Two
1331 Words
As I lead the rest of the kids through the doors of the hospital, I can’t help noticing that we closely resemble a gang made completely of children. We get a few weird looks from other patients sitting near the front desk, but I’ve learned to just ignore them. People tend to notice you more if you have a family of 11-- I guess now it’s a family of 14.
A receptionist with a name tag that reads “Greta,” looks up from her computer. I see her eyes widen briefly before clearing her throat, smiling, and asking "May I help you?"
"Yeah, hi. We’re here for Natalie Johnson, she had a C-section scheduled for around 7ish.”
The receptionist focuses her attention back to her computer “Ah, yes. Give me just a second to pull up her room information.”
I smile, nod and look back at the rest of the kids. They’re being surprisingly well-behaved today, probably because I woke them up so early.
They probably aren’t awake enough to cause trouble.
“Okay, she’s currently in recovery on the third floor. Room 313.”
“Ok, thanks.” I lead everybody past the front desk and towards the elevators.
“Freaya, can I press the button?” Finn asks quietly.
“Sure, bud. Press the up arrow, right here.”
He presses it, and the elevator dings. A minute later, we’ve reached the third floor and we’re on our way to room 313.
When we get to the room, I knock on the door twice and hear Nicholas yell, “Come in!”
Pressing the handle down, I tug gently on the rope, ushering the rest of the kids in behind me. We file into the room in a single-file line, but each of the kids lose interest in the rope once they see the three bundles each laying in their own crib, sound asleep. None of them even notice mom and Nicholas, who are sitting on the bed and in a chair next to it.
My mom rolls her eyes. “I’ve missed you guys, too.”
“It’s only been, like, two hours, mom,” chimes Tauren. He pauses. “But yeah, we’ve missed you too.”
Toby and Peyton slide in the room about a minute later, holding coffee and donuts.
“Seriously, you guys?” I give them an annoyed look.
“What? We got hungry. You never gave us breakfast, you know,” Peyton mumbles, her mouth completely full of donuts.
Toby nods in agreement before taking the last bite of his breakfast, going over to mom, and giving her a side-hug.
“Freaya, this one looks like you!” Finn says maybe a little too loudly. I walk over to where he’s standing and peering into the side of the glass bassinet at one of the girls.
“You’re right,” I chuckle. I’ve seen many pictures of myself as a baby, and this little girl looks exactly like I did.
"Does anyone have any name suggestions?" Nicholas asks as he picks up the cup of coffee on the table next to him.
"I say you name this one Freaya 2.0; what you name the other two is completely up to you."
Nicholas stifles a laugh and takes another sip of his coffee. “No, but in all seriousness, we’ve gotta name these kiddos. And preferably in the next 48 hours or so, before we have to sign the birth certificate.”
“Let me see, here.” I gently pick my sister up, making sure to cradle her head. She lets out a little squeak, opens her eyes briefly, and then closes them again.
“Yep. I’ve made up my mind. She needs to be named Freaya 2.0.” I walk over to the couch and sit down, bouncing her gently and talking to her.
It seems as if everybody else has turned their attention towards a different baby now, which is good for me because I can have some bonding time with my new sister.
“Hey there, girly. It’s your big sister, Freaya.”
Her eyelids flutter and she makes a ‘coo’ sound.
I stifle a laugh. “Did I startle you?”
She continues to sleep, so I take that as a no.
“Don’t get used to it, girlfriend. You have about 24 hours left of peace and quiet, so enjoy it while it lasts. Once you get home, forget it.”
A few seconds later, Peyton sits down next to us. “Heeey, whatcha guys talking about?”
“Well, she can’t talk so…”
"Wow." She breathes, ignoring my clever pun. "Tauren was right. Freaya, she looks just like you!"
“Any progress on names over here?” Nicholas interrupts our conversation by sitting down on the couch next to us.
“Why are you so obsessed with coming up with names? Don’t you already have some picked out?” Peyton turns to look at him.
His face suddenly changes from pleasant to guilty. “Uhhh, we haven’t quite gotten around to that yet.” Nicholas scratches the back of his head, which he always does when he’s nervous or guilty. I think right now it’s the latter.
Peyton narrows her eyebrows. “What do you mean, you haven’t ‘gotten around to that yet’? How can you not have picked out names for your children yet?”
“Well, I suggested Freaya 2.0, but apparently nobody liked that, so…”
My mom chuckles, and Nicholas smiles briefly but it soon fades away. He looks directly at me and gives me a menacing, almost evil look that speaks for itself.
What did I do?
I shrug and dismiss it. It was probably nothing.
I look back down at my new baby sister and smile. She literally could not be any cuter.
“Hey, Freaya, can you come here?” my mom motions for me to come over. I hand the little bundle of joy in my arms over to my sister so she can get some bonding time and walk over to my mom, who’s showing my new brother off to a couple of the boys.
“What’s up, mom?”
“I think it might be time for you to pack up and take the kids home for the night. They’re getting kind of rowdy.”
As if on cue, Devyn and Charlotte come speeding by the bed in what appears to be a game of tag. Devyn stops suddenly, but Charlotte doesn’t and runs straight into her sister. Devyn topples down on the hard tile floor and starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Charlotte follows suit, even though she doesn’t have anything to scream about.
“Yeaaahh, maybe that’s a good idea.” I nod in agreement and rush over to tend to my little sister.
Peyton overhears our conversation and protests, “but wait, we’ve only been here for twenty minutes! We don’t even know the babies’ names yet!”
“First of all, it’s been two hours. Second of all, the kids are getting out of control, and we should bring them home. Like, now.” I run over to the bag, pull out the rope, and start trying to gather the kids up.
“I kinda need help, here!”
Toby, who was on his phone, puts it down and starts to wrangle up some of the kids. Peyton puts our sister back in her plastic bassinet and does the same.
It takes a good five minutes, but eventually, all of the kids are grabbing onto a ring and we’re heading towards the door.
Before we leave, Nicholas pulls me aside. “You know what to do, right?”
I furrow my eyebrows. “What do you mean, ‘do I know what to do?’ I’ve done this about a thousand times.”
“Yeah, right. Of course. Never mind.” He retreats back to my mom’s bedside and I lead the rest of the kids out the door and over to the elevator.
Hmm. That was weird.
“Freaya, is it my turn yet?” Ronan asks.
“Your turn to what, buddy?”
“The ewevator!” he shouts.
“Shh, Ronan keep it down!”
Somehow, those words prompt him to say it louder.
“The EWEVATOR!” This time it’s more of a scream.
“Yes, yes. You can push the button. But you have to keep it down!”
I let out a deep sigh. Now I know why my mom is so stressed all the time.
We reach the elevator and Ronan pushes the button, an innocent smile forming on his face. A minute later, we’re back at the front desk, where the receptionist waves goodbye to our clan.
“Until next time!” I joke, and we start the journey back out to the minibus once again.
- Writer
