Chapter 8 - The Hotel
We walked across the street and entered the garage where all the rental cars are kept. We stop in front of a large car, one I assume we will be renting. Cody and I wanted a cool car like a convertible or some type of muscle car, we even tried convincing our brothers to exchange this one, but that idea went down the drain with just one bad look from Sam.
"How do you expect all of us to fit in a car like that Vi? Be more logical. This car on the other hand…” Sam motions his hands towards our rental car, “Wow, William you did a good job choosing this car! I mean, nice milage, it's comfortable and fits everyone nicely, and the color!" Sam starts to walk around the car, admiring it from all angels. I don’t know if he is over-exaggerating to prove a point to us or if he’s actually serious.
"Thank you Sam. Now come help pack the car." William starts to rummage through his carry-on bag and pulls out a book, he then turns to me and holds it out to me, "Vi, I want you to read this book for English. At least finish six chapters tonight okay?"
I take the book from his hands and admire the worn-out yellow-brown pages and leather bound cover with a picture of a small mouse running across a tile-floor, a needle tied around its waist by red string, ‘The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo’. I turn the book around and start to read the summary, “... The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. A thrilling story of a brave, giant-eared mouse in love with a human princess...'" I mumble to myself before turning to William and whining, "Come on William! You expect me to read this book? It has 276 pages and 52 chapters!"
"Have you forgotten that you are still expected to finish your summer homework?” William patiently reminds me, his back is to me and Sam and him are currently piling our suitcases into the back of the car. William places a rather heavy suitcase into the trunk then turns to me, “Now you have to finish your book report on one of the books that was listed on the list given to you by your teacher. I want you to read this book and that's final. Do you understand me?" William’s voice is calm but stern as he addresses me directly.
"I'm homeschooled. Why do I have to do this shit?" I grumbled under my breath.
"Excuse me, young lady? You want to repeat that?"
“Why doesn’t Cody have to read a book?!” I grumble, crossing my arms across my chest, hugging the book in the process.
William raises his left eyebrow at me and copies my stance, crossing his arms across his chest, but he gives off a more stern and scary energy compared to me with my small body and short height.
I drop my arms, let out a small sigh and my gaze shifting from him to the street, "I understand."
"That's what I thought. Now get in the car and start reading. You have an hour and a half to read four chapters."
William nods his head approvingly and turns to help Sam finish packing the car. I grumble to myself and stomp towards the front of the car. ‘Ugh! He expects so much out of me!’ I think to myself as I open the sliding door and sit up front. Only then do I realize how big the car actually is: two seats up front, the drivers and passenger seat, two in the middle, and a long seat that fits three people in the back. I sit in the middle seat behind the driver's seat and open the book I am assigned by my 'teacher', actually meaning William, to read. I have two months left of summer, being it's only June. Why do I have to worry about some stinkin' homework now? Cody was sitting behind me in the last row when he leaned forward and startled me as he touched my shoulder.
“Hey, I already finished my book report last week. Remember every time you asked me to go riding with you on our horses or to hang out with our friends and I would deny you?”
“I do remember… You kept reading some book and I made fun of you for reading and not being outside! What were you reading by the way?”
“I was reading that book right there.” He points to the book in my hand.
“Oh.. I’m sorry.” I apologize for my accusation outside to William when I asked about Cody’s book report.
“It’s okay. It’s actually a good book, you’ll enjoy it.” Cody replies as he sits back into his seat to let me read.
Ten minutes later, William and Sam are finished re-arranging the suitcases in the car, Dean and Damon had come back from the airport store as they had decided to buy some food for breakfast for the car ride on their way back from the bathroom and I finished chapter two of my book. I start to realize that this book is very fascinating, and I smile to myself as I continue reading. Dean approaches me and asks me to hop to the back with Cody as Sam and Damon will be sitting in the middle seat and Cody and I are the youngest, meaning we have to endure the back seat. I huff, not wanting any arguments and move to the very back, seeing as Sam had already taken up the middle seat and Damon was waiting for me to move, I maneuvered my way around Sam’s large body to the back seat. I open up my book to continue reading, seeing as I only have a few pages left until I reach chapter 5. We start to drive, leaving the airport and heading to our hotel which will take us a couple of hours. After some time, I closed my book as I reached chapter five, fascinated by how the story is turning out to be. I suddenly feel like the world is spinning super fast and nausea starts to develop. I do not know how long we have been driving, I look out the window of the car and see a sign for a rest stop up ahead.
I whine, "William! I don't feel good!"
