseat. I unbuckled my seatbelt and she took my bag from the floor of the car. I stepped out and took in all the quiet. This town was too quiet, it made me nervous. BEEEEEEEP. Well, it wasn’t quiet anymore. The front door opened up and a partially familiar face walked out with a trash back.

“Hey.” My step brother, Bryce, looked at me for a split second before tossing the trash bag over the railing and into the trash can in the driveway. I lifted my hand and placed it back by my side. My mom smiled at me and kissed my head.

“Come on.” She took my hand in hers as we walked up the stairs. Bryce had already gone back inside, leaving the front door open and the screen door swinging back closed.

My mom gave me a hug and left me inside with my father, the man who was smiling at me, curving his facial hair around his mouth. He showed me to the room I was to be staying in, a room that was already decorated with dark red color on the walls and a futon in the corner with some other teenage girl things.

“This is my room?” I asked, a little amazed at how well they had put it together for me.

“This is Caitlynn’s room. You’re gonna be staying in it.” My astonishment formed into a bit of disappointment. Not that I was expecting it, but it would have been nice.

“Oh...okay.” 

We ate dinner that night, something simple, grilled chicken and eggplant. It was good, but mine seemed to be a little chewy in the middle. It didn’t phase me because I didn’t know what that meant at that age.
I would spend the next week and a half at summer camp. On the first day, I walked in the building with my drawstring bag and a small innocent smile on my pale little face. I was introduced to my group leader, who made bracelets and talked with us.
In midday, every day, we had to walk to a park where there was a little pool about 1 foot deep. I was never a small kid, nor am I one now, so when I saw that pool, I snorted.
“What’s the matter?” My group leader asked me. I shrugged and decided to stay on the playground with her and some other girls. They taught me how to play clapping games and they were really nice, but eventually I was bored, hot, and tired. I got up and walked over to the head counselors, complaining to them of a stomach ache. This was not the first time I had done this, maybe the third time just that week, so they were probably tired of it. They both looked at me and one, a lady, smiled.
“Awe, honey. I’m sorry. Must be annoying on the first day, huh?”
I nodded with a blank expression on my face, trying to figure out where she was going with this.
“Why don’t we call your mom and see where she is?” I nodded once again, a small smile trying to keep its distance from my lips, but not succeeding. Even though it wasn’t my mom that they were calling, I didn’t say anything because I knew it didn’t matter. I sat on the ground in front of the bench they were sitting on and held my breath, hoping my step mom, Cathy, was nearby.
“She’s on her way. Why don’t you get some water on your legs, cool down a bit?” I stood up and thanked her quietly before walking over to the pool. I opened the gate and walked through it, sitting down at the edge and gradually getting more irritated as people splashed around roughly. I rolled my eyes and stood up before I even took my shoes off, and decided to wait for Cathy outside.
She eventually showed up, but without a car. Great, I thought, now I’ll have to walk in the heat. Cathy saw me and smiled a fake smile, because she was also tired of having to leave work to come and get me.

“Hey sweetie. We just have to walk back to my job and you can watch some TV.” I nodded. As we walked, I held my hands together and prayed that I could have proof that my stomach really did hurt, even though it didn’t. As we walked further and further, I began feeling nauseous.

“Can we stop in here and get a drink?” I pointed to the store next to us. Cathy nodded and we walked into the white-walled cafe, where not many people were seated. We looked at the drinks for a couple seconds as I figured out what I wanted. I reached out for it and pulled back when I felt what was coming up my chest.
“Uh oh.” I looked up at Cathy.

“Find a bathroom.” She said, hurriedly walking away to find the nearest restroom. I rushed to where she found and released the food I had eaten that day. I was disgusted with myself and the bodily fluids that belonged to me on the floor and the edge of the toilet. The workers cleaned it up as we apologized and left.

Once we got to her job, we immediately got in her car and drove back to the house so I could take some medicine and get some rest. But, when I woke up an hour later, that medicine made its way out of my system.
“Yeah, she’s thrown up twice now, but I’d say it’s just a stomach bug.” Cathy told my mom on the phone. I laid my head on my pillow on the couch and closed my eyes.

My mother picked me up the next day for the weekend, with an offer to get whatever I wanted to eat. I was craving a snack wrap so we stopped at a fast food place before we made our way home.

I was sitting in the back seat eating my food when I started to feel a little uncomfortable in my stomach. I unbuckled my seatbelt and spread out, only for the pain to get worse. Absolutely the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I began to yelp from the pain, causing my mother to continuously ask me what was going on. I cried and cried until she picked up the phone and called the doctor, who heard my cries and told us to go straight to the hospital.

Once we got there we were given a room and I had to drink a horrible smoothie so they could do a cat scan. It took a while, but I finally got it down, and after hours of crying, I finally was taken into the room, where they found out that my lymph nodes were swollen, like a gigantic bruise, going all around the inside of my torso. It was a disease that every 1 out of 10,000 people get in the world, from eating raw chicken. The health department had to get involved, I ate only dry cheerios and ginger ale, and I never got any sleep because they were either taking my blood pressure or when I bent my arm, the IV machine would start beeping insanely. It was definitely the worst 3 days of my life, no food, no sleep, and no health to keep me going.