So much has changed in my life it is CRAZY! I went through a NASTY divorce. But hey, it worked out. I became strong, empowered, and finally started to really believe in myself. I got custody of my two beautiful daughters. He does get visitations. I met an AMAZING man who really is just beyond wonderful to my girls and I. He was my first Supervisor when I first took the leap and decided to break free and become a single full time working mommy of 2. My youngest was only a few months old at the time. I couldn't have done any of it without my family and especially not without my cousin who without hesitation stepped in as pretty much a second mom to my girls. She taught me what a functional teamwork oriented family should be like and I will never settle for less again. With spring setting in I am reminded of the strength she lent me, unknowingly. And it is pushing me harder than I have pushed myself this last year. I am learning to never get comfortable and to always work harder to be better than I was yesterday. I don't believe I could ever say "life is great." But I can always say that every day is better than the last.
With my new found strength and courage you should watch this story and my page closely. I am done with hiding who I am. I have also wrote several chapters for this story including the last. Don't worry this story has a long ways to go yet. But, Thanks to this quarantine it is picking up pace again. I'm excited for the growth and experiences Amari is about to go through.
Word Count: 2,166
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Pain, immense pounding pain filled my head. I had never felt more annoyed in my life by sunshine. I scrunched up my face in disgust at the cascade of broken strips of light that found their way through the flimsy broken blinds that covered my window. One particular strip of light rested perfectly across my eyes. This was not helping my headache.
With a grunt of frustration I pushed the covers off my body and sat up in bed. All too quickly the room began to spin from the sudden motion. With my palm pressed tightly against my forehead I waited for the spinning to subside before making my way into my small bathroom. I left the light off while I splashed cold water on my face stopping to swallow a few gulps from my hands.
Once fully hydrated from my bathroom sink and wide awake from the cold water, I dressed for the day.
Lucille and Ray had not left me to have an enjoyable weekend alone without them here. No, while they were off having fun I had an endless list of chores that needed to be done. I could tell by the length and immense detail to the list that this was expected to be an impossible feat. They had underestimated me.
First up on the list; clean the pantry. Not simply to pick up and clean the floor, nope. Everything needed to be removed from the shelves, bleached, and anything expired thrown out. Any remaining food was to be placed back on the shelf in an organized manner.
This task took me a good two hours. I did move much slower due to the pounding headache from my current hangover. After finishing the pantry I took a short break to chug down two large glasses of water and eat a couple of hard stale rolls I had found shoved away in the back of the pantry. This way they wouldn't notice any food missing from elsewhere in the home. And it would make the few things I had taken to eat already less obvious.
Second up on the list; Cleaning under and behind the washer and dryer.
The list went on like this for the majority of the day. I was finally down to the last two items on the list with a good three hours before dark. I was feeling pretty proud of myself.
The evening sky was filled with a misty blue haze as passing storm clouds worked their way across the sky. Birds sang their songs from the trees and power lines. It was a beautiful evening.
I began by pulling the weeds from around the house before making my way to the lawn mower under a tarp on the side of the house. Thankfully the gas can was next to it.
The string used to pull start the lawn mower was old and stiff. I gave it a few quick pulls but the mower wouldn't start.
"Freaking heck!" I breathed out in frustration as I gave the lawn mower a swift kick and sat down next to it on the ground.
So close to finishing this list with time to spare and the mower is broken. The punishment that would come from not finishing my chores would be unbearable and I knew it. My head hung in my hands that were rested on my knees for several moments.
I couldn't just give up. I began to examine every aspect of the lawnmower. Maybe something was loose and I just needed to tighten it in order for it to start. This is when I found one of the spark plugs missing. I only knew this because I had helped Tyler tune up their old lawnmower once and he had taught me what they were and let me change them.
"You have got to be kidding me."
They had done this on purpose. They had purposely made the list impossible with a stupid contingency. A lawn mower that wouldn't start in order for me to do the last item; mow the front and back lawn.
Tears began to stream down my face. I had come so far only to realize I had been set up for failure from the very beginning.
This wasn't the first time in my life I had been set up. And this definitely wasn't the first time in my life that I felt defeated either. My entire life had been spent in foster care bouncing from one unstable home to the next. Tears fell from my face onto the ground as I sat hugging my knees to my chest, trying to create some sense of security. I longed for my family back. For a warm room and a hot meal every day. Most of all I longed to feel loved again.
The sun was starting to set by the time I had dried my tears of frustration and defeat. My punishment was sure to be an extra fun one since clearly it had been pre meditated. I figured that I might as well enjoy my last evening alone.
I stood and dusted my pants off. There wasn't time to shower and make it to Olivia's before it got too late. With my heart filled with dread and my head held as high as I could muster I began my walk to Olivia's home.
My thoughts kept switching from my impending punishment, to my broken family, and back to my impending punishment. I let out a frustrated breath and shoved my hands deeper into my pockets. To distract myself from my thoughts I began to count each step I took. One, two, three, four. This made me realize just how far Olivia's home was. I hadn't noticed the night before. By the time I reached her home my count was in the high thousands and considering I had lost count three times, causing me to start over. I only hoped the weather stayed decent for the walk home.
Olivia greeted me with a giant hug after only two of the three of my planned knocks. With my right hand in the air mid knock she squealed and squoze me tighter.