Damon turns around and reaches for my forehead, the back of his hand touches my forehead and a few seconds later his face shows dissatisfaction. "William, stop up ahead. Vi really is not feeling good."
William turns into the rest stop and before the car even stops I jump out of my seat and rush out of it, running towards the bathrooms. I can hear Dean yelling behind me, something about not jumping out of a moving car next time. I barge into the ladies room and run into the stall, realizing after some time that I feel better just having my head next to the toilet, but NOT laying on it! That's just gross!
A little while later, I hear someone calling my name, "Hey Vi, baby? Are you all right? You've been in there for a long time now." It's Damon, I recognize his voice.
I cry out, "Damon! I don't feel good."
Next thing I know, my stall door opens, maybe I forgot to lock it? and Damon is picking me up. He takes me towards the sink where he cups his hands under it to catch some of the running water and gently splashes my face. I am now sitting on his knee which he has propped up against the wall to support his own body and mine. He splashes me repeatedly with cold water then wipes my face with a paper towel. I am now being carried in his arms, my legs wrapped around his hips and my arms tightly around his neck, while he walks towards the rest of my brothers who decided they all should take a potty break too.
"How is she doing?" William asks
"Better, but I think maybe she should ride on my lap for the rest of the ride."
William nods and we all head back to the car. We get into the car and Damon straps us both in with his seat belt. I turn my body so that I am sitting sideways, looking at Sam. Damon wraps his arms tightly around me as I notice the seat pocket in front of us is stuffed with plastic bags. I guess William did come prepared. My favorite band is playing, Maroon five! I start singing softly to the music and slowly fall asleep as Damon's body moves with the rhythm of the beat.
I am startled awake by the slam of the car door. Looking around me I see that we have arrived at the hotel and I am sitting in the very back row again, my head propped up against the window. Damon must have moved me towards the back sometime during our car ride. "William?" I croak out, as I see him open up my side of the door. I also realize that I am the only one inside the car and the last of our stuff is being taken out by Damon. William scoops me up into his arms, carrying me like a child, with my legs and arms wrapped around his hips and neck. I am carried inside the hotel, up the stairs and to our room on the last floor, the elevator is currently being worked on so we had to use the stairs for right now. William sets me down and I walk around our large suite, it has three rooms, two separate bedrooms, each has two king sized beds and the living room with a combined kitchen is separating the bedrooms. I enter one bedroom and notice my bag and stuff is already packed into one of the dresser drawers. I go into a separate doorway and notice a huge bathroom attached with a big bathtub. I stare at the bathtub and contemplate taking a bath tonight. I remember the incident on the plane and quickly decide that I don’t have the guts to keep a big secret like this from my family, I decide that the only people that I can trust with something this big are my two best friends Chris and Vanessa. I take out my cell phone and send them a quick text message:
*To Chris and Vanessa: Hey! I just arrived at the hotel room! Sorry I didn’t text you guys when we landed, I fell asleep in the car after getting sick. Something kinda happened to me on the airplane and I can’t tell anyone! I need some help from my BFFs! I will call you both later tonight! *
I send the message, slip my phone into my pocket and hear William yelling, "EVERYONE IN THE LIVING ROOM!"
I walk out of the bedroom and sit down on the recliner, laying all the way back.
"Okay, we have four beds total, Dean, Sam, Damon and I have the beds. Vi is being rotated so tonight you are staying in my bed. Cody, you have the decision of bunking with anyone of us, or this sofa here is a sofa bed. You can bunk out here, it's up to you buddy. Now we only have two bathrooms attached to the bedrooms and this is more directed towards you Viviana. Do not spend your lifetime there. Got it?!"
I nod my head slowly, feeling a bad headache going to appear soon.
I suffer from Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) which is a chronic condition. One of the main symptoms I frequently have is called orthostatic intolerance, which makes me lose consciousness ( it has only happened to me five times!) and increases my heart rate when I move from a horizontal position (or laying down) to an upright position within the first 10 minutes of standing without prolonged bed rest, or medications. I also get dizzy, light headed, palpitations of my heart, chest pain, vasomotor skin changes (I suffer more of temperature changes compared to skin color changes), and tremulousness. I have poor concentration mainly for prolonged time which is part of the reason why my brothers decided I should be homeschooled. I suffer from a sleep disorder, also another symptom of POTS, and my doctor had told my family that previous studies have suggested that compared with normal subjects, children with POTS sleep less. With fatigue, the symptoms of POTS get worse, but it is still being investigated if the sleeping disorder found in the majority of children with POTS is related to one another. (Lin, Jing. Risk Factors for Postural Tachycardia Syndrome in Children and Adolescents. Plos One website. Published 04 Dec. 2014.
