Atlanta, Georgia

8:03 AM

September 19, Wednesday

I sat up and looked at the clock.

When I notice that it was way past time for the kids to get up, I immediately hopped up.

Kodi was still sleep, she must've forgot.

I headed upstairs to Heaven's room and woke her up.

"Daddy can I just not go, mommy didn't even iron my clothes."she pouted.

"Nah if I let you stay she's gonna kill me, I'll iron them if you tell me which ones you wanna wear."I said while going into her closet.

"Khaki shorts and white shirt."

"Aight."I said while grabbing her clothes.

"Get up and get ready now Heaven!"I said while before going to Kai's room.

When I got into his room I didn't have to wake him up because the nigga was already ready, clothes ironed and all.

"You ready for school?"I asked him.

"Yep."

"Who ironed your clothes?"I asked him.

"Me."

"You didn't burn yourself or anything right?"I asked him.

"Nope."

"Aight cool. Once your sister's done getting ready, we gone head out and go to the donut shop first."

"Okay."

"Aight I'll come get you when it's time to go."I said before heading downstairs to the room to iron her clothes.

As I was ironing her clothes, I heard Kodi pouting in her sleep as she turned over.

"You good baby?"I asked her as I continued ironing Heaven's clothes.

She turned her head and went right back to sleep.

I was confused 'cause she ain't ever sleep this hard or this much.

No matter what happened the night before, she always gets up.

Today was a little bit different.

Once I finished ironing Heaven's clothes, I headed upstairs to give them to her.

"Daddy is mama up?"

"Nah she knocked out."

"Oh well I need help with my edges."

"How you do it?"I asked her and she explained it to me.

I helped her but as I was doing it she was laughing.

"That's not it, I said make the letter C."she said and I did so.

"How that look?"I asked her.

"Better."

"Why is it so hard for you to make the letter C?"I asked her.

"'Cause I don't know how."

"Mmcht. Whatever."I said and de laughed.

"Aight put ya clothes on, grab your stuff, and come downstairs once you're done."

"Okay."she said and I went to tell Kai to go wait downstairs.

On my way back to the room, I stopped to check in on the twins.

They were just now waking up.

I changed them, put on their shoes for them, and made them go wait in the living room.

"Baby!?"I called out to Kodi as I went into the room.

"Hm?"she hummed lowly.

"I'm going to go take the kids to school, you gone be good?"I asked her and she didn't say nothing.

When Heaven came downstairs, I got everybody and everything together before leaving and taking them to school.

As I pulled up to the donut shop and got into the drive thru line, my phone rang.

It was Janina.

I answered the phone.

"Good morning."I said.

"Good morning son, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine and you?"

"I'm doing good. I was calling to see if anybody's home, y'all have so many cars I can't really tell if you're home or not."

"I'm not home, I came to take the kids to school, but Kodi is. I'm about to unlock the door for you right now."I said while pulling the app up on my phone.

I did the whole verification process before punching in the pin and unlocking the door.

"Aight you should be able to go inside."

"Yep. Thank you so much son!"

"You're welcome, I'll see you when I get back."I said before hanging up.

I drove up to the window and ordered a dozen donuts and twelve separate donut wholes.

Once I paid and everything, I dropped Heaven and Kai off before heading back home.

"Scarr, Scarr!!? Kodi is not feeling too well, I think you should take her to the emergency room."Janina said while running up to me as soon as I walked into the house with the twins.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She needs to go to the hospital immediately."she said and I went to sit down the box of donuts before rushing into the room.

She was laying in the bed curled up with the cover over her head.

"I think she has a fever, she's very very hot and has the chills. I tried to take her clothes off but she said that she was cold, so I just put the cover back on her. You might have to get her dressed into something so that you can take her, I'll stay here and watch the twins you go ahead."she said to me and before she walked out I noticed her crying.

I went into the closet and grabbed Kodi something to wear.

Once I had her clothes and underclothes, I sat it all on the bed.

I removed the covers from her body and once I saw the red rash on her face, arms, and neck, I widened my eyes.

Instead of making her sit up or anything since she told me that she was in pain, I slowly got her dressed.

Once I had finished getting her dressed, I picked her up and headed outside to the car.

I laid her in the backseat and hopped in the car before driving off to the hospital.

"So we ran some tests and Mrs. Woods tested positive for ANA, Antinuclear Antibody. I'm sor—"

"I'm sorry but I don't care about you being sorry, all I wanna know is what's going on with my wife."I said to her.

"....after running blood and urine tests, locating the possible symptoms, and physical examinations Mrs. Woods is at a high risk for Lupus."

"What the fuck is Lupus?"I asked her.

"Lupus is an inflammatory disease caused when the immune system attacks its on tissues. The particular one that she has is Acute cutaneous lupus erythematosus which explains the butterfly rash on her face."

"Is it a cure for it, will she have to live with it for the rest of her life?"

"There is no cure for it as of now but there are current treatments that focus on the symptoms of the disease and minimize flare ups. This begins with protection from the sun and a change in diet. Other treatments include medications such as inflammatories and steroids."

"So how the fuck- what caused it?"

"Genetics."she simply said and I nodded.

"So it ain't gone go away?"

"Not until there is a possible cure for Lupus but she can limit the amount of damage that the disease does to her body by taking her medication as needed, protecting her body from the son, and changing her diet."

I nodded while looking down at Kodi who was still asleep.

I was really confused by how random this shit was.

Never in my life have I ever heard about no fucking Lupus.

I'm not sure if Kodi already knew about being sick or if Janina knew anything but I really don't even know what to say or how to feel about this shit.