"I thought you weren't going to show."
Instant guilt filled me and I couldn't help but hug her back. "I'm sorry, my chores took longer than expected."
Olivia stepped back from me, "Oh don't even worry about it. I'm just glad you're here now," She assured me in a cheerful tone with a light gesture of her hand. "You're just in time for dinner, Mom set an extra spot for Amari please," She called out, grabbing my hand and dragging me further into the home.
"Hi Aria it's great to see you. " Her mom greeted me as we entered the Kitchen.
"Hi," I replied sheepishly with a light smile.
"Have you eaten yet?" She asked as she hummed and added a plate to the table.
My stomach lightly growled as the aroma from her home cooked meal engulfed my senses.
"Not in awhile actually, but I don't want to impose."
"It's no imposition at all." Her dad said, entering the Kitchen to take a seat. "Have a seat Amari, Olivia go grab your little brother."
Olivia quickly took off and soon returned with her little brother. Her mom dished everyone out a plate of homemade tacos and Spanish rice.
Warmth filled my heart as for just a moment I was able to relive and remember what it was like to be a part of a family. Olivia and her brother occasionally bickered but mostly laughed and teased. Her parents chimed in with a conversation of how they had stopped some kids from egging the neighbors house down the road. They lightly touched on the subject of our adventures from the night before which Olivia very skillfully covered up with a story about everyone watching a horror movie and one kid throwing up from a marshmallow challenge. I didn't chime in much. Instead I laughed and smiled and simply basked in the happiness of being a part of something so wonderful.
Once dinner was over Olivia and I cleared the table and washed the dishes together, laughing and joking about the made up story from the night before.
"I've never even heard of a marshmallow challenge." I laughed out while washing the last of the plates in soapy water.
"Here, hand me that plate," Olivia directed while taking the last plate to dry and put away. "I think it's technically called a chubby bunny challenge."
As soon as the plate was put away she disappeared into the pantry and popped out smiling, holding a bag of jumbo marshmallows.
"Here let's try it. After every marshmallow you have to say chubby bunny. You can't chew or swallow and we count how many you can fit in your mouth. I'll go first."
Grinning Olivia placed one in her mouth. "chubby bunny." two "chubby bunny" three "chubby bunny" four "chwubbwy bwuny," five "chwiby bwiny." She burst up laughing and spit the was into her hand. I laughed out loud as she threw them away.
"ok that was harder than I thought." She choked out, passing me the bag. "your turn."
I took the bag and placed the first sugary treat in my mouth. "chubby bunny." this was easy, two. "chubby bunny." The marshmallows began to melt from the liquid in my mouth, three "chubby bunny." four "chubby bunny." my mouth began to fill with saliva and sugar, five "Chwwubwy bwunny." I fought hard to keep the liquid from running down my throat, six "chwib bbwiny."
I choked on my own spit laughing and ran to the garbage to spit my wad directly into it. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand I turned grinning at her "definitely harder than I expected," I admitted.
"Do you still have time to watch the movie?" Olivia asked as she placed the bag of marshmallows back in the pantry.
"of course!"
We quickly finished tidying up the kitchen and headed to her room. For a moment I regretted the privacy from her family because as soon as we were in her room with the door closed the bombardment of questions came.
"What's up with you and Dean, he is such a hunk. Did he kiss you? Do you like him? Did he sleep over?"
"Whoa whoa slow down," I interjected. "Nothing happened. I don't think he likes me like that. I think he just wanted to ask about my brother but honestly I don't remember much, I was pretty wasted," The last part was a lie.I remembered everything perfectly.
"Ugh fine. But if something ever does happen you better tell me.I wonder if he's a good kisser Speaking of kissing is your brother available?" Olivia grinned ear to ear at me eager for a response.
"I honestly don't know. We never talked about it when he was here."
"Bummer, he is sure one sexy piece of meat."
"Olivia," I scolded while tossing a pillow at her face laughing.
"What, he is."
She was right. I couldn't even deny it. Tyler was very attractive. I had never seen him as more than a brother though. When I first came to live with him and Susan I was very skeptical of him. He was a guy after all. And a muscular one at that. He had given me the side eye when I first showed up at their door and wouldn't talk for me for days. Finally one night he had been playing a video game in the living room and I had been working on a sketch. I soon became entranced by his game and he had decided to teach me how to play. We stayed up until four in the morning laughing as all the little boys raged every time we killed them on Call of Duty. It was great.
Olivia moved to put the movie Suicide Squad into the her DVD player and we got comfortable in the two bean bag chairs placed against her bed on the floor. The movie was great. While I did enjoy Harley Quinn's character she was more bat shit crazy than I would ever be able to handle and the dysfunctional relationship with the joker was just plain sad.
When the movie ended Olivia had moved to her bed and was fast asleep. The sun had long since set. A soft pitter patter of fall rain could be heard on the roof and windows. It was going to be a cold walk home.
Using paper from Olivia's desk I left her a note placed on her bedside table.
Thanks for the fun! I'll see you at school Monday.
-Amari
Ps. I was a way better Harley Quin. ;)
With my jacket in hand that had been left here the night before I quietly tiptoed through the sleeping home and out into the cold night, locking the door behind me and gently closing it.