The remaining pills rattled loudly in the bottle as Lynette tipped the bottle to pour a couple of pills into her palm. One pill wasn't enough anymore. Quickly, she moved to turn on the faucet so the running water could cover the sound. Tom was getting ready for work, the boys were downstairs eating breakfast (not long ago she had heard the crash of utensils hitting the kitchen tile), and Penny was still peacefully sleeping.
At least she could handle Penny just fine.
She swallowed the pills, capped the bottle and turned off the faucet before waking and dressing Penny and running downstairs to herd the boys into the car. She had barely even strapped Penny in her car-seat when the giddy feeling of pure energy began to pulse through her. She practically jumped into the driver's seat, and all the way to school and work she drove over the speed limit. At work her hands were shaking with so much extra energy that she could hardly write correctly. She giggled at her colleagues' stupid jokes and skipped more than walked. The new desk clerk, Paulette, commented on how cheerful Lynette was.
Around noon she started to come down. Her head pounded viciously and the lights were too goddamned bright. She wanted to take two more pills, but she knew she needed to ration them until she got more.
"Oh what the hell." She muttered before slipping into the bathroom to take the pills. She'd get more soon.
Indeed, the next day Lynette stopped at the pharmacy to get more; the pediatrician had examined the boys before and yesterday she had placed a call to him to say that the pills weren't lasting long enough, that the medicine seemed to disappear in no time because there were three boys taking it. So he had ordered an extra bottle and sent it to the pharmacy, along with the regular bottle. Lynette now had enough Ritalin to last her for weeks. She hid the bottles in the very back corner of the bathroom cabinet.
The day after that was poker night. Lynette had taken a three pills at a time that day. Her energy had spilled onto the poker table, and she kept messing up the chips with her shaking hands. While Gabi, Bree, and Susan talked, Lynette wrung her hands, tapped her feet on the carpeted floor, tapped her fingers on the tabletop, and had thrown in several random comments. The other three were looking at her oddly, but at ten Bree pointed out that they should probably break it up, because she had to get up early the next morning to go grocery shopping and Lynette and Susan had to take the boys and Julie to school.
Lynette was the first to leave; Susan and Gabi had lagged behind. Lynette thought nothing of it as she heated her special tea and downed two cups. In five minutes she was sleeping soundly.
But back at Bree's, Susan and Gabi were still talking, speculating on how weird Lynette had been acting lately.
"It's like, all of a sudden she has waaay too much energy. She's so jumpy all the time." said Gabi.
"Her eyes are always red." Mused Susan.
Bree stared out the window towards the Scavo's house. "Something is wrong, I just know it. It reminds me of when...of when Mary Alice was acting so odd. Remember? Just a few weeks before she...shot herself."
The other two women nodded solemnly.
"Then I guess we just have to find out what's bothering her."
"How are we supposed to do that?"
Bree turned to them, smiling softly. "There are ways."
