We Are Not Forgotten

chapter six.

Joyce Murphy had to be one of the most spiteful and bitchy women I had ever met and I absolutely hated the fact that I was being forced to have regular meetings with her every month. She literally caused me to go insane sometimes. Joyce had been my social worker practically since the day that I had given birth to Gabi. Because of how young I was at the time and my slightly disturbed past, she took upon herself to constantly check up on me and see if I was still being a good mother.

However now that I was twenty one, I found it extremely unnecessary and stupid for her to still insist to see me, in some ways it was almost an invasion of my privacy. I had the right the raise Gabi in the way that I wanted and I did not need any input from her. She was nothing but a controlling and ruthless cow. That’s just how things seemed to work out for me and as I sat in her office on a warm, Friday afternoon, I realised how much I actually despised her.

“Rebecca, I’m sure you’re aware of why I wanted to see you today” she began in her annoying nasal tone, placing her mug of coffee on the desk beside her and giving me an insincere look. The truth was I hadn’t the faintest idea as to why she had asked to see me today in particular. Nonetheless I knew she always found a way to nit-pick every tiny aspect of my parenting skills, so I’m sure she had something to belittle me over.

“No… sorry I don’t” I responded in a bored tone, playing with the hem of my dress as a way to entertain myself from this tedious conversation. I shouldn’t even be doing this anymore, I should have simply told her a long time ago that I didn’t need her help anymore and that I was perfectly capable on my own. I wasn’t that clueless, naive sixteen year old girl I was when she first met me and when I had first had Gabi. I was much more competent now so to still have a social worker really frustrated me.

“Well you see… it’s come to my attention that you recently applied for a job at the office building down the road, is that correct?” She asked, now giving me a harsh gaze. My eyes widened in shock as it suddenly clicked inside my head what she wanted to see me about.

  

Obviously, she must have heard about me being practically kicked out of my job interview, but how could she? It’s not as though the police were called to take me away or anything so I don’t see how she could have possibly found out that information. However I also knew how much of an awfully nosy person she was, so I must have known that she would find a way. I groaned under my breath,

“Yeah I did…”

She then shot me a sly smile before continuing, causing me to grind my teeth together in frustration. It was blatantly obvious she was going to moan at me for having security called and being thrown out, I just wasn’t sure if I particularly wanted to hear it.

“And how did that turn out for you?”

“Not good…” I admitted, the subtle fury increasing inside me. Why on earth was everyone so against me as of late? First the man at the interview and now Joyce, I wasn’t that bad of a person, was I? Sometimes I just wished that life would give me a break because I was sick of frequently having to struggle through and hardly cope. Why can life never be easy?

"Rebecca… please tell me why you felt it was okay to start an argument and get kicked out of that office building?" She questioned in a very patronising tone. I should be used to this by now because I had known her for so long, but something inside me still wanted to jump over the desk and punch her in her pristine little face.