Not Perfect Enough

Chapter 4

~CHRISTY~
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~I love them too much to give up on them.~
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Okay. It's 4 a.m. sharp, so says my small button phone's time.

I stand up from the hard mat that's laid on the floor where I sleep on. I stretch my body a bit before I turn to the only bed in the room which my younger siblings are still sleeping on, peacefully. I smile at the sweet sight for a while before I head to the bathroom and brush my teeth in a flash quietly, so I won't wake the little kids up.

When I'm done, I trot to the house's kitchen and start to prepare breakfast for everyone. I make boiled yam and warm up the left over stew that's in the small standing freezer.

I separate the food that they'll eat now and the one that they'll take to school. After that, I start doing my morning chores. I sweep the parlor and the kitchen. I dust all the furniture and appliances.

After that, I place everything where they are supposed to be since my siblings have a tendency to scatter things while watching movies at night.

When I finish doing everything, I check the time to see that it's five minutes to six. I hurry back to our room to wake my siblings up. They're still tangled in their wrappers.

Calvin is snoring loudly with his mouth ajar. He's only a year younger than me in JSS2. Crystal is looking so angelic and peaceful, she's two years younger than me. We're all one year apart.

"Calvin! Crystal!" I yell, trying to wake them up, but neither of them move an inch.

I move over to my brother first and start to shake him harshly.

"Oohh, sister, wait first let me finish my dream," he whines with half opened eyes in a sleepy voice, and I roll my eyes.

"Young man, if you don't stand up from this bed right now, I'll put you on dirty plates duty throughout the rest of the week!" I threaten, knowing his weakness, and his eyes fly wide open immediately.

"God forbid! It's not me that'll start washing Crystal's disgusting dishes!" He jerks up with horror-filled eyes, ripping the Ankara wrapper away from his body and standing up.

"If you like, don't brush your tongue well. When your classmates start making fun of you because you have mouth odor, I'll just be in my own class eating plantain chips." I say to him and he mumbles some incoherent words before entering the small bathroom by the side of the room.

"Stupid boy," I mutter to myself as I turn to face my younger sister that's still sleeping, unaware of the ruckus that just took place.

"Crystal," I say with a soft voice, tapping her arm lightly, and I see her chewing her mouth.

She's probably having a dream about food.

I use my hand to pry her eyes open gently but it's a failure.

"Crystal," I say again, and the chewing noises become much louder as her eyes start to flutter.

This girl will not kill me in this house.

"Oya na, if that's how it is then no ice cream for you later tonight." I say, stomping my legs, pretending to walk away.