On the Surface

CHAPTER 4: Messy

CHAPTER 4: Messy

   Even after the torturing moment, the frozen seconds of fear when the car was coming at her, at her and her siblings, Quincy was still shaking. She had screamed at them to run, but they just stood... there was nothing she could do! Maybe it they had gone the other way... but that wasn't an option. The homeless man there always freaked the kids out, and once David started to cry, there was no stopping him. 

   Quincy shuddered and looked down at him, sitting there playing with his cheap wooden blocks on the floor. It was pathetic, and she wished with everything she had that she could do more to help, but she had already maxed out her mom's credit card and she only had about $3,000 in the bank. everything was dwindling so quickly! But, as long as she kept up with her jobs this would have to do, and everything would get better. She always had to believe it: Things can always get better. When you are at the bottom there is no where to go but up.

   Just then, Hazel ran up to her with something white splattered down her front.

   "Is that... Mayonnaise?" Quinn asked. "Oh my god! Hazel, what happened?"

   "The-the bag, It fell and, oh crap Quinn! The groceries are everywhere!" She trailed off. Even though she never really had the best role models or education, Hazel was smart, and she was quick. 

   Quinn groaned. She ran into the other room, and to her dismay, the bag of groceries was lying on the floor, with egg yolk and other things everywhere. The jar of Mayonnaise was sitting upright on the counter, open and completely empty. 

   "Airy! Get in here now!" she yelled. The boy stumbled into the room, his hands wet with something slimy and yellow. He tried to wipe them on his shirt but she smacked them away.

   "What's wrong with you?" He asked, bewildered by her sudden aggression. 

  "Guys, what happened?" Hazel asked, mimicking how Quinn would say it.

   "Shut up, Hazel. What did you guys do?" She said, clutching her light blond hair in fists. 

   "The stupid bag... I was trying to put thing away but... I'm so sorry Quincy! It's all my fault!"

   Quinn yelled in despair. That was fifty bucks or more, lying there on the floor. Quickly she began to pick things up, inspecting them for damages. They could still use all this stuff... Maybe if she used the eggs now and saved them in leftovers it wouldn't be a waste of her precious money. But what if the germs on the floor made little David sick? She couldn't handle that! But what else was there to do? How else would she feed these kids, these kids that meant the world to her? She would have to risk it. 

   They had scrambled eggs for dinner that night, but Quinn couldn't help but feel like they weren't complaining, and they should be. Airy and Hazel the twins shouldn't be used to this insanity! They should be bugging her and yelling that they wanted roast potatoes.

   Quinn and her younger siblings had been living alone together for almost a year now. Her only friend was a boy named Alex, and he lived in a home for kids. The way some of those people looked... sunken and squashed, and Alex himself usd to look so happy, so innocent, but he had taken on a hard, sad look and he wouldn't let her talk about anything they used to, except for things like homework or the kids. Quinn was too scared to see what that would do to them all.

   Hazel went to bed earlier than anyone else, at only 8:00. Quinn put David to bed, but he woke up right away, so she decided to take him with her. She was going to vistit Alex.