So this took place after the day of the 4th of July. So the reason why I bring this story is because well this story was pretty personal. And it impacted our family pretty big. It started after the 4th of July my sister woke up with a fever so we just assumed that she was sick. I remember waking up, getting on some clothes, and then just grabbing my phone and headphones. I put on Coryxkenshin(if you’re wondering how to pronounce that name it's just CoryxKenshin. The X is silent.)I began heading to the dinner table to have some breakfast. Now whenever someone is sick we have them stay in my parent's room. Which is right next to my room and is close to a bathroom. The living room was right out of the hallway that leads to the rooms. The kitchen is right next to the living room. So my parents told my sister that she had a fever. And to best stay away and that if we want to give something to her then just give it to them(my parents) and they’ll give it to her. Now I will say my parents are always precautionary of whatever happens around so whenever someone was sick like a friend came over and started vomiting they would have to sadly send them back home as usual and they would also clean up the mess that caused it. And whenever sick they would make sure to also deal with germs that could be left anywhere their very caring parents but back to the story. So I made a drawing of Grogu or baby Yoda however you call him. And I asked if they could give it to her. She liked it. I remember she would sometimes come out to go to the bathroom. And she looked pale. Pale. The type of pale where you're as white as snow. I told my dad about this. And it just kept on getting worse for her. The pain began to slowly rise for her. It was a little light. But then in her words, it felt like someone was in her lower abdomen over and over again. I still remember the screams and how loud they were. It was the type of scream you would hear from a woman in a horror movie and she was crying loudly. My brother and I were worried. We sat in our rooms. Just waiting for the screams to be done. But they didn't. We just played in our beds. And tried to muffle the screams of her by folding a pillow on our ears. My brother asked:

“Do you think she’s ok?”

“I don’t know but let’s not just assume anything is going to happen to her buddy!”

“Ok!”

Now my brother was mainly a more competitive type, he somehow does better than me in school and sometimes can be a bit annoying but I care for him cause he’s my brother the second oldest, and I’m the first I feel like he’s learned from to be a better person and I always try to make sure that I set a good image for my siblings. So we just began to play on our consoles and then my dad walked in asking if she was ok she screamed NO! I don’t know why but I was nosy. I peeked through the door and my dad just pushed her stomach a little. It was like a tap. And she started screaming bloody murder. I moved before my dad could see me. So I went back to my room. They said they were gonna take my sister to the hospital and that they might need to bring some stuff. So we would have to help make them pack up faster so that they can get her there quicker. So we did. We helped pack blankets, some snacks, food, and clothes. For my parents. And then they drove off. I swear when they drove off. It was just silence. No birds were singing their songs. No crickets chirping, not even the sound of the buzz from cicadas. Just pure silence other than my brother yelling at my friends playfully over them playing a game of fortnite. And then I saw a car coming up and when they did I realized it was my grandparents. Now I will say that yes my family lives with our grandparents. We moved in when I was probably 3 just to stay for a couple of months but now we stay there as permanent residents. So they opened the door and walked into the house saying hello as always. And I said hi. But they noticed neither my mom, dad, or my sister were home. And when they where they were. I froze. I didn’t want to tell them. Having just that happened was already enough for me to try and forget what just happened. But I told them either saying that my sister had to go to the hospital. They asked why and I told them that her stomach was bothering me. She didn’t have the stomach flu, but when my dad just had him tap her stomach she screamed so loud. The loudest I had ever heard. My grandparents had retired before this was happening so they were good. My grandparents were both doctors. My grandma mainly did scans on people's brains to see any problems. And my grandpa studied the insides of the human body. I’ll skip most of the conversation and the day when my grandma told me and my brother to meet at the dinner table and we did. My grandma and grandpa were sitting at the dinner table. They told me that my sister had appendicitis. And told me that something was wrong with her appendix. And that she might be at the hospital for a little while. And that was true. I’ll tell you that she didn’t come back in two weeks. So I’ll skip most of the days up until the third day. My grandma asked if I and my brother could call my sister since she was feeling homesick and wanted to talk to us. So we called her. Her eyes were red and she was breathing fast as if she was crying a lot. We asked her how she was doing.

“F-F-Fine!”

