I Have but Two Faces

I stayed up most of the night making sure Sonya was okay. I woke her up around 3:30am to give her more medicine to keep the fever down and changed the cool pack. Sometime between 6 and 6:60am I fell asleep for a few hours and woke with drool on my arm. Yuck! I took Sonya's temp again and found it was still pretty high (100 degrees F). "Sonya." I whispered while nudging her. "Sonya, I need you to wake up to take medicine." She stirred and her eyes fluttered groggily open. I plopped two ibuprofen in her mouth and brought a cup of water to her lips. She downed the two pills and immediately fell right back to sleep.
I walked into the bathroom and wet a facecloth so I could clean her face of the makeup from yesterdays photo shoot. I got as much as I could off before discarding the towel in the dirty clothes. Around 9am I gave Micky a ring. "Hello?" Micky sleepily asked
"Hey, Micky. I know it's early, but is your mom home?"
"I think so. Why?"
"Sonya's sick and I wanted your mom to take a look at her and tell me if I should be doing anything more for her."
"Give me a sec." I heard him get up and walk down some stairs. "Mom?" was called in the distance. After a few minutes of waiting, Micky finally got back on the phone. "Hey, Zane, my mom said we can be over in about 10 minutes. Okay?"
"That's fine. Thank you."
"No problem man." We hung up and I went to make a pot of tea, knowing that's what Micky's mom drank and it was probably good for Sonya. The kettle just sounded when the doorbell rang.
"Coming!" I jogged to the door and swung it open with a grateful smile. "Hi Mrs.Edmonds, hey Micky. Thanks for coming over."
"It's nothing at all, Zane." She hugged me. "How are You doing?" She looked at me with her nurse eyes.
"Okay. I'll feel better if I know Sonya will be okay."
"Well, let's take a look." I walked her to Sonya's room and she sat by her side. "What have you been doing?"
"Giving her two ibuprofens and cool compresses. Her fever was 100 last time I took it without meds."
"Mhm." She slipped a thermometer into Sonya's mouth and took her pulse. She did other nurse things and I waited eagerly for the diagnoses. "From what I can tell and know about her, Sonya's body is just responding to too much stress. She probably hasn't been sleeping well and has been busy trying to keep her and everyone else's life together. Keep up what you have been doing and try later today to get soup into her and liquids. Most of all however, let her sleep." She got up and came over to me. "She will be fine. Make sure you take care of yourself or this will be you next." She brought me into a hug and I realized I was crying. I was relieved that she was going to be okay, but mad and frustrated that she was sick in the first place because she was putting everyone else in front of her own health. I wasn't surprised but I was frustrated because I knew I was part of the cause of the sickness.
"Thanks, Mrs. Edmonds."
"You're welcome. I'm going to go shopping and make her some soup, I'll be back in a little while." She kissed my forehead, which reminded me of my mom, and left.
"You going to be okay?" Micky asked.
"Yeah, I feel better knowing she can sleep it off. But I'm frustrated that she's so sick partially because of me." We walked out of Sonya's room to give her some quiet time.
"I understand, I feel kinda guilty too since she's been making sure I was okay and I never really asked how she was fairing."
"You know her, she would have said she was fine even though she's probably falling apart."
"True true. That Is the Sonya we know and love." I nodded my head and then laid it back on the couch. "Zane, go to bed. I'll watch over the house and Sonya while you get a few hours of sleep."
"I don't know..."
"Go Zane. You look like hell. If she needs anything, I know where everything is in this house. You can become caretaker once you get some sleep."
"Fine. If anything happens, wake me."
"Will do." I nodded and went to my room to catch a few hours of sleep.

I woke up around 2pm feeling a lot better. I shuffled out of my room and smelt something delicious. "Welcome back to the world of the living, Zane." Mrs. Edmonds smiled from the kitchen.
"Thank you. Whatcha making?"
"I made some lasagna for you and soup for Sonya."
"You didn't have to do that."
"Yes I do. Plus I love to cook." She winked and got back to making food.
"Feeling better?" Micky asked from the table.
I took a seat across from him. "Much. How Sonya?" Anxiety began to rise.
"She fine. Sleeping soundly. We just gave her some medicine, so she isn't due for more until about 6/7pm."
"Okay, thank you."
"You're welcome." They spent most of the day at my house making sure Sonya was okay and I secretly believe to make sure I was doing fine. Around three I called into work telling them I wasn't going to be in; Sonya was sick and there was no way I was going to leave her alone. A few of my friends came over to check up on us and drop off Sonya homework.
At 4pm my dad called Sonya's phone. I ran to get it so she wouldn't wake up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Zane. How are you?"
"Eh, I've had better days." I don't talk to dad much. I'm a bit mad at him and he usually calls Sonya so she's how I get updates on mom.
"What's wrong?"
"Sonya's sick, so I've been going crazy making sure she's okay."
"Is she?" There was alarm in his voice.
"Yeah, Mrs. Edmonds came over and said she'll be fine. She just needs to sleep and have fluids."
"Thanks goodness." He sighed with relief. *Why don't you come home? I should just tell him it's because she's so stressed! Not that you'll see that you're part of the reason...*
"How's mom?"
"...Okay, nothings changed." *She's been in a coma for basically a month, how much longer will this take?* I looked up at our calender and saw the 21st of February circled; my seminar. At this point I didn't even know if I wanted to go. *Then again Sonya went through all that trouble and was super excited when she gave me the ticket...*
"Zane, you still there?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry I was spacing."
"It's okay. I gotta get going anyway; visiting hours are over."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, son."
"Later, dad." I flipped the cell and replaced it back on Sonya's bed side table. I checked Sonya one more time before rejoining my friends.
"Who was that?" Luke asked as he shifted over to let me sit.
"Dad. Nothing's new with mom." Everyone could hear the frustration in my voice.
"Soon. I can feel it." Lyla smiled.
"I hope so."