Humanity

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Dawn has lazily crept upon the sky, announcing its presence boisterously. Helena’s grass green eyes were greeted by the bright, roaring colors of dawn. She had no choice but to wake up unless she didn’t want her children to go to school. Wearily, she got out of her bed and did her daily bath routine. After that, she made herself breakfast as she sipped her green tea. She gave her children some more time to rest since it was still a little early. At 5 am, she woke them up for their day to start. Once they had been dressed and fed, she drove them to school in her small, used white car. The children exclaimed their I-love-you’s and their goodbyes as they entered the school entrance.

Helena then drove back to her house and began to rummage through her closet for some appealing outfits for her job. It was a female-dominated job so she didn’t have to worry so much about having to work extremely hard to prove herself as a hard worker. But, she did have to prove herself a bit since she worked at a competitive job. She worked so hard to get to the position she is in now and because of that, she has a lot more clients than before. She finally found her box full of clothes that was perfect for her job. After putting them on, she put on her black trench coat and headed for the door.

            She never took her car to work. She preferred to take her amble time to her job by walking and enjoying the fresh, warm sun; trying her best to avoid the thought of work. She knew that no matter how many times she shut her eyes to forget the bad memories of being at her job, she had to face it. She had to face it because she needed to do this for her children to survive. They were her only priority.

Once she reached her workplace, she waited for one of her clients to come to her. Time wasn’t flying by fast enough as she kept waiting anxiously for her client to come. This client was always on time and most of the time, her client waited on her. Her client paid a lot of money for her to help him. No client equals no profit and no profit equals less food on the dinner table for her children to eat.

“Hey Helena. How’s it going?” Regina, her colleague greeted, trying her best to start a conversation.

“Okay I guess. How is life?” She replied. She needed some company to feed off her extreme boredom and anxiousness.

“Life’s a bitch. If it wasn’t for my son, I would’ve slit my throat goodbye.” She answered, motioning her index finger across her throat for emphasis. If anything, Helena understood the sacrifice they would go through for their children.

“That well, huh?” Helena smiled with sarcasm stuck in her vocal chords.

“Yea…” She smiled back absent-mindedly because they both knew how the business was like: fast pay, less respect. “So… How are the kids?”

“They are doing great.” She replied and that was the end of their conversation as Regina was taking out a lighter. There was a strange man, in a black hoodie, who was crossing the street with his head down; one hand in his pocket while the other one was holding a knife, coming towards Helena.

“Run.” Regina warned calmly as she lit her cigarette and placed it on her cracked, overly-painted lips. Helena ran fast with the cool breeze hitting her in the face. The stranger in the black hoodie was faster and he grabbed her from behind, dragging her to a nearby fence. She was shrieking, screaming, crying for help.

Regina had been long gone, shooing the screams as if they were annoying flies. Many passersby’s’ saw this man shred her clothes off with no shame or mercy. They all shooed the image away as if they were annoying flies. He was piercing through her skin like she didn’t matter. As if she couldn’t feel the pain. As if she was a toy. A toy that could be thrown in the garbage once a person grows tired of it.