𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 ✍︎ 𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝙱𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚢

𝚆𝙸𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙿𝙴𝙻𝙻 ✍︎ 3

The three Bailey children arrived back at their small poky rental house in the next fifteen minutes. Their mum, Charlotte, who was a nurse, worked long shifts, so they already knew she wouldn't be home.

They all went straight to their bedrooms.

Alex's was more of a library, with books and bookshelves lining every wall. Her bed was the only thing that made it a bedroom. And her desk, which she now started her homework at.

Conner's bedroom was more like a cave, with piles of dirty clothes and clean ones as well on the floor. Basically no carpet was present. He also ate there (something which Anna also did and Alex refused to do) and left evidence of it; there was a half eaten grilled cheese sandwich on the floor. But it had been there too long to possibly be edible.

Anna's room was bright. The walls were painted blue and her bed covers were the same colour. She had a few books (fairy tales mostly) on a shelf above her desk, which was where she did her homework. She had pictures all around the room, ones of her and her family, her father, her and her fellow triplets. Her favourite was of her and Bree, it was a selfie, taken by her last summer; they were laughing hard whilst making silly faces at the camera.

Anyway, an hour later, they heard the sound of the door opening then closing again. This meant their mother was back from work.

All three triplets rushed down the stairs to meet her. She was sitting on the phone at the table as they arrived.

Charlotte Bailey was a pretty woman that had red hair, freckles and a big, caring heart. But this heart that the triplets used to mix with so much was never really exposed to them anymore. They hardly ever saw their mother.

She was a nurse, and she used to only work small shifts at a local children's hospital, but now she worked long ones, night ones as well. The only time she really had either her children was lunch and dinner.

"Alright, bye," she said, sighing as she hung up the phone and putting it face down on the table. "You guys are back early, I thought Bree was coming round?" She looked to Anna.

"Grounded," Anna smiled slightly.

"That girl is more trouble than she's worth," Charlotte laughed. She adored Bree really, though, and loved that her daughter had made such a good friend. "Did you have a good day at school?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, it was great, we learned about-"

But her monologue was drowned out by Charlotte's phone ringing again. She picked it up and after a few seconds, she sighed. "Yes I can work double this Monday, no problem."

This, of course, was a lie. But they couldn't turn down extra money.

With her phone still in hand, she went to the door, picking up some envelopes that lay on the mat. Most said stuff like FINAL NOTICE or PAYMENT DUE.

Anna sighed as she stared at the letters. "Thank you," her mother finally said, hanging up once again. "How are you three?" She asked her children.

"Good," the three of them said passively, all still thinking about their old house with the sold sign on the lawn.

"What's the matter?" Their mum didn't buy it.

"We aren't upset," Conner said quickly.

"We knew it was going to happen eventually," Anna sighed heavily.

"What are you talking about?" Charlotte frowned.

"The house sold," Alex looked down. "We saw it today, on the way home from school."

Charlotte has expected this, but that wasn't to say that she wasn't disappointed. Her face fell. "Oh, that. Yes, I knew. But you shouldn't be sad about it, I promise we'll find a bigger and better house once I've caught up a bit here."

And that shut that down. The triplets knew she was lying, but they didn't bother to say anything. Because they wanted what she said to be true as much as her. "What did you learn in school today?" She asked.

"So much."

"Not much."

"A bit," Anna said, smiling at her siblings. "Conner, you didn't learn anything because you fell asleep in class again!"

"Oh, not again," Mrs Bailey sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"

"It's not my fault!" Conner protested to Anna and Alex's sniggers. "It just happens! It's like my brain just switches off. Even my rubber band trick can't help!"

"Rubber band trick?" Charlotte frowned.

"I wear a rubber band round my wrist and snap it when I get tired. I was positive it was foolproof!" He added.

"Well, don't forget how lucky you are to be in that classroom," Charlotte told him sternly. "All the kids at the hospital would love nothing more than to spend every day in school."

"They'd change their minds if they met Mrs Peters," Conner muttered under his breath.

Just as Charlotte was going to scold her only son, the phone rang again. She picked up hurriedly. "Hello?" A bit of talking from the other side- "Tomorrow? No, there must be a mistake. I told them I couldn't work at all tomorrow; it's the triplets' twelfth birthday, you see, and I was planning to spend the evening with them."

Alex, Conner and Anna exchanged worried looks. They had almost forgotten that they were turning twelve tomorrow.

"Are you positive there's no one else that can cover it?" Charlotte tried again. "No, I understand... Yes, of course... I'm aware of staff cuts, yes... See you tomorrow."

She hung up, a sad look in her eyes. "I've got some bad news, guys. It looks like I won't be able to be here for your birthday. But I'll make it up to you! We'll celebrate when I get home from work the next night, okay?"

"That's fine, mum," Alex said, gritting her teeth. "We understand."

"Yeah, it's fine," Anna nodded.

"We weren't expecting anything special, anyway," Conner shrugged.

This made Mrs Bailey feel like the worst mother in the world, but she didn't press it. She knew her kids knew the situation they were in, but somehow she felt like she had failed. They were too young to be used to disappointment.

"Oh..." She pursed her lips, trying not to cry. "Great. Then we'll have dinner... and get a cake... and have a good night. Now, I'm just going to go upstairs for a second before going back to work."

She hurried upstairs. Alex and Anna were tactful enough to know that she didn't want them to see her cry. Conner was not, but still, he followed them when they went upstairs to check on her.

She was sitting on her bed, a tissue box in hand and tears streaming down her face. In front of her was a photo of the triplets' father. Her late husband.

"Oh John," she sobbed. "I try to stay strong and keep our family going, but it's really hard to do it without you. They're such great kids. They don't deserve this."

She dried her tears a little once Anna, Alex and Conner entered the room. "I'm so sorry, for everything," she cried. "This just isn't fair on you. That you've had to go through this."

"It's okay, mum," Anna said, putting a hand round her mother's shoulder.

"We don't need anything special for our birthday," Alex nodded.

"It's going to be okay, mum," Conner put a hand on the other shoulder. "They're overrated, anyway. We know how tight things are at the moment."

Charlotte put her hands round all of them. "When did you three become grown up? I am the luckiest mum in the world!"

All eyes fell on the photo of Mr Bailey. "You know what your dad would say right now?" Charlotte looked around at her three kids. "He'd say, 'right now, we're living in an ugly chapter of our lives, but books always get better'!"

The triplets smiled at her. They could only hope this was true.