Be careful what you wish for

2. Joseph's cousin

The time I spent working on my homework was incomparable to the satisfaction I felt when I was done writing it and was on my way to submitting it on Mr. Matthews' desk.

It was Friday once again, and I had Nancy covering up for me. This time, though, I had helped her by presenting a reliever. I had brought in Michelle, my former classmate in the writing class. She dropped out two meetings ago because she wanted to focus on making money more, so I talked her in about my shift and gladly accepted the offer. I just hoped Michelle didn't give hard time to Nancy by doing things her way.

Mr. Matthews promised to read our works tonight – technically, there were only nine of us in his class now, so he could take all the time he wanted – and then ended our class with another homework. This time, he wanted our central theme to be on trust. If love was something difficult to write about, trust, on the other hand, seemed mind-boggling. Where was I to get an idea about trust? The only person I trusted was my mom and she was what I wrote about on love already. I didn't want to repeat the subject for my writings – even if all the good traits described my mom. If it was hatred though, I could assure Mr. Matthews a ten-page work on Roger.

We all left the classroom after Mr. Matthews and I paced up my steps as it was nearing nine o'clock. I silently prayed for a bus to arrive at the stop and there it was, waiting for me as I started sprinting towards it.

I got on then took a deep breath as I stared at my wristwatch. I was half an hour late than usual. I began thinking of possible horrible scenarios at home that I didn't realize I had already arrived at the avenue. I got off then sprinted my way into the dim-lit road.

My bag started sliding off of my shoulder and I kept pulling the strap up, holding it tight. I kept my speed up until I saw the intersection and my insides started to calm down. I was getting near home and both fear and anxiety stirred inside of me as I thought about mom and how hungry she must have been.

I yelped and fell butt-first in the middle of the intersection. I moaned in pain then squinted in the dark at the car that almost hit me. I got on my feet – realizing that I was fortunately alright – and stomped towards the driver's side. I knocked intensely on the window for the driver to at least roll it down and huffed at his audacity.

"Hey, get out of your car! Can't you see that I was walking?" I howled and then tried to pull his door open, but the window didn't roll down and the car seemed to drive away. I chased after it for a few seconds but realized it was no use. I hissed when I didn't take note of the plate number. Remembering I had to rush back home, I was back on my feet again towards home.

The first thing I did upon arriving home was to visit mom in her room. The sight frightened me: she was coughing and wheezing, and it looked like she had been in distress for a while now.

I dropped my bag and ran to her aid. Aside from her paralysis, she had asthma, too. Frantically, I searched for her inhaler and assisted her to breathe well. It was a half an hour situation that I managed to sort out... again.

When mom was finally fine, I fed her dinner and her medicine before humming her to sleep. It took me almost three hours before I finally left her room silently.

Anger boiled in me and before I could even think well, I was on my way to Roger's bedroom at the basement and barged in.

There was a woman who instantly covered herself up right away, laughing and panting. I gasped then scoffed in repugnance, but that didn't make me turn around. Gritting my teeth, I stomped towards Roger who was goading me.