The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 18, continued.

He looked like a real douchebag .

I then decided to look at his name.
Dennis Jones.

Sounded like a douchebag too.

I put my phone away and began to walk back to my job. As I walked on, I took count of how many people I saw on the streets. Some just walking around, while others are talking on the phone or driving around.

It really gets you thinking about how small your worries are in the grand scheme of things.

I finally got back to Miranda's and got down to the cockpit, with my apron already tied around my waist.

----

The day went by as slow as possible, as I tried my best to keep it together. Eventually, 2 o'clock came, and I quickly took off my apron, and cleaned myself up before leaving Miranda's and heading to the school to collect my children.

I crossed the street, and walked under the tree the three of us met after class, and soon, the twins exited the school. As soon as they got close enough to me, I crouched down and we embraced. We held on for a moment, before letting go to walk back to Miranda's.

The day was pretty uneventful after that point.

Finally, the end of my shift came, and I cleaned myself up for the last time for the night, and the twins helped me clean up my station. After cleaning, we head out to the bus top per usual on Fridays.

It's strange that even when your world is falling apart, everything stays the same.

We only had to wait for about two minutes or so before Nancy pulled up. The three of us and several others climbed onto the bus, and sat in our usual spots. I greeted Nancy and asked how she was quickly before picking a seat. She replied her usual, "I'm great, how 'bout y'all?" Tedd replied for all of us with a curt "fine." She shrugged it off, as she waited for everyone to take their seats before driving off.

"You ok?" I asked.

"No, not really."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, and quickly spoke a few words of reassurance. He visibly relaxed a bit, before slinking into his seat and looking out the window. I turned to look at Char, who was seated closest to the isle, looking down at her phone. I peaked at what she was doing, and she was looking up things to expect from pregnancy.

My heart broke as I tossed my arm over her shoulder and pulled her into me. She turned off her phone and sat her head on my chest. I rubbed her arm, offering subtle comfort to her, trying to stop myself from crying yet again.

What do I do?

I've never wanted kids, and I even had begun making a list as to why I would never become pregnant. I knew Charlotte felt the same way I did for a time, but expressed interest in changing her mind one day. Neither of us could've guessed one day would come so soon.

The bus stopped, and I looked out the window to see we were at our home in the woods. The three of us got out of our seats and gathered our bags before leaving. We bid-adieu to Nancy and vacated the bus.

I waved goodbye to her as she drive off, and we walked down the set of stairs I had built to our home. As we walked to our garage, I decided to ask the twins what they wanted to eat for lunch. After debating for a bit, we decided on porkchops.

I unlocked the door and turned on the lights. I walked over to the fridge and popped it open to pull out a pack of cold un-cooked porkchops. I heard the twins plop down on the couch and turn on the TV. It sounded like they were watching an action movie.

I stepped outside to grab my washing bucket, and took it to the river. I filled the bucket halfway with the water and dipped the porkchops into the water to clean them off from the blood. I placed the chops back on the styrofoam and walked to a nearby bush to pour out the bloody water.

I walked back to the garage and closed the door behind me. I took out a skillet I had bought a few months prior and placed the meat on it after spraying it with cooking spray. I dug through a bag of herbs and spices I had bought from the dollar store on my last grocery run and picked out pink salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. I put several chunks of firewood into the wood stove and lit it with my lighter.

Before putting the skillet in the stove, I covered all the meat in the six spices I had picked out, making sure to cover every side of them.

I placed it in the stove and closed the door, then took my phone out of my pocket to set a timer on my phone. I sighed before walking to the couch and plopping down next to the twins. The movie had ended after a Burger King advertisement and began playing some dumb show. Char handed Teddy the remote and he scrolled through channels before stopping at the station that played Family Guy.

We watched contently for a while before my phone rung, signaling it was time to flip over the porkchops. I got up and used a newly washed spatula to flip them over, then closed to door and waited another ten minutes. The kids muted the TV during ad breaks and talked about their day, exchanging jabs at their least favorite teachers.

My alarm went off once again, and I got up to get a potholder and take out the skillet. I used the spatula from before to place two cuts of meat onto our three plastic plates, and collected three knives and forks for each of us. I handed out dinner to the twins and I sat down again to eat my food.