234's Lifelines

2. Hard knock life

Song: Annie Hard Knock Life
Currently no 100 on teen fiction!!! Omg I only had a chapter up! Thank you so much for showing this love!

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A taxi stops in front of a house and the little girl from the airport named Shakespeare runs out of it towards the house.

"She must be really excited" The cab driver says to which her mum smiles and gets down. The driver opens the trunk and heads over to help the mum who is standing looking at the house with sad eyes.

"It's been a while since you've been here?" The cab driver asks concluding she was returning home after a very long trip away.

"Yes," She says, not too loud but loud enough for him to hear.

"Welcome home," He says to her.

Home, could this ever be a home again? She sighs turning to the little girl who was currently exploring the front of the house.

"Shakespeare come help out with some bags" She says to the little girl who runs over smiling too excited at being here.

The lady hands her a mini suitcase pulling out its wheel handle and grabs one of the large suitcases wheeling it towards the door, the driver following with two more large suitcases. They drop it by the door and return to grab more bags returning to place it by the door.

The lady then opens her bag and hands the man a 100 dollar note.

"Keep the change, thank you," She says to the overjoyed cab driver who had gotten a 67 dollar tip, the highest for the day.

"Enjoy your stay" He says not bothering to ask if she really didn't want her change back and have it taken back, he quickly rushes to his car to drive off.

She turns to the door in front of her unable to bring herself to open it. It's been so long since she last saw what was behind the door, since she last came here, since she'd moved back home to Kansas with her family. Now here she was back to the house and past she had left behind. Memories of the past flash across her mind, she had avoided this moment for so long, because coming back would mean accepting it. Yet here she was, back to close this part of her.

"Mummy, why are you cwying?" Shakespeare asks.

She looks down at her little Angel, Shakespeare-Alexandria, she'd named her after him and after their memory together. To hear that name once more, she knew she'd never hear anyone call her that name so she'd named her daughter Shakespeare, because it was a name he'd given, and also because each time she heard someone call her Shakespeare it felt like he was calling her and wasn't dead, it also was a sort of punishment for her as each time the name Shakespeare was called she'd remember the words she said to him...

"Why are you cwying?" Shakespeare's voice interrupts her thought train once more.

She places her hands on her face and wipes off the tears she didn't know she was releasing and smiles at her daughter.

"I'm sad and happy," She says.

"Because of daddy?" Shakespeare asks.

"Yes," She replies.

"Because you missed him?" Shakespeare asks.

She nods and sniffs.

"So very much" She says.

"Don't wowwy, you'll soon see him" Shakespeare says and stretches out her hands taking her mum's hands in hers and squeezing it.

Her mum searches her purse for the key and finds it, pausing for a second before opening up the door. What if it doesn't work? It's been so long. She hadn't thought this through, prior to coming she was sure the lock would be the same but now she wasn't too sure.

Shakespeare tugs at her dress. She looks down at her and smiles. She places in the key and turns it.

It doesn't work. How could she have been so stupid to think it'll work?

"Twy again," Shakespeare says tugging at her dress. She tries again pushing the door, it opens up forcefully  making her stumble in, into her past stepping, into the house.

After  bringing in all their luggages into the house, Shakespeare runs off to explore leaving her mum to her thoughts. She looks around the house, the furniture were covered with white sheet. She didn't remember ever doing that so it must have been her mum who did.

Her mum. Her relationship with her mum had always been great, she was her rock when she her world crashed, but when she found out she was...

"Mummy which one's my woom?" Shakespeare asks disrupting her reminiscing.

She looks around the house, it needed major cleaning. She couldn't do it all.

"You're sleeping with me tonight" She says and smiles "except..." She says and pauses.

"Except?" Shakespeare asks tilting her head below her mum.

"Except you help me clean the house and your room," Her mum says and starts laughing once Shakespeare's face changes to a frown.

"It's your call" She says, knowing her daughter will clean if it gets her a private room.

Right from Nigeria Shakespeare had always wanted a room to herself but she couldn't give her that privilege as without a degree the jobs she was able to get in Nigeria were limited to non office jobs and hence didn't make much.

 "Okay" Shakespeare says pouting sitting on a suitcase watching as her mum opens up one of the luggage's and removes two scarf's. She ties one on Shakespeare's head and the other on her hair and leads her to the store room to grab cleaning items. Everything in the house was still the same, she was still in a state of shock that her key worked,  had no one been here since she left? Or did they simply feel this house was not important? But then again who'd come here except him? And he was gone...

A long while after,  in the middle of fixing the room she was to share with her mum Shakespeare breaks into a song.

"It's the hard-knock life for me!" She sings holding the dustpan her mum gave her.

"It's the hard-knock life for me!

'Steada  clean wooms, I get twicked!" She says pouting at her mum who chuckles and whistles saying,

"get to work!" 

Making a serious face, taking on Miss Hannigan's role from the movie Annie, it was a game they played since Shakespeare watched Annie whenever she was asked to help out with chores.

 "I said get to work!" Her mum says pulling a chuckling Shakespeare to the restroom.

"It's the hard-knock life for me

It's the hard-knock life for me"

"No one cares for me..." She starts.

"What did you say?" Her mum  asks throwing Shakespeare onto the bed and wrapping her in the bedding, tickling her.

"It's a hard knock life!" Shakespeare says finding a loophole for her head. Her mum once more pulls her to her and tickles her causing her to burst in a fit of laughter.

"What did you say?" Her mum asks.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Shakespeare says.

"There will be no room of your own" Her mum says.

"Ohhhhhhhh" Shakespeare says sadly.

"What did you say?" She asks.

"I love you Miss Hewa" Shakespeare says laughing along with her mum, Hera who falls on the bed and embraces her daughter in her arms as they both laugh rolling around and tickling each other.

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The next update should come sooner, now the cats out the bag 😊