head. She had little sleep during the night and had even less energy to get out of bed. She felt like the carpet was made of lava and if she got out of bed she’d die.
She stared at the alarm with bloodshot red eyes and half of her face buried in the pillow; it showed that the current time was five AM. She finally decided she couldn’t take the annoying beeping sound anymore and reached for the off button.
If only she could sleep a little bit longer… She knew it wasn’t a possibility and slowly dragged herself out of bed and got dressed.
She brushed her hair in front of the mirror and tried to make herself look more like a human and less like a gargoyle. Why couldn’t she just wake up and look pretty like the girls in the movies? She slapped on a bit of makeup, left the bedroom and banged on the first door to her right down the hallway.
“Wendy, get up.” Alice ordered.
Wendy was her younger, unemployed sister that stayed with her; spending most of her days sleeping and contribute little to the household she was bleeding dry.
When there was no answer, Alice pushed open the door. Wendy’s bedroom smelt of sweat and cigarettes and the culprit of the smells lay with her back to the door; snug under the covers.
“Wendy.” Alice insisted, “Get up.”
Wendy groaned from underneath the covers, but didn’t move. Alice looked around the room from where she stood. It was in total disarray with clothes that lay scattered all over the place.
“I’ve told you I don’t like you smoking in the house.”
“It’s not your house.” Wendy mumbled.
She hated her sister for saying stuff like that to her. While she worked ten hours a day to feed them and pay the bills, Wendy stayed in bed most of the day. If only Wendy would get up and find a job they might be able to afford a nurse and they could stop buying food with food stamps.
“Get up.” Alice insisted one last time.
Alice shut the door with a loud bang; hoping it would get Wendy out of bed. She went downstairs and entered the kitchen and was surprised to find her mother, Rita, sitting at the kitchen table. Her mother was in her early seventies and a skinny shadow of the woman she once was.
“Mom?” Alice asked confused, “Why are you up this early?”
Rita looked up and smiled.
“I wanted to tell you to have a great day. I always miss you when you leave so I decided to get up a bit earlier.”
Alice walked over to her mother and gave her a kiss on the forehead. How she longed for the good old days. She missed her mother. She barely saw her with all the hours she put in at the office.
“Can I make you some coffee?” Alice asked.
“That would be nice. So how’s work?”
Alice walked over to the counter and placed some filter coffee in the coffee machine.
“It’s good.” Alice lied.
She didn’t have the heart to tell her mother that she was exhausted from all the overtime. She didn’t want to worry her mother.
“Did I tell you Jim came over the other day?” Rita asked.
“Who’s Jim again?”
“He’s my bridge partner. I introduced him to you the other night when the bridge club was held here.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
In fact, Alice had no idea who Jim was. Old people all looked alike to her and needed to wear name-tags if you asked her.
“He’s such a sweet man.” Rita said, “His wife died a couple of years ago so he’s on the market again. I have to admit he’s still quite handsome. He brought over some donuts and old movies. His wife died a couple of years ago – did I tell you?”
“Yes you did.”
Alice poured them each a mug of coffee and sat down next to her mother.
“Did I tell you Jim came over the other day?” Rita asked.
Rita was in a loop-period which frustrated Alice. This was not her mother. This was a shell. She longed for days before the disease kicked in – when her mother was still her mother.
“Yes you did.”
“I did?” Rita asked confused, “Oh.”
Rita took a sip of her coffee and smiled.
“This is good coffee.” Rita said, “Did you buy it from that coffee merchant down the street?”
“Amiance?”
“Yes.”.
“No.” Alice said, “They closed down a few years back mom, remember.”
Rita thought for a moment and then nodded. She took another sip of coffee.
“Where‘s that sister of yours?” Rita asked, “She never comes to visit anymore. I worry about her. Is she doing well in school? Are her grades picking up?”
“She‘s doing just fine. In fact, she’s here.”
“She is?” Rita asked excited, “Well where is she then?”
“She’s upstairs. I told her to come downstairs, but you know her.”
“What if something happened to her?” Rita asked worried.
Alice knew it was a bad idea to upset her mother and decided to play along to keep her calm.
“I’m sure she is fine, but I will go call her.”
Alice got up and left the kitchen. As she walked across the living room she heard a shattering sound coming from the kitchen. She turned around and ran back; hoping that nothing bad had happened to her mother.
She entered the kitchen and saw Rita standing at the sink. A shattered mug lay in a pool of coffee on the floor. Rita stared out through the kitchen window.
“Mom?” Alice asked cautiously.
Rita slowly turned around. She had a knife in her hand and a bewildered look in her eyes and Alice knew exactly what to expect next.
“Who are you?” Rita asked dazed and confused, “What are you doing in my house?”
Rita raised the knife and stepped closer as Alice motioned with her hands.
“Mom.” Alice said calmly, “It’s me – Alice. I’m your daughter.”
The bewildered look stayed lodged in Rita’s eyes and she kept her distance from the stranger that stood in her kitchen.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing.” Rita warned, “But I will run you through with this knife if you don’t leave.”
