Running on Insulin

Chapter 8

Samantha's POV

Jenna and Tyler were too nice. Nice things don't happen to kids like me. All the clothes, the lunch out, the bedding she'd insisted on buying me, the soft blanket from Hot Topic with the TwentyOne Pilots logo on it, and the t-shirts they'd bought there for me, it was all going to disappear.

My dad knew how to get out of a jam. He always sweet talked his way out of things. He should. He's a lawyer. And despite being a pretty good lawyer, making pretty good money, he complained about the cost of keeping me alive.

Yet he always did. At least not quite dead. But he made me ration my insulin. Because it's expensive and he didn't want to keep buying it. And my test strips. I was only allowed to test twice a day. Before lunch and before bed.

I tried to be happy with Jenna and Tyler, but I knew in a couple of days I'd be right back in my own personal hell. Although with how much trouble he was in now, he probably would make this the last beating I ever had. I wonder how he's going to explain that. Probably say it was my diabetes that killed me. He'd know how to make it look like that.

After our shopping trip, we got back into Jenna and Tyler's car and drove to their house.

It was a really nice house. It looked a lot nicer than it had in the rain.

They carried all the bags into the house and showed me the room they were giving me. It was big. Bigger than the little room my dad gave me at home. We had a four bedroom house. I had the smallest room and I wasn't allowed in the other two.

At Tyler and Jenna's I even had my own bathroom attached to my bedroom.

"Toiletries!!" Jenna said. "We forgot toiletries! Well, we have some stuff here. I'm sure we have an extra toothbrush around. We'll go to the drug store tomorrow and get you your own stuff. For now, we have a few travel size shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste. And I have an extra deodorant if you want it."

"Uh okay. The travel stuff will be fine," I said. After all. I'd be gone by the weekend.

"Nonsense. We'll get you nicer stuff. Maybe we'll go back to the mall and go to Bath and Body Works. I love their stuff," Jenna said.

I do too, but my dad would never let me buy anything there. Too expensive.

"I'll wash your new sheets tonight and we can change them from the white ones tomorrow. But we'll put your new comforter on, okay? And the sheets on the bed are clean anyway. Plus, you have that nice warm blanket Tyler insisted we get you," Jenna smiled.

We took all the tags off the clothes and Tyler brought a laundry basket into the room. Jenna tossed everything into the basket and indicated I follow her back downstairs. Here's where I'd find out that I was about to become their indentured servant.

I followed her into the laundry room, ready to be put to work.

She loaded the clothes into the washing machine.

"Do you have any allergies to detergents or anything?" She asked.

"No. Well, I'm allergic to dust and mold. And wool."

"Okay, noted," Jenna said. "No wool sweaters for you, then."

"I can do the laundry," I said. Just in case she was waiting to see if I'd offer to work my way.

"No worries. It's not a big deal throwing clothes in a machine," she said.

When was the last shoe going to drop?

"So, while that washes, why don't we go make some tea, and have a snack, if you want, and we can chat and get to know each other better?" Jenna said.

"I'm not hungry," I said. I didn't want to have to test and use more insulin.

"Tea then. Can you have that without needing to test?"

"Yeah. If you have sweetener. If not, I can drink it black. Or just a splash of milk," I said.

"I think I have some Splenda. Will that work?"

I nodded.

"Great. Let's go into the kitchen then," she led me out of the laundry room.

Tyler was in the living room watching TV.

Jenna put the kettle on and indicated I should sit at the breakfast bar. She took out two mugs, a few different types of tea and the milk and sweetener. I picked regular orange pekoe tea. It's all I knew in tea anyway.

Once the kettle boiled, Jenna poured us each a cup.

"Ty, you want some tea?" She called out.

"Nah, thanks. I'm good," he said.

"So, Samantha," Jenna started. "Tell me a bit more about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Well, what do you like to do? What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to go to college? Besides TwentyOne Pilots, what music do you like? Can you play an instrument?"

"I like to read and draw. I can play the piano okay, I've never thought about college or what I want to be because I don't think I'm going to live that long, and I like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance and The Beatles."

Jenna's face looked sad.

"What do you mean you don't think you're going to live long enough to go to college?"

"I don't think my dad will let me live that long. He makes me ration my insulin because it's expensive. And I'm only allowed to test my sugar twice a day. At lunch and at bedtime. I get really sick sometimes because I don't use enough insulin."

Jenna's eyes were sad.

"You don't have to worry about that here. You can test as often as you need. And you can use insulin whenever you need. And anything in the house is yours too. If you get hungry or thirsty, you just come get a snack or a drink, okay? You don't have to ask. But if you do finish something, let me know so I can buy more.

What sorts of things do we need in the house in case your blood sugar goes low? Candies? Juice?"

"Um..." I didn't know how to answer. My dad never made sure I had stuff.

"Juice boxes, I guess? I sometimes keep some by my bed at home in case I wake up and am low at night. I'm supposed to test in the middle of the night, but my dad doesn't let me. He takes my test kit at night so I can't."

Jenna looked mad and sad. Now I was in for it.

"I'm so sorry you've been dealing with this for so long like this. You'll see, things will be different here."

I doubted that very much.