Mommy Dearest *Completed but Not Edited*

Chapter 1

Jaida: *3 months ago* 

"Thank you soo much Mr. and Mrs. Jones, you have no idea how much this means to me, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along...." 

"Nonsense child"  Mrs. Jones or Maggie as she insists I call her, cuts me off, "We couldn't just leave you homeless."  She states giving me a warning look as if to say 'I dare you to object to what I'm saying'

I suppose I should explain whats going on: my name's Jaida Williams I'm 19 years old, medium height, big brown eyes, long brown hair. I moved away from my home last week to start university but unfortunately there was a mix up with my living arrangements and I ended up on the streets. Fun right!

But it seems like my luck is finally about to change, after visiting at least six other apartments, I finally got one, owned by Maggie and her husband Earl, they live on the top floor of the apartment building and they happened to have an apartment next to their's that's been free for awhile and she and her husband were contemplating if to put it back up for rent when I walked in the lobby area. 

It was a decent looking building painted cream, located in a safe area, four floors plus the lobby and basement for parking. The lobby had this cosy feel to it, which I guess helped in the making of my decision to accept Maggie's offer. It felt safe and like home. It had a tiled path leading to the front desk and elevators and the sitting area was carpeted with a dark red carpet with gold patterns on it. There were a couple of plants here and there but I think what really brought the room together was the huge chandelier with the dim lights in the center of the room, that set the mood of a comfortable place to stay in.

After some serious negotiating, I finally agreed to take the apartment paying three hundred a month and that's just a way for me to show my gratitude because if Maggie had her way, I'd be staying for free. I was a little skeptical accepting this place because it seemed too good to be true, but they explained that their son used to stay there but he moved out six months ago and everything was all paid for, all I had to do was change the locks and the apartment was mine.

"It makes no sense arguing with old Maggie here kiddo, what she wants she gets,"  

I turned to Earl and sighed deeply, "Well alright then, when can I move in?"  

Maggie let out a squeal of excitement and clapped her hands together, "How about right now!?"  she asks, already grabbing my wrist pulling me towards the elevator not waiting for me to respond.

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It's been about 2 weeks since I've moved in next door to Maggie and Earl and every morning Maggie is here or I'm there listening to her complain about why I should take the time to have breakfast because and I quote 'Its the most important meal of the day and no child of mine's gonna pass out at the side of the road due to lack of energy' you'd think by now I stopped testing her. 

I had gotten to know Maggie and Earl really well over the two weeks. Earl was more on the quiet side, didn't say much unless he really had something to say while Maggie is his complete opposite, she's talkative, always has something to say and so full of energy. It's hard to believe she's over fifty the way she's always on the move. She had unofficially claimed me as a child of her own since all her actual kids had families of their own to deal with. I didn't mind, it made dealing with being away from home much better to handle.

After my usual routine breakfast at Maggie's I headed out in hopes of finding a part-time job since university was starting next week and I had rent to pay. Maggie had friend who owned a diner about twenty minutes away that was willing to hire me as a favour to Maggie. Making my way down the sidewalk, I passed by a nearby park, something about parks when empty just gave off this eerie feeling, it was like the perfect place for some random psychopath to attack you but, with that being said I still had the urge to just stroll through.  

Aimlessly walking through the park, I thought about what I was going to do after seeing Maggie's friend when something weird caught my eye, it was a huge brown lump curled up on one of the benches causing me to stop in my tracks. The phrase 'curiousity killed the cat' flashed through my mind a couple times as I couldn't help but make my way to the lump. Looking more closely I noticed it was a girl, well woman to be exact. I wonder what was she doing out here alone? and if she slept here last night? and most importantly why did I honestly give a damn right now?  

I laughed out loud at that last thought, which resulted in the woman waking up from her sleep. She looked up and stared at me with these huge baby blue eyes, looking scared and like she's ready to cry, I noticed her hands move to cover her stomach in a protective, motherly manner, its then I noticed that she was pregnant,  

"Now I'm even more curious" 

"Curious about what?" 

Shaking myself out of my thoughts I hadn't realized I had spoken out loud, "Oh I'm sorry I was just wondering why you were sleeping on the bench and how come I didn't notice you were pregnant" 

At that she burst into tears and I thought to myself 'thank goodness it's still early or this could have been more awkward than it already is, I suck at comforting people.'  "Hey umm lady, don't cry, I'm sorry for whatever happened but ummm just don't cry."  

She looked up and watched me with this kind of amused look in her eyes along with some unshedded tears, "Wow you are terrible at this"  she says stifling a laugh. I grimace at her words, 

"Yes I know but at least you stopped crying so how about we go for some coffee and tea because you're preggers and can't drink coffee and you tell me what's got you down"  

I grabbed her hand, helped her off the bench and lead her towards the diner I was going to. As weird as it seemed I knew I wouldn't have regretted talking to this stranger but who knew that, this one simple act of kindness and this one cup coffee and tea would have changed my life.

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So this is the new and improved version of Mommy Dearest, hope you like it. It'll have a lot more detail and more insight to the characters as well and maybe more drama in it, some things maybe taken out, I'm not sure yet.

Hope you enjoy this one alot more than the original.

pic of Jaida

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