What Comes Next

Chapter 4: Antoinelle

Chapter 4: Antoinelle

I swung open the door to my apartment and entered, slamming the door behind me. I leaned my back against the wall next to me, sliding down 'til I was in a sitting position. I was so unbelievably tired. Yet, my day wasn't close to being done yet. There were bills to track, classes to take, and forms to fill out considering the center kids.

Believe me, I loved what I did with my life but sometimes it got to be too much. I sat myself down at the kitchen table and decided to start with balancing my checkbook. I was currently the proud owner of the twenty four dollars and seventeen cents that was in my account. How I fed myself every day and night with the appetite I had, I didn't know.

Maybe I should stop eating as much. Goodness knows I could shave a few pounds. Maybe I'll stick with a 2500 calorie diet and...what was I thinking, I couldn't go three hours without shoving something edible (or inedible) into my mouth. I ditched the idea of a diet. I'd just go the next month with only one tub of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

After taking another ten dollars out of my account {My account was in the ten's! Yeah! (Sense the sarcasm.)} I got out my special red folder. Inside this special red folder was the homework assignments of some of the center kids. I was to proof read them before Sunday and identify any problem areas I could help them with.

Looking inside the folder I saw worksheets on the multiplication tables, book reports, and an essay on the Great Depression. I let out a big yawn that seemed to last for a few minutes. Lazily bringing my eyes up to look at the clock on the microwave, I vaguely read out the time 11:10. As the time changed to 11:11, I thought of what to make of my second wish of the night. I decided I should wish for Dani. I wished that this family would be kind and caring, had a father who would spoil her sweetly, and a mother who would love her until the end of the road. The time changed to 11:12. I made good of my wish that night.

Closing the special red folder, I grabbed my laptop off of the counter next to me. It was time to work on my homework assignments. I read on and on about the Civil War, specifically the Confederacy after Lee's surrender at the Battle of Appomattox. I was slightly enamored with U.S. History. I found it intriguing enough to take a class specifically about this time period.

Though I loved history, the words just went on and on. The sentences blurred together and I felt my eyes droop and my head nodding off. Then, I heard something way off in the distance. It was like I was out in the middle of an ocean during a storm. The storm was so bad that I couldn't see past the bow of the ship but I could hear, I could hear just fine alright. There was a beacon of light and it was trying to tell me something. It was like, "Baby, baby, baby, oh! Like baby, baby, baby, no! Like baby, baby, baby, oh! Thought you'd always be mine, mine."

I awoke from my slumber with a start, cursing myself for putting my alarm straight to the radio. Who listens to Justin Bieber nowadays anyways! Grasping around for the cursed device that dared to wake me, I finally grabbed my phone just as Ludacris was saying "When I was thirteen, I found my first love..."

Pressing the answer button, I held the phone to my mouth saying, "Hello?" in a drowsy voice. "Antoinelle..." the voice said. I immediately blanched, the blood leaving my face. "So, how are you?" he said. I said nothing back to him. "Good, good..." he muttered, seeing as I wasn't replying to him.

"I see that you haven't paid your rent for this month yet..." he said. Oh butterfingers! I knew I forgot something when I was balancing my account! "So," he continued, "I've decided to pay this month's rent for you." There was a gap of silence where he waited for to me to say something, gauging my response. He didn't need to wait any longer. That last sentence had snapped me out of my reverie.