Shattered

Chapter 1

The morning starts as it always does. I wake up and stare at myself in the mirror for a good second or two before grumpily getting up. I get dressed, picking out the perfect outfit for the day. I fix my hair and makeup with precise hands to attempt to perfect the matching looks for my outfit. And last but certainly not least, I pull on uncomfortable high heels to finish it off.

I take a deep breath as I sharply turn around and exit my room to wake up my daughter. "Ava, wake up. You need to get dressed. I'm taking you to grandma's house." I watch as she slowly opens her eyes for a brief moment before closing them again and shifting positions, pulling the covers over herself again. "Are you sick?" I can hear the lightly harsh tone in my voice as I attempted to wake her up. I try to ignore it.

I strut through her room, passing by another mirror hanging in her room. I shake my daughter in her bed and she sits up. "I'm awake, Mommy." I hear myself huff and step back, crossing my arms. "Get dressed or we're going to be late." I sharply turn, briefly seeing the mirror and mentally cringing at my appearance. There's nothing I can do about it anyway.

I hear her closet door slide open from her room as I walk into the kitchen. I pop some toast in the toaster as I make myself a cup of coffee. "Can I have some too, Mommy?" I turn towards the sweet soft voice to see my daughter already dressed standing behind me. Her light brown hair still tangled and her bright gray eyes still covered with the look of sleep. "You'll eat at grandmas. You know this."

"But I'm hungry." The toast pops up and I grab the two freshly toasted slices and butter them. "You can wait." I hear her sigh before her tiny feet carry her away. I shove the toast into my mouth and glance into my reflection in the microwave to check my lipstick. "Are you ready?" I ask without glancing away from the reflection. "Mm-hmm," I hear her respond dishearteningly.

I turn away finally and grab my keys with a sense of urgency. We rush out to the car, struggling to wrap our jackets around our bodies as we do. I hurry to mom's house to drop off my daughter with her. I don't even wait to see if she got in or if mom waves to me before I drove away to work. The place I despise.

"Good morning Emma!" I turn to my coworker who happily smiles at me and I force a smile back. "Good morning. Did you sleep okay?" She shrugs and leans back in her chair. "As good as I can get. How about you?" I use the same motion as her and shrug. "Same as always."

"Better than nothing I suppose." I nod, turning back to my work. "Is that a new design?" I pick up the still in progress sketch and nod. "It looks like it's almost finished." I put my sketch back down. "Just needs a few touches." I lean back in my chair and from the corner of my eye, I can see my reflection in the window nearby.

I also manage to see our boss walking by. We both immediately straighten back up and work on anything within our grasp. "How's your daughter?" my coworker asks after the eyes of the floor walks away. I think back to this morning and mentally sigh as my mouth opens to speak. "She's fine. She's spending the day with her father today."

"Oh really? She must be happy." I wanted to growl at the ridiculous thought, but I couldn't. "Yep, very happy." I pick up my pencil again and start to sketch my next idea for an outfit. "Is it for a new Broadway or play?" I nod as I start adding quick lines of color. "I should hurry back to work."

"Of course. We have deadlines anyway." She spins her chair back and focuses back on her work. I softly sigh as my mind goes back to the lie I just told. Her father hasn't been in our lives for years now. Not since he found out I was pregnant at the age of seventeen. It's for the best that he hasn't been.