Page 16 of Save Me

“Get. In. The. Car.” She’s in my face now, grinding her words together, and I feel the hot tears in my eyes.

It’s a mistake, but I let a tear fall.

Mom explodes, yelling and throwing my backpack at me. It hits me in the chest, knocking the breath out of my lungs, and for a second, I can’t breathe. I stand there, trying to breathe. Holy fudge, I can’t breathe. And then finally, I suck in a tiny breath. I wheeze, trying again.

“You always make things so fucking hard. Now get in the fucking car!”

“I…can’t…reach.”

“You don’t help me, so why should I help you? Now get in the goddamn car.”

And so I do. And at school, when they try to send me to the nurse’s office, I tell them I’m fine. Why does it matter? I’m fine. I’ll be fine.

I don’t need help.

“Nippy isn’t breathing.” My sister Chloe rushes into my room as I build my giant panda LEGO set. There are tears shining on her cheeks.

“What?” I stare at her, and it takes a second for the words to register. Nippy. Not breathing. I shoot up and dart to the cage where we keep our sugar gliders. Nippy is on the top shelf on his side. His belly is going up and down, but it’s really fast.

My own breathing gets really fast, and my chest pounds. What’s wrong with him? Gently, I open the cage.

“Hey there, cute boy.” I pet him with one finger as carefully as I can. Usually, he licks me. Today, he doesn’t even move.

It feels like I can’t breathe, and suddenly, the room is dim. Did Chloe turn the lights off?

“Call Dad.”

Something is wrong. Nippy needs to go to the vet.

Chloe hesitates.

“Get him!” Dad works the night shift, and he’s never okay with us waking him up, but I’ve never seen Nippy like this.

“He’s going to yell…”

“I’ll do it.” I stand, darting past her and to Dad’s room. Right before the door, a wash of a scary feeling fills me as I hear the sound machine under the door. The rule is, unless someone’s dying, you never wake Dad on the weekends. But someone might be dying.

I knock.

Nothing.

I knock again, tummy hurting.

“What?” Dad sounds tired.

“It’s Nippy. Something’s wrong.”

There’s a pause. He doesn’t answer.

“Dad, I think he needs to go to the vet.”

Nothing. Did he hear me? My heart races.

“Dad?”

“What?” he roars.

My eyes fill with tears. “Nippy needs to go to the vet! I think he’s dying.”