We couldn’t help but just sigh. Not because we didn’t want to do this. But because we both felt bad for her. We asked if you wanted to play a game. She said sure. I asked what games you have on your phone. She said that we could either play among ourselves or Roblox. Now both of these games are online multiplayer. This means you can play with anyone you just have to add them as a friend or you put in a code to join the game. We decided to play among ourselves. Since this game was mainly the game you could play when you’re bored and want to hang out with friends. The way the game works is there are ten people in the lobby so when that happens the game will start you’ll be given a role, crewmate, or imposter. Crewmate is where to win the game you must survive the imposter, and you have to complete tasks everybody does. You’ll also have a role, sometimes you’ll be an engineer where you have mainly electrical work but you have to go in the vents. The vents are something imposters can use to transport themselves to a different location so this can cause a problem for you, or a scientist where you can see the vitals of the crewmates.  And imposters like I've said later the imposters are the bad guys. The job is to kill everybody but it’s not that easy so there will be a meeting whenever the emergency button is pressed or a body is reported. You discuss who to vote out but you can also skip. But you can cause sabotage to the map. For example, the cool-down reactor will explode and kill everyone, the oxygen can be depleted and they lose, or you can turn the lights off to have the crewmates lose their vision. But the crewmates can fix this. You can also lock doors for a limited amount of time. And if you kill them all you win. So we joined a game that didn’t have many players because then we had more time to put in the code and join the game rather than joining a lobby that had seven out of ten players, and only waiting for three left. We’d rather join a lobby that has four out of ten players in it. So waited for three more players and then it began. The game told us to shush. By having the icon with a red character having his pointer finger stuck up. And pointing at his mouth. With a text underneath. Shhh. My sister said she was a crewmate, my brother said I was a crewmate. And I was an imposter. Now I am good at the imposter. And so I knew this would be an easy game. I usually saved my brother and sister for last. Because they’re my siblings. So I pulled some sabotages and got a couple of kills until it was down to me, my brother, and my sister. I thought I should go for my sister. I followed her hoping to get her until she stopped to fix the wires. But then I froze. I felt like this was cruel. And I didn’t know why it did. This is just a video game you can’t feel anything unless it impacts you from a cutscene or a death in any other type of video game. That just comes unexpectedly. So I left her and my brother. And my brother and sister won the game. Mainly because I couldn’t find my brother. So by the time I saw him, it was too late. The defeat music played as the crewmates all came up and it had a text above their heads that said defeat. And my sister spoke:

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I don’t know!” I replied.

And then my sister said that she was getting tired and decided to go to bed. My brother and I said good night and hung up. I walked away. My brother asked if I was ok. And I told him yes… it’s fine. I’m just tired. I wiped my eyes as they watered. I went downstairs to my room. And then closed the doors as I slowly let myself out. I was trying to be as quiet as I cried lightly but it felt like the tears were coming out of my eyes like waterfalls and it was so quiet in the room that when I cried it felt like hearing an airplane rushing over my head. I then went silent as I silently went to sleep.  

I woke up the next morning. I checked my phone. It was 11:28 AM. I got a couple of text messages from my mom and dad. They were pictures of my sister. She was making some drawings as if they were decorations for the window. And I was right. The photo was of her taping the drawings to the window. And then the third picture was of her meeting a dog that she called nuggets. I texted asking why she named the dog nuggets. They texted back saying that it was the last meal she ate before the dog came. Now I will say that we have a dog. He’s a Westie terrier. We named him Crosby after the hockey player from the Penguins Sidney Crosby. And I will say he’s pretty old. He can’t hear well, and can’t see well. But he could see a little bit and hear just a little, also he’s a pretty lazy dog. Usually, when I'm home alone he’s asleep. But we treat him like family. After all, he is our pet. So the fact my sister got to meet a different dog. Since she was taken away from her home. She needed something that made her feel like she was from home. Later that day I got a call from her asking what she does in Minecraft to start in survival. So I will say that the reason why she asked me this was because I play video games more than my brother or sister. And my sister has never played survival mode in Minecraft. So when she started the world, she didn’t know where to start. I told her to start finding trees to craft materials. Wood was the most important object in Minecraft. Since you use it to make a crafting table, you also need it to craft tools and weapons and you need wood to build a house. And you need wood to craft at least maybe half of the objects in the game. I told her that she could gather other materials like stone, iron, gold, or diamonds. But she needs to gather stone and then upgrade her items like her sword, and pickaxe. And she needs a furnace to melt the iron into an ingot to make a sword or pickaxe. And to beat the game she needs to beat the ender dragon. I’ll skip most of the explanation because to get to the ender dragon you have to gather certain materials and kill certain mobs. And she needs really strong items and food. To heal herself. And she said goodbye to me and hung up. Now I will say I've never beaten Minecraft. But I’ve known how to beat the game. Mainly because I fought it before. But it was creative. Creative is the mode for beginners where you can build whatever you want. Or explore something crafting recipes, and you can learn to just build certain structures through a YouTube video. For example, building a two-dimensional Spongebob jelly fish. Like the image below. It's a pretty cool game to play, especially with your friends or maybe even your sister.

