The day came and Kaitlin got up at six to get to the center and set up for the activities going on there that day. Her head began pounding like no tomorrow. She groaned and forced herself out of bed and to the shower. At 6:30, she was out of her house and walking to the center.
She got to the center and walked in to find the owner in there.
"Hello, Kaitlin," she said.
"Hello, Janice," Kaitlin said.
"It's going to be crazy today," Janice said, "Some of the people called in."
"Okay," Kaitlin said.
Kaitlin headed to a room that held everything that they would need and took some of the stuff out to set up. For an hour, she and Janice set everything up until a few more people showed up that could help them.
Around twelve, everything was crazy. Kids were beginning to act up. They would always whine and moan and cause some sort of trouble. Kaitlin was the one that they always ran to. Her head was pounding worse than before. As she was at the front checking in a kid, Jay walked in.
"Hi," he said.
"I can't talk right now," she said, "We're low on workers and kids are going crazy."
"I only need a second," he told her.
"I can't give you that second," she said.
"Kaitlin!" a kid yelled running up to her, "Patrick won't leave me alone."
"Tell him that if he bothers you, I will give him a time out," she said and the kid ran off.
"Kaitlin!" Janice yelled, "I need you to go in the back and get more crafts."
Kaitlin groaned and began walking to the back room. Jay followed her. "Kaitlin, please," he begged, "You really need to know something."
"Jay, as you can see out there, I don't have the time for this. I'm going crazy. They're causing me headaches out there. I don't feel so good today and I came because I had no choice. And yes it is my fault because I drank and drove a car."
"Hey," he said grabbing her arm as she reached for colored construction paper, "it's about Bradin."
She looked at him.
"He got into a huge fight and is at the hospital. He was beaten up pretty badly. He needs stitches in two different places."
"He was supposed to spend today with his brother and sister," she said.
"They were hanging out and Tanner and his friends caught him off guard. He told me not to come here and tell you to have you go there and leave something that you need to do."
"Then why did you come here and tell me?" she yelled.
"You needed to know?"
"It could have waited. I would have found out sooner or later," she said. She got the supplies that she needed and headed out by Janice.
"Is everything okay?" Janice asked.
"I need to make a phone call. Someone I know is in the hospital and I need to know how they're doing."
"Oh I'm sorry. Go a head and use the phone in the back. I hope they're okay," Janice said.
Kaitlin walked to the back of the center where she was before and picked up the phone. She dialed Bradin's cell phone number and waited for an answer.
"Hello?" she heard him say.
"Hey," she said.
"Baby?" he asked, "Is everything okay?"
"I heard that you got hurt," she said.
"How?"
"Jay came by," she said, "Look, I would come down but things here are crazy. There are over 40 kids here and only like 6 or 7 workers."
"Hey, it's okay, baby," he said, "That's why I didn't want to let you know just yet. I didn't want you to feel bad that you couldn't come down here."
"Kaitlin!" Janice yelled.
"Ugh," she groaned, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay. I love you, baby."
"Love you, too." She hung up and headed back out to the kids.
At seven, Kaitlin got home and literally fell to the floor once she closed the door. She placed her head on the door behind her and closed her eyes. She wanted to die there and then because she was in so much pain and couldn't keep her eyes open for a long time.
"Did the kids kill you today?" she heard. She opened her eyes to see her sister standing in front of her.
"So many kids," she said, "So few workers."
"Bradin called," Lauren said, "He said not to call him because he is in so much pain and needs sleep. He also said because you will need sleep and he doesn't want to keep you from that."
"Thanks," Kaitlin said.