“Reality continues to ruin my life." - Bill Watterson

“Reality continues to ruin my life." - Bill Watterson

That describes what happened when I walked back into the house. I was out of breath, and my face was red as could be. I instantly observed the chaos - to my left, my mom yelled, "There you are! The dishwasher? Any day now!" My older sister slammed the bathroom door, which was directly down the hall from me. That's where my younger two sisters stood in the hall. One was holding a doll, saying, "You said the dog didn't have anything, when it was chewing off my baby's arm the whole time! That is not nice. That is so lazy. That makes me sad! It was my first baby doll I ever had!" The other one just stood there. My brother was throwing a ball against the inside of his closed door, so I heard, thump thump thump. The dog was barking at every other thump on the outside of the door. I would have to walk past all of that to get to my door...

So I walked in the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Did you hear me at all?"

I stared at my mom, in disbelief that I could possibly be the person she'd been talking to that whole time. "I need some water - I went for a run," I said. "I'll get the dishwasher soon."

I won't be using the bathroom anytime soon, anyhow... I thought.

I had a sink in my room, but no shower. I started getting ready, making the best of what I had available. By the time I came back out to eat breakfast and take care of the dishes, I expected my older sister's turn would have been over, but she was still in there, and everyone else was still waiting for her. I went into the tiny, but abandoned kitchen - mom was getting ready now.

"Jaimie, can I use your sink?" I heard a quiet voice ask. It was my brother, Joe. "Only if you make sure the girls aren't going to follow you in - or at least get them out before I get my school supplies together, ok?" Amber and Anna loved to go in my room, but I wanted to get organized today, and that wouldn't be happening if they started jumping around with toothbrushes.

Just then I heard my mom tell Jessa that she needed to come out, and an argument started. I heard Joe ask Anna and Amber why they didn't go eat first, and reluctantly they came in and started pouring Cheerios and milk.

"Are you excited about school starting?" I asked them. Anna started chattering happily, but Amber didn't say anything. She often did that when something new was going on.

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Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of my new school. My brother and sister had already dodged inside, but I stood at the steps looking for any familiar face or direction of some sort.