I woke up to a figure with a shoe in their hand.

“Get up, get up, she kept on yelling while hovering the shoe in the air. We have guests coming over and you need to help me clean up the whole house!” my mom explained.

“I got four hours of sleep last night studying for the science test that I still got a C on, can’t you leave me alone,” I asked.

“You got a C on you science test?” mom asked. She started to pick up the shoe again, and I ran to the shower and locked the door.

After taking a purposely long shower, I got out and put on the clothes my mom left me. She always made me wear jeans and long sleeves shirts, and I hated it. Why should I be wearing that if was summer?

I went to the kitchen area and saw my siblings and my mom cleaning things up.

“What took you so long?” my sister asked while she pinched me.” Take these.”

I started to set the glassware and plates before my sister told me to get the aloo kima (potato beef mix) from the microwave and put it on the table. After I got it out, my hand slipped and I accidentally knocked over the large glass bowl and the aloo kima fell all over the floor. I gasped but stopped myself from yelling; I didn’t want my mom to hear and have her yell at me.

My mom was in her room, so luckily she did not hear the sound of broken glass. But both of my older sisters did, and they came rushing to me.

“What the he-!“ they exclaimed.

“I know, I know just please don’t tell mom and help me clean it up!” I pleaded.

I ran to get the mop, but my feet skidded on the food, and the next thing I knew was that I was on the ground covered with potato and beef. I yelled this time, loud and clear, but mom still didn’t come down.

“What is wrong with you today?” my sisters said hysterically. I probably would’ve laughed too, but I was  covered in food and on the cold, hard floor.

I went back to my closet and threw on clean clothes that would please my mom. I put the clothes covered with food on the ground. At least my closet would have the smell of the aloo kima that I was eagerly going  to eat.

I heard the doorbell and ran downstairs. I wasn’t ready physically or mentally, but the show had to go own.

I saw the guests with two kids, one of them younger than I and the other about the same age. Great, I thought, now I had to act social and happy, even though I was supposed to still be sleeping under blankets.

After the usual hellos and hugs, my siblings and I took the kids into the game room and started to put on a movie. Something to distract them until it was time to eat food. But something else caught their eye: the old, used up trampoline.

“Oh my god you have a trampoline!” they exclaimed. It was a birthday present from my dad to my sister. But as both the trampoline and my siblings got older, we didn’t get time to jump on it anymore. So, it just stood there, defiant and abandoned.

“Can we go on it, pleaseeee?” they asked.

“Sure.” my siblings and I said. We thought it was a good idea. We thought.

As we led them outside, I forgot about how worn down the trampoline was. The safety net that went around the whole thing was on the floor of the trampoline and there was debris from trees all over the place. But it probably looked majestic to them. At least, that was what I thought when I first saw it.

We all started to jump on it, shoes on, so the acorns and dirt wouldn’t get on our feet. It was surprisingly fun to jump on it. It brought back old memories.

But because there were so many people on the trampoline with many different weights, it caused some of us to jump very high, almost taller than the trampoline itself.

One of the jumps that I took did not align with one of the other kids, and she got propelled high. Very, very high and landed safely. But the next time when she jumped, her leg got stuck on the safety net underneath her and she tripped.

I laughed for an exceptionally long time, while she was still on the trampoline floor. My sisters went back inside a while ago, so I was alone with the guests.

While I was laughing at what happened, I thought that the kid who was tangled in the safety was laughing, but she was crying. She just had a very strange cry. I did not realize this until 10 minutes after she got hurt and then quickly went inside to get help.

She came back inside, still crying, and laid down on our sofa with the help of her parents. Luckily my mom was a doctor and could see if she had to go to a hospital. Her parents thanked me for helping their daughter. I didn’t say a word.

After examining her, my mom said that she probably just bruised or sprained her leg, nothing that big of a deal, but to check up with the doctor if the pain was still there after two days.

They did end up going to a doctor, and she really broke her bone in TWO places. They didn’t come to our house after that incident for a while.