Zephaniah // z.m

Thirty nine

Hannah

After I had finished folding Zayn and Zephaniah's laundry, I had trouble keeping my eyes open. But for some reasons- I didn't want to go home yet. I had a weird feeling in my stomach that didn't want to leave, like it told me I had to stay.

My feelings were confirmed when a few minutes later, soft thuds were heard, coming from the stairs along with sniffles.

I looked up and saw Zephaniah in dog themed pajamas, his cheeks flushed pink, wetness from his tears still visible and his hair messy. He was holding a broken dog piggy bank, a few coins blinking in his small hands as he walked over to me.

"Ms. Hannah, c-can I say.. say something?" He whispered, his sentence pausing as he let out a sob.

"Yes, sweetheart." I told him, glancing at the clock to see that it was already over ten pm. "Come here, love." I said softly as he hesitated.

Zephaniah walked over to me and I lifted him on my lap, where he sat down on my right leg, his legs and feet dangling on the sides of it. "Ms. Hannah, do you t-think this is.. enough for new lunch-lunchbox?"

He held his little hands up and showed me his money through the broken pieces of his dog piggy bank. I felt like crying, because he was honestly so sweet and so thoughtful.

I counted exactly £2,30 and it saddened me that he had broken his piggy bank for this, although it also showed how loyal he was, how mannered and so pure. He was clearly upset about breaking his lunchbox, and it broke my heart to see him like this.

"It's fine, sweetheart." I said, softly rubbing his back, which was warm, probably due to the sleep he had gotten already. "You don't have to worry about it, you can keep your money. Ms. Hannah will buy a new one for you, okay?"

I knew Zayn was upset because of Zephaniah's behavior, but also because he couldn't afford little extra things at times. Even if the lunchbox wouldn't be too expensive, he couldn't pay for it and that saddened me too.

Zephaniah turned around on my lap, his legs almost wrapped around my waist as he sat on both of my thighs now. "No, Ms. Hannah," He said sadly. "I b-broke it. I save m-mmoney since summer."

"Zeph," I said, my heart melting because of his purity once again. "It's okay, I promise."

"Baba give me the dog p-piggy bank last week. I save m-mmoney, it's okay I promise." He repeated my last words as he looked at me, the tears still streaming down his face.

I wanted to smile, in a good way, only because he broke the piggy bank Zayn gave him last week, which was something Zayn must've saved money for as well. Zephaniah broke it for a very good cause, but I decided to buy a new piggy bank for Zephaniah because of that too.

"Don't worry about it, Zephaniah." I brushed his tears away with the pads of my thumbs and stared at him for a while. "Are you still tired, sweetheart?"

Zephaniah grabbed a strand of my hair and played with it, his lips slightly parted as he stared at it. "Feel sad, Ms. Hannah. Feel very dis-dis.. dispointed." He stuttered out, meaning to say disappointed.

"Why so, Zeph?" I asked quietly, hoping he'd open up to me as well. Maybe it was something he got from his father, although it was probably because of his needs that he was reserved.

Zephaniah's bottom lip started trembling again, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. "Very sad hurting d-daddy, Ms. Hannah. But I feel so m-mmuch! Head full, sometimes m-mmy head goes boom." He said sadly.

"And why did it go boom today, love?" I smiled a little because of the way he worded and explained it. He was so honest.

"Very dif-difficult at school," He cried silently, his little hand and fingers still tangled in strands of my hair. "Boys so m-mean. Every people in class get a card for birth-birthday party except me. He say we are not friends and that I am d-dumb."