Another Life

30

It was Jay's first day back to work after his twelve-day paternity leave as well as Macie's first day back to preschool since Alfie had been born - because it had been shut last week for a reason I cannot remember for the life of me.

Jay and I had both been running late this morning, Jay leaving the house fifteen minutes after his shift had already started and I made it to the preschool thirty-minutes after nine.

To be honest I was surprised I made it here at all. With Macie babbling to herself loudly and Alfie stirring every once in a while and the fact I was running on absolute zero sleep-wise, it was a miracle in itself that I didn't end up somewhere really random. The past few days in particular had been difficult, with Macie going a little stir-crazy because we never had the chance to leave the house before dark and with Alfie currently glued in my arms nursing at all times because no matter how much he ate it never seemed to be enough, that was another example of something I was running on absolute zero.

I got Alfie out of the car and then went around the other side to let Macie out of her seat and the first sign of the impending storm was when she didn't get out of the car. I was already holding Alfie's seat in one hand and Mae's bag in the other so it became a balance to pull her out of the car.

She then dragged her feet all the way up the path to the door, where luckily one of the teachers was still stood. Mae's teacher greets her and then opens the door to invite Macie in, as to which she just plain-up refuses. I give her a little nudge. "C'mon Mae, you've been looking forward to going to school all morning, let's go." I encourage, and gain a quick and sharp shake of her head in return.

"No."

I raise my eyebrows down to her, nudging her forward again. "Macie, come on."

"No." Her response comes again, this time she was a lot more resistant to move.

I sigh, cursing under my breath for her having Jay's stubbornness. This would happen occasionally. Sometimes there were days were she skipped into preschool, and other days were like this. I was not in the mood to deal with it today, nor was I fully awake enough to deal with it. "Macie, please don't be like this." I plead. Like that ever worked.

Although the toddler stands her ground, even stomping her foot to make her point clearer. "No. I don't want go." Her voice raises up so I go down, kneeling so I was eye-level with her.

"You have to go so will you just follow your teacher inside? Have a fun day for me?" I ask.

And then her arms fly across her chest, crossing tightly in front. "I not going. I want go home."

I shake my head. "You can't go home yet, you have to go to school first."

"No!"

Her sudden outburst startled Alfie awake so he was whimpering along side her frustrating arguments, his cries only getting louder alongside Mae as more time went on.

She kept fighting. I tried getting her into the door by stepping closer to her so she'd take a step backward to get away, but eventually she realized what I was doing and she ran past me before slowly stepping toward the car.

I got up from the floor and began following her, calling out her name. After three times of her ignoring me and just moving to the car, I pull out the big guns, knowing how much she hated to be called by her full name. "Macie Vanessa Halstead, get away from the car now, you're too close to the road."

She spun around and ran back to me, launching herself into my legs, screaming as she did it. She threw her arms around, one punch hitting me on the arm and that's when I snapped, pushing her away from me and I bend down to meet her eyes again.