The relief I felt was short lived with the emergence of someone else. A woman, Ellie. I know this because she is the only female in this house that can approach Gregory without any fear. She moves in front him and brings her hand to his upper arm. She looks like she is saying something but he turns from her to face my direction. I duck immediately, for fear of being seen which is stupid because it is unlikely for them to see me on this recliner. My heart beats erratically, this is what I get for trying to snoop. Wait, this isn't snooping, I was here before they came, so, yeah, I'm definitely not snooping. Gregory takes a gulp of his drink, which I assume to be whiskey, his eyes are on the pool. He is unaware of my presence here but my treacherous heart is still beating so fast. Ellie moves in front of him for the second time, she is closer to him this time gazing into his eyes. He moves his gaze to her but moves his gaze back to the pool. He says something to her with his eyes sti
Six a.m sharp my alarm rings drawing me out of slumberland. I feel exhausted due to the little sleep I got last night. Regardless of how my body feels I push out of bed and peer over Ivy. She is still asleep. I use this opportunity to get into the bathroom. My reflection on the mirror is horrible. My hair is like a bird's nest, my eyes are puffy and red from all the crying I did yesterday. With a heavy sigh I walk away from the mirror to take my bath. I decided to throw on a tight fitted jean and a comfortable Tee. Ivy isn't up when I leave the closet so I pack up our stuff as I wait for her to wake up.There's a knock on the door before I can respond Carolina calls out to me “ma'am Denise are you up”. Definitely an improvement from just Ma'am to Mrs Williams. “Come in Carolina''. She walks in with her pristine black and white work clothes, her hair is pulled in a low bun as always.“Morning ma'am” an…d she's back to ma'am.“Morning Carolina, I thought we had an improvement”. As I sa
Gregory doesn't just drop us off, he carries the bag even after my protest of him taking us into my studio. He drops the bag on my desk, gives me and Ivy a peck on the cheek before leaving. All the while my colleagues gwak at him like some ethereal creature. When their daze is over lily rushes to pick Ivy up.My boss is in shock when he sees me in my seat. “Denise” he rubs his temples tiredly even though he just got in. “I thought you said you weren't resuming What the heck are you doing here”. He sighs tiredly. “I know, I know”. I raise my arm trying to calm him down. “I know I said I was going to resume later but I thought to myself, hey Denise what's the essence of waiting that long when you are fit to resume now, so….. here I am”. I give him a cheeky smile. He looks at me like he doesn't believe me but he is too exhausted to fight me.“You know what?I'm not in the mood to know what's really going on. We could really use the extra hand. We have a lot of clients this week so I'll j
I knew I shouldn't have asked for his help but I did. I knew I shouldn't have run away but I did. Now I am hiding in a dark alley at the back door of a pub and jumping at the slightest sound I hear. My heart hasn't had a stretch of relieve since I hid here, knowing he could pop out at any second and grab me. I should have known he was going to come for me after I didn't pick their call for two days. I didn't have what he wanted that's why I didn't pick but he wouldn't have listened to my bloody excuse, This is what happens when you look for help from the wrong people.With every staff that comes out of this pub I am scared it's him. The crates are serving as a shield for me as they hide me from whoever might see me. My legs are hurting from my crouched position and if I don't adjust them soon I think I might just go crazy. With my mouth in my heart I go ahead to readjust my position and immediately I do so, relieve floods body."There she is' ' his sickly sweet voice echoes in the all
The pains in my stomach is killing me but I manage to make it home, it's late and the streets are quiet, As I enter I notice the television is till on which is odd because my mum sleeps early, I move towards my mum's bedroom and the entrance floor is covered with a little puddle of blood, and my heart sinks, my brain begins to move on overdrive, I cover my mouth with my hands as I stifle a cry, "that bastard" I cry silently, he said he wasn't going to hurt my mum yet, I guess I gave him too much credit, I thought to myself as the tears roll down my cheeks, I am too scared to move.Relieve floods me when I enter the room and see mum stroking Mr pickles furs, my dad's cat, my mum is fine but Mr pickles isn't. "Mum", I cautiously call out to her, the tears in my eyes do not stop as I rush towards her and throw my hands around her "what happened to mister pickles", my voice only but a whisper, "I don't know honey, I came into my room to get a shawl and I found him here bleeding, there w
Leaving my mother all by herself in the hospital with no one to look after her was a no easy task for me, but I had to if I have to raise money for her surgery. When I spoke to Rosie yesterday, I explained all what had happened and to say she was disturbed by what happened would be an understatement. She is willing to help me as much as she can. And true to her word she called me this morning to inform me we have a meeting with a prospective client. I'm on my way to the studio where I work, Rosie has already informed me she'll not be at work today, so I'm not too bothered when I didn't see her at work. Time passes like a blur."Hey, Ro", I say as I take a seat in the restaurant, the place is warm and cozy which I really appreciate coming from outside, she looks at me worriedly, "are you alright" she mouths to me, I laugh despite how I feel and tell her that I am, I know she doesn't believe me but she gives me a sad smile regardless. We make our order as we wait.Rosie, begins to tel
"Oh my gosh!, oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Rosie exclaims, and I desperately Wonder what is making her this excited."We've got a gig!" Rosie exclaims again, she's jumping up and down like a child that just received a candy she has long awaited, I can't help but smile. This is a miracle that we've been waiting for, my heart soars with delight. "It's not just any gig, it's a major gig that can pay for your mum's surgery and you'll still be left with some change to spare"Her explanation leaves me stunned, and we both begin to hop in excitement, we giggle like school children as our heart is elated.I drag her towards the seat so she can explain further to me. "Look they said their photographer won't be able to make it because he came down with a flew fortunately for us they saw your work which I put out, that's why they reached out to us", she explains, her green eyes are shining with excitement and her face is red due to the blood that has rushed into her cheeks from the excitement. "De
My heart beats violently in my rib cage like it's about to explode, I stretch my hand and put off the alarm. My feet land on the floor and I am met with the biting cold of the floor. I rush towards the bathroom, brush my teeth and quickly take a bath. Heading to work like someone in a marathon I hit Starbucks for coffee before getting to work. The day is characterized by me taking a photo shoot of a month old baby, the session wasn't as stressful as my other ones because the baby was asleep throughout the entire session, the family session was next and that was a breeze in the park for me " what can I say I'm good at what I do", I later went further to edit their picture in preparation for print and soft copy.Rosie and I are at the hospital to see mum. As we walk towards her room, I notice that the door is ajar and the doctor is talking, my eyes widen in surprise, mum's awake and the doctor is talking to her as I stand there staring in awe, Rosie rushes towards her and gives her a hu