Panic

   Today was Ky's day off from work, and he was determined to make the most of it. He had a perfectly planned out day in mind. 

   He'd wake up at 7, get his daughter, son, and wife up after making the most exquisite breakfast consisting of restaurant-quality chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and eggs. His wife would kiss him and tell him all about how not even Gordon Ramsey could cook a pancake to perfection like he could. His children would hug him and they would have a pleasant morning. 

  Then at 9 o'clock they would go to the beach and build sand castles. 

  At noon they would have a picnic at the park. Then get ice cream at the nearby ice cream place. 

  At 2 they would go see the new purple blob movie. 

  By 4:30 they'd be at Olive Garden enjoying breadsticks. 

  At 5:30 they'd be on their way home. They'd color on the floor with the radio on. 

  At 6:30 he'd start trying to convince his son to take a bath, by 7 his daughter would be done with hers and his son would finally agree to a bath. 

  By 8 his children would be tucked in bed and by 8:30 they'd be asleep and he'd have a little fun with his wife. 

  Then by 11, he'd be asleep with his wife using his chest as a pillow.

   It was the perfect plan.

   However, it started going wrong before the alarm went off because he could not fall asleep. He tossed and turned but sleep did not come. 

  His wife, annoyed by his constant flopping like a fish, elbowed him in the ribs and kicked him in the butt, effectively knocking him out of bed. He hit hard and groaned in pain, waking her up. 

   "Oh! Ky! Are you ok? Babe?" She asked as she peered over the side of the bed like it was a cliff. 

   "Uh-huh." Ky said. 

   "Okay...you just gonna stay there or...?" 

   "Uh-huh." 

   That was apparently all she needed to hear because she went back to sleep.

   Ky stayed on the floor staring at the ceiling for an annoying amount of time. Finally, he got up and snorted at seeing his snoring wife sprawled out on the bed like a starfish. There was no longer any room for him even if he wanted to get back in bed. 

   Ky made his way to the living room and turned on the TV, which was a mistake. He zoned out and the next thing he knew the sun was up and his phone was ringing off the hook. He didn't hear it, figuring it was in his head. 

   Then he saw the time. It was 8. He was already an hour behind on his perfectly planned day. 

   Ky let out a yelp, turned off the TV, and scrambled for the kitchen. He started to frantically mix pancake batter until he realized that an hour wasn't bad, he could get back on track or close to it if he woke up his family, so he left the stove on and ran to wake up his wife, but before he got there he figured out a much faster way and just screamed. 

   She did not appreciate his effectiveness.

   While she was in the bathroom he ran halfway up the stairs and screamed for his kids to get up. Then the fire alarm went off.

   If you know Ky, you know that he does not do well when the fire alarm goes off. He screamed, jumped a foot in the air, ran into the kitchen, saw a pancake on fire, found himself unable to breathe, and passed out.

   He woke up a minute later to his wife fanning away smoke and someone screaming. He scrambled to his feet and bolted outside taking a kid with him. After standing there with his son and daughter for a minute, his wife opened the door and said, 

  "Ok. The fire is out." 

  Ky was more cautious going back inside than his 5-year-old son. It still smelled like smoke.

   "You can cook." He told his wife and sunk onto a bar stool at his kitchen counter. "I'm not going anywhere near that death trap again."

   "Daddy, do you need chocolate milk?" Brittany asked him. 

   "Yes, I think I do."

   He was still shaky. His 9-year-old daughter gave him a cold bottle of chocolate milk. He chugged it. Just as he slammed his bottle down the doorbell rang.

   "What now?" He groaned as Caiden charged down the stairs with his favorite stuffed animal. 

   "I'll get it!" He exclaimed.

   "Oh no, you won't." Ky responded and jumped up to snatch his little son into his arms and answer the door. 

   Hopefully, it was just a package or something so Ky could get back on track to the beach. Unfortunately, he had friends, and that was who was standing on his porch.

   Nolan looked quite agitated and he wasn’t alone, his daughter was with him. He started talking as soon as Ky opened the door.

   "Hey, so there was a mishap with the blender this morning. No one lost any limbs but Jonathan does need a hospital. So I need you to watch Paige." He was talking so fast that Ky only caught half of what he said. 

  "What?" 

  The most ridiculous thing was that his shirt was soaked in what Ky hoped was strawberry milkshake.

   "My son is bleeding in the back of my car! I need a babysitter Ky!" 

   "Okay. Okay. Calm down. Do I wanna know what happened?"

   "Hope not 'cause I really don't wanna explain. Thanks buddy."

   Then he raced back to his car like he was running a marathon and peeled out of the driveway like a professional. Well, that was weird. Ky wondered why he didn't drop Paige off with his brother-in-law who worked at the hospital. 

  Paige rushed in and gave Brittany a fast hug, then they played with dolls so Ky guessed Jonathan's injury wasn't too severe.