The next day I woke up. And just like yesterday, I checked my phone. My mom texted me and my brother saying how today was the day. The day my sister got her appendix removed. Now I will say. I was nervous. Because when surgery happens you lose your skin and also you have doctors go in your body to fix you. And it’s pretty disturbing when you think of it. Especially when it happens to your little sister. I saw her in this outfit people usually wear when they are about to head into surgery.  And I will say that even though I wasn’t there. I was still nervous. Because as I mentioned, surgeries can be dangerous. One mistake and you might die. So I asked my parents if she’s gonna be cut open. Because I cared for her. I don’t want to lose someone I care about deeply. And my parents texted back saying they're(the doctors) gonna put a camera in her stomach where her belly button is and they're gonna check in there. And so we waited for any updates. And so I sat down in my room playing Batman Arkham Knight on my Xbox. And I was playing this mission where you play as a character named Azrael. Now I’ll try to describe Azrael. So Azrael is a brainwashed person who is trying to gain the trust of Batman by training to prove he is ready to work with him. Azrael's outfit has a mask and has white and red hoodie. With a red cape. And black boots. That’s as much as I know about it. But I fought the final challenge in the Azrael side mission. And the mission for this is a train where you can’t get hit. If you get hit once. You lose the challenge but you can retry it. And the last training session is the militia and some ninjas, just ninjas. And the Ninja I’ll say are the fastest enemies that can dodge your attacks here and there. Including the takedown combo special. Which is basically where if you hit them a certain amount you can take them down by pressing the B and Y buttons on the controller. The X button is the attack, and Y is to counterattack. And the A button is to jump. Anyway, enough of that. This challenge was the hardest one yet. Even Batman says that in a cutscene before the challenge even starts. Saying:

“It’s the toughest challenge yet!”

And then it began. I’ll skip the whole fight to tell what happens after I complete it. As soon as I took down the last Ninja my brother(who was right next to my room playing on the PlayStation). We walked upstairs because our Grandma called for us to say that our sister was ok, but there was some bad news. Her appendix is gone. She pulled her phone out to reveal a photo that my mom sent of the camera that went to my sister. We saw what she had. There was this thing sticking out of her appendix. Surrounded by human flesh. I was disgusted. I think I gagged five times. My brother was grossed out and his cheeks looked green like grass. I could hear him gag a couple of times. But he held it back. My Grandma told me that her appendix had ruptured, so they needed to replace her appendix. Because the appendix was in bad condition. And the appendix which I did some research on, says that it stores certain healthy types of bacteria. And so that can leave the bacteria becoming something bad, I can’t remember, after all, it’s been a year. But they said she was gonna stay in the hospital until they found an appendix that matched hers. We got a text late at night from our parents. My brother and I were kind of annoyed because we were really tired and also late at night. We were told by my parents to call them. And we agreed. So we did. And we called but we had to be quiet to make sure that we didn’t wake up our grandparents. My mom picked me up. And said hello. We replied saying hi, in a drowsy voice. 

“Sorry for having this happen boys but I can’t help but give you good news… They found one!”

My brother and I looked at each other. And we smiled. That’s good news. 

“Why do you not sound excited?”

“No, we are, we’re just tired!”

“Ok… but I just felt like telling you guys, good night boys!”

“Night Mom!”

My brother and I both hugged each other as we were happy that she could finally be free from the hell that she’s been trapped in for 2 days. We lay in our beds and fell asleep with a smile. 

My brother and I sat at the table with a bowl of cereal, I ate my favorite cereal at the time, apple Jacks, and my brother ate some cookie crisps. With some milk in the bowl. My grandma and grandpa got the news and told us what happened. But we hid that we knew already. By just applauding saying yes, yes, YES. We just pushed the chairs and my brother ran to each other to hug each other. Even though we already knew. So we waited for a couple of hours. And then we got a call from our mom. My Grandma picked up the phone. I heard her say. Hello, how’d it go, is she alright, when will she be home, ok, ok, bye. And then she told me to go get my brother. Because she had to talk to me and him. My grandma and grandpa sat on the chair. As birds tweet, the sounds of cicadas singing their song. And my grandma said it. 

“She’s gonna be ok and she’ll be home in a few days!”

I kneeled to my knees. And said thank you, god. For everything. Me and my brother came together and hugged yet again. And so my brother and I went off. To our room. And began to play video games. And we waited. We waited and waited. And then one day I woke up to my sister waking me up from my bed. I woke up screaming cause I never knew what day she would come home. But I grabbed her. And hugged her. But before I could, she said. 

“Careful Jackson… I just got a new appendix in me!”

I made sure to grab her a little less rough for a hug. And me and my sister stood there for what felt like forever. The sound of the air conditioning and the breeze from the basement walls hit us both. As I said one simple phrase to her:

“You’re finally home!”