Running Amok

     Randy was a sophomore. He lived in Philadelphia all his life, and was bored with his life.
He knew things could be worst though. He had parents and an older sister who all smothered him with love.
And he thinks they forced him into seclusion. He thought he was alone in the world.
Which technically he was.
      Randy decides to throw away his seclusive behavior and join a sport. He ponders about a sport to join and goes through a list of sports in his head...
 "hmmm..baseball? No.Tennis? Naww.Volleyball? Nope... and he pondered and pondered.
       Eventually he forgot about it. Until one day in school he saw a stand for track and field.This got randy thinking again. Finally, Randy decides to join track.
      "I love it Ma!" he said happily as soon as he got into his track suit. Truthfully behind all of it though he was exhausted.Though his exhaustion might be a little from the running it was actually because randy was having vivid  nightmares and wasn't getting much sleep.
        "Ma can't know though! If she finds out she will take away track for sure.A few nights without sleep won't kill me..." he reassured himself.
         To take extra precaution he looked alive and happy whenever he was around his parents. But out on the track, Randy was at his worst.He barely could lift a 10 lb. weight when he trained.
    "Get your act together Lawson!" Coach warned Randy. "Ugh..." Randy groaned. His body ached all over and he was tired. The more he ran, the less he enjoyed himself. But still he hung in there, he had some friends now and didn't want to let his team down.
     But strangly even though Randy is doing poorly in sports, he maintained his grades and G.P.A of 3.5. Randy was always smart and used school as an outing of life to just concentrate on. He hadn't had much friends or distractions for school so he always maintained good grades.All his dedicated work to school couldn't drop if he was in track. It was a set goal from the beginning, to maintain track,school, homework, and games.
     Even tough Randy still does well in school his bio teacher starts to pick up on his exhaustion and more and more everyday it becomes more obvious that he looked extremely tired and ill. Mrs. Riley deciedes to call Randy's parents to inform them that their son seemed overly exhausted. She thought it was the right thing to do. So the teacher, Mrs.Riley decided to call Randy's parents.
     "Stacy get the phone!" Mrs.Lawson called out
      " Helloooooo?!" Stacy giggled. Pleased that she could answer the phone.
        "Hi." Mrs. Riley answered flatly.
        "May I speak to you mum or dad?" she said
         "Umm....okay! MOM THE PHONE IS FOR YOU!" she yelled aloud.
         "Hello?" Mrs.Lawson spoke onto the phone.
        "Uh...yes.Hi Mrs.Lawson, Im calling because I am concerned for your son.He has maintained good grades but he looks awfully tired during my class. I fear he might be over-working himself with school work and sports."
       "Oh my goodness! Thank you Mrs.Riley for informing us with Randy." she spoke in shock.
        By the time Randy got home he told his parents he was too tired to eat dinner and had done his homework before his game so he headed straight for bed. Mrs.Lawson took note of it then she went to talk to her husband about it.
          "But he does love the sport.." Mr. Lawson said.
           " It starting to effect his health!"Mrs. Lawson exasperated.
          " Well it might be best that we talk to him before we make him quit. He said.
           They took sometime to look things over. After a while, Mrs.Lawson decides to check up on Randy to see how he is doing.
           "Randy?" she spoke softly as she walked into his room. Randy lay in bed tossing in turning in his sleep and he looked like he was struggling.Mrs.Lawson's first intentions were to wake Randy up. He looked like he had been fighting with the bed covers the way he was tossing and turning. Then, she stepped back and rethought to herself : " We still have to get an explanation before I can do anything." She said then left the room.
          The next morning Randy got up and got dressed and then packed his backpack and his track bag. They were both really huge bags.
           He started down the stairs, then did his usual routine: brush teeth, hair, pack snack, then lunch. He went along with his daily routine but when he entered the kitchen he was caught off guard by his mother who was still home. She was usually on her way to work by now.
          " Mom what are you doing here? Is stacy and dad okay? Are you okay? What is going on?"
          "Come sit and have breakfast, we need to talk." She said nervously.
          "Okay..." He said nervously.
          "Randy, We got a call yesterday and spoke with Mrs.Riley who is concerned for you." She said soflty.
          "What?" Randy said really confused. " Is my grades dropping or something? That's not possible. I got a 95% on her last test." he said.
          "Your grades are fine Randy please let me speak. She spoke to me because she is concerned for your energy and exhaustion, she says you have been quite tired during school.Having lots of low energy and no strength during practice. Please explain what is going. "She said.
           "Im fine. Really. I don't think anything is wrong with me...maybe mrs.riley is mistaking me for somebody else." Randy spoke quickly and didn't look her in the eye the whole time.
          "Randy. Im your mother, i know you like the back of my hand. Your lying.You talk quickly and look nervous and can't even look me in the eye when your lying. PLEASE tell me the truth and we discuss what will happen to sports later. And if you don't tell me...track will have to end right now.TRACK WILL BE DONE!" she spoke with concern.
         "Crap." Randy thought to himself. he let out a long sigh and said : "Mom ugh...fine. Ever since I started track I can't sleep. Im having some weird dreams and then some nights I can't even sleep. I guess that's why I am so tired." Randy confessed, sadly.
         "Oh Randy! as your parents we should know what is effecting your health at all times.Good or bad you should trust us to help you. "
          "Im sorry Ma. Its just that I knew you would freak out and have me quick track when im finally making progress. I didn't want something like sleep jepardize that."
          "Sleep is very important Randy. It gets you through the day and gives you enough energy for track. She said.
           "Still mom, if you knew that i wasn't getting sleep, you would strip me of the one thing I want so much."
           "Randy, it is more important to be healthy than to be slaving yourself for track." she said
           "Not in my opinion." Randy mumbled to himself sarcastically.
           " Well we are going to have to settle this Randy, and whether you like it or not your going to have to take a break from track." She said.
           "Ugh...okay but can it be after today's meet please?" Randy asked hopefully.
            "No. I already called the school because you aren't going to school until I get you to a doctor or a councelor or something." She said.Randy plopped all his stuff down. He saw no point in holding them now, he wasn't going to school.
            "Eat your breakfast. I made you a 8:45 appointment." She said.
            "Fine." He mumbled as he bit a piece of toast.
                         
                          *               *            *
       "Ya we just left the doctors and they told me im over exhausted and needed a follow up appointment with a special sleep doctor." Randy told his friends on the phone.
        "But are you going to be in school tomorrow?" His friends asked in unison.
         "No, its tomorrow.They want me to rest before the appointment so I have a fresh idea about all the wierd dreams im having. Randy sighed. If there was one thing Randy hated, it would definitely be going after school to make up sessions and missing school.
          Randy put on his pajamas that night and prayed that he would have a good dream for once, then he would have to tell these dream people that he had a good dream and was normal.But that night, Randy didn't sleep at all.Once again.He just stared at the ceiling and tried to sleep.
        The next morning Randy's mom was annoying him about sleep.
        " Did you sleep well last night?"She asked.
         "Um...not at all actually.Randy whispered,scared of his mother's reaction.
          "NO SLEEP? Oh boy that should be interesting for those dream doctors."She said
         " I dont think they can get too mad at me. Its not my fault after all, its not my fault." He said.
          Then they got into the car and used the G.P.S to find the dream doctors.

                                    *              *           *
              After his appointment, Randy walked into the waiting room and the doctor gave him a report.
             "Well it looks like your son has sleep-apnea. Nothing we can't fix." The doctor said.
               The doctors couldn't get rid of the symptoms but they were able to give him medication to live his life normally and now he is in progress to go back to track.This time taking it slow though. Its only going to get better now with Randy but he knows everything is done in moderation.