   By then Ellie had some pancakes done and they ate. After cooking such a meal she deserved a comment like Ky had been hoping to get this morning, so he kissed her and told her pancakes were better than anyone's. 

   Even that didn't go like he had planned it because 3 kids simultaneously said ew when their lips touched. Then trying to be cool he leaned against a hot stove and tripped as he scrambled to get away. 

   "Boy, I think you should stay out of the kitchen." Ellie giggled. 

   He nodded and joined the kids. 

   Paige really wanted to go to build-a-bear and since her brother was in the hospital, they went to build-a-bear. 

   They spent $150 at build-a-bear, because if you take 3 kids to build-a-bear you are not leaving without at least 3 teddy bears with clothes, and of course, Paige wanted one for her brother.

   After that Ellie took the girls on a spending spree while Ky hung out in the toy store with his son. By now Ky's original plans had been completely destroyed. He kept rewriting it in his mind. 

  After the mall, they'd go to the park and have a picnic, then get some ice cream, go to the movies, then out to eat, and color on the floor at home. 

  However, an incident at the toy store made him forget all his plans about enjoying his day. He lost track of Caiden. 

   Terrified, he ran through the store calling his son's name, grabbing random kids that looked like him then apologizing to parents. Terrible, terrifying thoughts filled his head and he had his 2nd panic attack today and passed out taking a bookshelf with him. 

   He woke up a minute later to a very concerned employee staring him in the face. 

   "Sir? Are you ok? Should I call someone?" The young woman asked. 

  "I'm ok. Just a panic attack. Wait...where's my son?" 

  She raised an eyebrow, confused, but it didn’t matter because he just saw him. Ky scrambled over to the 5-year-old and picked him up.

   "Don't do that." He whispered to him. 

  "Sorwy Daddy." Caiden said. 

   "This is your son?" The man who had a hand on Caiden's shoulder a minute ago asked. 

   "Yeah, why?"

   "He stole and ate 2 candy bars." 

   "Caiden!" 

   "I thought they were free." 

   Ky sighed, sifted the kid in his arms, and fished out his wallet. He guessed he needed to explain malls to him later.  After paying he met his wife at the car and they went to the hospital to see Jonathan. 

   The first person they saw was Gabriel Townsend, Paige's uncle. They managed to get in the elevator at the same time. The funny thing was they didn't recognize each other until 5 seconds into the ride. 

   “How is he?” Ellie asked after Paige showed him the stuffed animal she got her brother. 

   “Better. Did Nolan tell you what happened? Because he didn't tell me.” 

   “Something about a blender. I don’t know, he was in a hurry.” Ky cut in. 

   Gabriel shrugged. 

   “All I know is it required 15 stitches and Jonathan was a little loopy when I checked on him.” 

   That's when Ky noticed the elevator was not moving.

   “Uh…Gabe? Any chance the elevators like to break?” 

   It was what he didn't say that gave the answer. He did pick up the phone and dial tech support. 

   Ky felt another panic attack coming on. He wanted to stay calm for the 3 kids also stuck in the elevator, but there were 2 other adults here and today was turning out to be one big panic attack. He wasn't even sure why he was having so many panic attacks. Only the fire this morning made sense. He was gonna blame lack of sleep and a crazy day. If he could just skip the panic attack and skip straight to the passing out that would be nice. 

   He passed out 2 minutes into his panic attack and woke up on the floor. The elevator was moving again, which was good. The doors opened and Ky scrambled out. 

   “Oh yeah, he was being dramatic.” Ellie said. 

  The girls were walking ahead of him holding hands, he grabbed Ellie's hand, and Gabe was carrying Caiden, who apparently decided to take a nap.

   In the hospital room, Nolan and Maya were sitting by their son's bed and watching TV. Gabe's wife, Nolan’s sister was also there along with their children, and Jonathan's best friend Hunter. Hugs were exchanged, Paige stayed, but somehow they left with more children. While Ky was unconscious Ellie agreed to watch Gabe's twin boys, Ross and Austin.

   By now it was close to 4:30, and they went out to eat with three 5-year-olds and a 9-year-old. Then they went home and colored on the floor. 

   Ky really wanted to see that purple blob movie, but Gabe called him and asked if he could bring his sons home because he was exhausted. So Ky drove Ross and Austin home. 

   By the time he got home, it was 8 o'clock because he managed to drive into a ditch. He had to flag down a car to get a ride. That was when Ross and Austin were in the car by the way. 

   Gabe pretty much ran outside when he saw the cop car pull into his driveway. By then an hour had gone by since he texted Ky. When asked if he was the father of the twins he rambled out his full name, his phone number, his license plate number, and his job description along with a round of 20 questions. Ross and Austin were still in the car then. 

   Ky didn't have a great day, but from the look of things Gabe had a worse day. 

  When he finally got his kids from the back of the cop car, he hugged Ky, said thanks, and hurried to get his sons to bed before they woke up too much to fall back asleep. 

   The cop drove Ky home. He stumbled in and fell asleep on the couch. It had been a very long day.