Because of my sleeping disorder, my doctor alongside my therapist has given my family and myself a set of guidelines I must follow in order to achieve adequate sleep. A sleep-promoting treatment that includes no less than 8 hours of sleep every night and a midday nap in an appropriate environment; no drinking water or exercising before bedtime; and go potty before bedtime. (Lin, Jing. Salivary Cortisol Levels Predict Therapeutic Response to a Sleep-Promoting Method in Children with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome. Science Direct website. Published Dec. 2017.
"Okay, where do you guys want to eat lunch?" William finishes his speech.
I peep up at the sound of food being said and quickly yell out, "IHOP!" Everybody agrees and starts heading their own ways to gather their things to leave.
"Vi, come here." Say's Dean.
Opps, forgot about the plane incident. He leads me to one of the bedrooms which William happens to be in, rummaging through a drawer with what looks like to be my clothes inside. There is a set of clothes laid out on one of the two beds with some fresh, clean clothes for both him and myself. William gives me a disappointed look as he continues to search through my clothes and Dean, with one hand on my lower back, leads me straight to the bathroom. My guess is that Dean told him what had happened. As Dean closes the door and locks it, I realize that I feel worse knowing that not only is Dean disappointed in me, but so is William. Dean turns away from the door and sits down on the toilet seat, motioning with his hand for me to come closer.
"Come here, Vi." He softly beckons.
I back up into a corner and shake my head. Dean looks as if he has had enough and takes a hold of my arms and leads me closer to him and over his lap, lowering my pants in the process. I start to scream "NO!" but before I can even react, Dean has given me two hard SMACK SMACK square on my bottom. I grab onto the toilet seat tightly, trying to not move my hands as Dean gives my bum a quick warm up. After fifteen smacks to my bottom he starts to spank me harder than before. I jerk forward and tighten my grip on the toilet seat, my knuckles turning white.
"YOU 'SMACK' WILL 'SMACK' NEVER 'SMACK' LEAVE 'SMACK' MY EYESIGHT 'SMACK SMACK' AGAIN 'SMACK' AND YOU WILL 'SMACK SMACK SMACK' NOT HIT 'SMACK' PEOPLE 'SMACK' DO YOU 'SMACK SMACK SMACK' UNDERSTAND 'SMACK SMACK' ME?!" SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK
"AYYYY!!! UGGG!! BRR-RROO-THER PL-PL-PLLEASS-SE! I CAN-TT HAN-NDLE IT! IM SO-OO-RRY!" I cry and scream, throwing my hands back to stop the assault on my bottom. Finally he stops and gives me a few minutes to control my breathing and my crying. Once I am not screaming but softly crying, he pulls down my underwear.
I scream, "NO MORE! PLEASE!"
Dean gives me a soft smack on my upper thighs, "Do not yell. I am not going to spank you anymore. I think I gave you enough, unless you want more?"
"Noo, I’m sorry." I cry out, hiccuping and breathing erratically.
Dean leans forward, grabs some cream from the bathroom counter, my guess is he had gotten it ready earlier as he was planning on spanking me, and squirts some on his hand. He then starts to rub it slowly on my burning bottom, giving me some sort of relief as I am in a lot of pain right now. I know I will not be able to sit all day, and my bottom will turn a dark purple since my skin is very delicate and bruises easily.
"Okay, up you go." Dean guides me up and leads me out the bathroom. I am walking with a limp since my bottom hurts and my pants and underwear are around my ankles.
William is quickly by my side and gives me a bone-crushing hug. He guides me to the bed where he lays me down and starts to peel off my pajamas bottoms. I whine and gather myself together, taking a deep breath and waiting until I can feel William’s hand on my back and both my brothers leave the room to give me privacy. An indication I am okay to get up, I quickly change into the clothes that he has set out for me. Once I have my clothes on, I enter the living room where I notice everyone is waiting for me.
"I'm sorry you guys, I didn't mean to delay our lunch." I speak softly, tears brimming my eyes.
"Aww sweetie, nobody is mad at you! Come on, right guys?" Sam says, looking around at everyone.
They all say 'yes' and I smile brightly ready for some food in my tummy! "Come on guys let's go! Vi you haven’t had any food in you yet. You were asleep when we ate breakfast. You must be famished, am I right?" William jokes with me, I laugh and nod my head, accepting the outstretched hand he offers me. We all start heading down the hotel stairs towards our car. I love Ihop, it's an excuse to eat breakfast anytime of the day!