Luna's Law

Burnt Toast

"Hey, son... Wakey Wakey..."

Grunting at the all-too-familiar rough voice I reluctantly roll over, sitting up groggily as I force my eyes wide open, the bed sinking in next to me as Cliff, the only one with a fat enough butt to sink my springy mattress like that, sat down. "What is it...?" I groaned out in a dazed manner, my voice deeper than usual with a little husk.

"Still going through puberty at eighteen?" Clif joked, slapping my shoulder slightly whilst I internalized my eye roll. It was too early for this. "Anyway, I'm proud of you kid. June told me you got accepted and I know you're gonna go far." Cliff said sheepishly, as my eyes managed to focus on him, his trademark stupid goofy smile blasting at me like a laser beam. 

Nodding back I just rubbed my eyes, feeling their sting as I did so, wanting this conversation over before it even began. "Is that it? That's the only reason you woke me up at..." trailing off I look at my bedside table to see it is, "5:45 AM!" I exclaimed my brows furrowing in frustration. I'm not meant to be up for another hour. What the hell does he want?

Seeing him flinch at my exclamation I straight away soften up my expression, feeling a twinge of guilt in my heart. That quickly got paved over with frustration though as he opened his mouth again. "I want to thank you for all you did for your mom and sister yesterday... And I was hoping you could take your sister to daycare for us. Your mom has only just fallen asleep, and I have to sleep else I'll be late again to work... I can't afford to lose my job again..." Clif trailed off, looking past my face and towards my window which showed it was still dark outside.

Staring at him a soft sigh past my lips, "Sure... whatever..." With that said Clifs' face lights up brighter than any Christmas tree I've ever seen, his domineering frame leaning over and pulling my smaller stature into a tight bear hug. "Okay, big guy. I get it!" I whined trying to push him off which he eventually reluctantly did, giving me a cringe thumbs up as he got up, finally leaving my room. Sitting there in a daze as I heard his heavy metal-toed footsteps grow distant, shifting my body weight sluggishly off the bed once his steps stopped altogether.

Today going to be a bad day. . .

Gritting my teeth I grabbed two pieces of burnt toast. Why can I never seem to cook anything? Oh well... Her Majesty can put up with it. Placing the well-overdone slices on a paper plate I place it in front of Flora at the kitchen table, her face tightening in disgust, pushing it away on reflex. With a sigh I took it back and ate it myself, knowing it would be a waste of food. Reaching out I snatched an apple alongside Flora's hand, knowing I was already running late from taking way too long to wake her up. "This is your breakfast then! Come on, I'm not going to be late because you're being fussy." I ordered her out, rushing towards the door, not giving the brat any time to protest, picking up both her bag and mine I whizzed us down the street, b-lining it towards the daycare so that as soon as it opened I could shove her in and hopeful make it in time for my first lesson.

Getting closer to the daycare I felt Flora resisting by refusing to walk, scraping her feet as her whining became more despairing as I towed her onwards. Nevertheless, I was forced to stop when Flora went dead weight taking my arm down with her. Twisting around I was met with the site of her legs crisscrossed on the granulated concrete floor, tears following down her red infuriated cherry cheeks. Feeling my heart become twisted at her in such a state, I couldn't help but without a single thought, bend down and pick her up, taking her to the side so we didn't make more of a scene than we already had. "Shh, shh, it's ok... What's gotten into you?" Calmly asking I begin to pet her hair out of her face, feeling slightly impatient due to the time crunch.