“Wendy!” Alice called out over her shoulder, “I need you!”
Alice turned back to her mother and glanced at the knife in Rita’s shivering hand.
“Mom.” Alice pleaded, “Please. Look at me. I’m your eldest daughter. We just had coffee.”
Rita seemed to have no idea what the woman was talking about and kept pointing the knife at her with a quivering hand.
“You told me about Jim?” Alice asked.
Wendy rushed into the kitchen, but halted upon seeing their mother holding out a knife. Rita pointed the knife at Wendy and then, in turn, at Alice.
“Mom?” Wendy asked, “Put down the knife.”
Rita stared at the two women while still pointing the knife at them. It seemed almost as if she recognized Wendy to Alice’s disappointment and then she slowly lowered the knife.
“Wendy?” Rita asked confused.
Rita looked at the knife in her hand and then dropped it to the floor as Wendy let out a sigh of relief, walked over to Rita and embraced her.
Alice stood there in silence. There were no words to describe what she felt. She worked her ass off to keep a roof over their head and her mother remembers Wendy? Why was she still doing this to herself? Why was life handling her like shit?
The working day commences
Matt sat down at his desk in his cubicle that was larger than the cubicles on the second floor – not by design, but by him moving his cubicle walls over a couple of months without people noticing it. He switched on his computer, but he was in no mood to start working. His day felt incomplete if he didn’t flirt with at least three women before commencing his day, but Mondays he was too exhausted to flirt with meaning.
He glanced over the cubicle wall and his eyes searching for the next victim of his charm, but everyone around him seemed too busy worrying about work to pay
attention to him. The people on his floor were used to his flirting, unlike the girls on the second floor. He had to find someone to talk to and spotted Michelle approaching; a chubby woman with the thick glasses and though she wasn’t his type she’d have to do for now. As Michelle approached, he jumped up from his chair and stuck out his chest until his shirt stretched tightly over the contours of his muscular torso.
“Morning Michelle.” Matt greeted with a wide smile.
Michelle seemed flustered and out of place; looking around her whether there was someone else around with the same name as hers. She wasn’t used to Mister Casanova even looking at her let alone knowing her name and taking the time to talk to her.
“You’re talking to me?” Michelle asked confused.
“Your name is Michelle, right?”
He was pretty sure he had her in the palm of his hand.
“Yeah.” Michelle said cautiously; as if holding in a fart.
Matt smiled his pearly white teeth at her and winked which made her feel uncomfortable.
“So how are you today?” Matt asked.
Michelle had a few files in her hands and started flipping through them to seem busy. She couldn’t care less that he pretended to be interested in her day because knew all there was to know about him. People talked and he was the subject of many conversations –the way he used women only for pleasure and never taking the time to get to know them.
“Fine, thank you.” Michelle said.
Michelle slowly continued on her way. She wanted to run away as fast as her chubby legs would allow, but her knees would give way under her weight if she tried. She tried running once when she was late for work and her left knee simply gave way and she plunged down face first in the street. It’s true what they say; the bigger they are the harder they fall – and boy did she fall hard. She even left a crack in the concrete.
“Wait.” Matt pleaded.
Matt walked alongside her as she scattered away – quite fast for a ball of lard with legs – and he had trouble keeping up with her.
“We’ve been working together for two years now and we hardly know each other.”
“It’s been six years.” She corrected him.
Just goes to show, she thought, he hardly even knew that they worked together for six years. What was this sudden obsession of his to befriend her? She hated Mondays, but she hated players even more and he was quickly getting on her nerves. Did she look like the desperate type who would fall head over heels in love if he simply greeted her? She was not that desperate despite being single for three years.
“Really?” Matt asked shocked.
“Yeah. It’s been nice chatting to you, but I really have to get to my office. Have a great day.”
Matt stopped and watched as she walked away without even looking back. He was ditched by a chubby unattractive woman. Was he losing his touch? He’d never received the cold shoulder from anyone – not even ugly women. Maybe Michelle was the problem? She was clearly a lesbian or she would’ve been all over him.
Eric came approached from around a corner, but as soon as he spotted Matt, he turned the other way, but it was too late as Matt saw him.
“Eric!” Matt called out.
Eric sighed and slowly turned around. Matt was one of those men who were comfortable enough with his own sexuality to flirt with gay men – Eric on the other hand didn’t like Matt’s flirting as he knew it wasn’t sincere. Matt gave men a bad name and used his charm on anyone just to get what he wanted and wasn’t really interested in the person he was flirting with. Matt might’ve been attractive, but he was not Eric’s type. He preferred men with cappuccino-coloured skin.
Matt walked up to Eric and smiled and then patted him on the back; allowing his hand to slide down to Eric’s ass, but Eric shoved his hand away.
“Morning sweetheart.” Matt teased.
The words made Eric’s skin crawl like hearing an old man in a park try and flirt with children.
“What do you want Matt?” Eric asked annoyed.
“What every guy wants from you.”
Matt paused a moment for dramatic effect and then continued, “The stationary I requisitioned last week.”
Eric tried his very best not to roll his eyes at