Best Friend's Mate

Avery’s POV

“What the hell is this?” Aunty Vivian screamed at me in anger, I was so scared to hand this over to her because I knew she would react this way.

 “I…I…It is my pay for the day Aunty,” I replied in fear, this was not good at all.

“WHAT!!!” Aunty Vivian screamed charging towards me, I should have run away, when I had the chance this morning now she was going to kill me.

“How dare you give me something like this?” She continued to scream as she cornered me to a wall.

“I…I… I am sorry Aunty, it’s just that….” Before I could finish speaking I felt a slap across my face, I wanted to cry but I remembered that I prepared for this on my way here.

“How much is this?” she asked looking at me like she would skin me alive.

My aunty couldn’t even count properly, she didn’t know how much I gave her but she was angry because three dollar notes in her hand meant little money.

“It is three hundred dollars,” I replied brazing myself for what was coming next.

“What can three hundred dollars do for me?” she screamed and began to hit me.

I was used to her beating after all these years, no matter how much I brought back home, her reaction was always the same, she would get angry and begin to beat me, hitting me with all sorts of things. I on the other hand have learnt to always bring back more money, I made sure that every day’s pay was bigger than the day before but this time, I was shocked that even with all the generous tips I received, all I had at the end of the day was just three hundred dollars. I knew it was impossible and someone was probably stealing my money, it had been going on for a while but now I was very sure, because I received five one hundred dollar bills as tips from my regular customers at the Café but when I came back to my purse it was all gone.

“Protect your face,” I admonished myself when a shoe she threw almost hit my face.

Over the years I have learnt that there was nothing I could do about drunk Aunty Vivian but I could afford to not look like my whole world was crashing. If her hits were on any other part of my body it would heal fast thanks to my special blood but it didn’t work the same for my face, so I had to protect my face at all costs.

“Useless foolish girl, three hundred dollars can’t even buy me good booze,” she screamed once again as she put on her shoes, she was going to the bar again to spend all my money just like she always does.

She proceeded to lock the kitchen, I had cooked some food before I left for work that morning and hoped that I would eat the leftovers when I came back.

“No food for the lazy man, you will sleep hungry tonight,” she said putting the kitchen key in her bra as she walked out of the house.

There was no need to beg, Aunty Vivian would not bulge. As I watched her fade into the dark street on her way to the bar, tears streamed down my face, it was certain, I would have to sleep without food today.

“Oh my goodness,” I whispered realizing the implication of what had just happened.

Crying as I walked into my little bedroom, I laid down to sleep but felt so restless, my stomach kept making all these noises, I wanted to go get some water at least but I remembered that the jugs of water were also in the kitchen. Sighing as the tears continued to roll down my cheeks, I didn’t know when I slept off.

Waking up the next morning, with the bright light of the sun on my face, I jumped out of my bed and looked up at my clock.

“Shit, shit, shit!!!” I cursed as I hurried to take my bath and rush to work.

I can’t believe I overslept, how could I wake up by 7:30 am for a job I have to be at by 8 am?

“What type of bad luck is this?” I muttered as I ran out of the door, it was already fifteen minutes to 8 am.

My second job was very strict, our manager did not tolerate lateness or any type of slacking.

Running into the door of the fast food restaurant where I worked part-time, I ran into my manager.

“Shit,” I whispered, now I had to beg for my job.

“Why are you coming to work by this time?” my manager asked in a grumpy tone.

He was always grumpy, he never smiled, everyone was scared of him and I had avoided him up until now.

“Sir I…” he didn’t let me finish my sentence.

“You are fired, get out of here,” he said as he began to walk away.

“Wait Sir, please Sir,” I begged, I really needed this job.

If I thought my aunty had treated me badly yesterday, I did not want to know what she would do if she found out I had lost my second job.

“Security, throw her out of here,” was the manager’s response to my pleading.

I kept begging the manager but he just ignored me and walked into his office.

“I need some kind of miracle,” I whispered in frustration running my hand through my hair.

I was in big trouble, nothing would save me from Aunty Vivian this time, she would skin me alive. I decided to take a walk to clear my head but also because I couldn’t go back home, I would have to clean up my auntie’s vomit and when she finally came to herself, she would throw me out of the house.

Lost in my thought I hit my leg on a stone by the side of the road.

“Just great, now what?” I screamed into the air as I threw the stone toward another street, I couldn’t take this anymore.

The stone hit something that sounded strange.

 “I hope I haven’t destroyed anything,” I thought as I walked towards the sound.

On getting to the place where I threw the stone, I saw that it landed on a piece of paper, reading its content, a little ray of hope rose in my heart, could this change my life?