Life Ran Into Me

Tomorrow

I felt extremely bad for having the girls out in the cold. As soon as I got home I got the dressed and fed and sent them to daycare. When I got back home, my dad was there. "Daughter that's you?" He yelled with the door closed while he was using the bathroom.  "Yeah!" I replied as I took my jacket off and walked towards my room. He caught me in the hallway to give me a hug. " Uhn uhn! You ain't even wash yo hands yet" I said pushing him back with a disgusted face. He smacked his teeth "ahhh". "That's alot of germs" I added proceeding into my room. He washed his hands and stood in my room as we talked about a bunch of things. "Daddy I have to go to this temp agency by jessey house but the bus dont run early enough over here so I need to stay at her house but I know thomas don't want everybody back over there so I have to go by myself. Do you mind dropping the girls off and picking them up for daycare so I can stay at jessey house for a week to work?" I asked in a pleading tone. "Of course" he said simply. Like it was nothing. I knew he'd say yes but I was still surprised by how easily he said yes. Not even no obligations or agreements. "Okay well they have to be at daycare no later than 9am or they can't go and try to pick them up around 5:45pm no later than 6:00 and no earlier than 5." I stated. He was already ahead of the game because he does it voluntarily but I just wanted to refresh him just in case. "So you leaving tonight?" He asked. "Yes. And please don't or say anything to my kids that you know I wouldn't." I said with a sad concerned look on my face. I really meant it. I am their protector but I won't be there with them for long periods of time for a whole week so it was very important to me that he did right by them. "Daughter I got this" he said. The day has passed and it was time for the girls to get out of school. So I packed my belongings to take to my sister's house while he picked them up. "Mommy!" They screamed running into my arms at the same time. They were excited to see me and I was sad to be leaving them. But I didn't show it. I showered and spent about an hour or two with them before I had to leave. It was getting really dark. I made sure the girls were fed and ready for bed so they wouldn't be in my dad's hair. I know how mean he could get if they aggravated him. I said bye to them only a million times before I actually left. I was worried within the first 10 minutes of being gone. "I hope they're okay" I thought to myself over and over. I got to jessey's house and got ready for work. The girls were heavy on my mind. I plugged in the air matress and fell asleep by 10pm.  By 4am I was surprisingly well rested and ready to go with spare time to chill before I left by 5. Walking to the bus stop, it was still freezing. Pitch black and the streets were empty. I sped walked there because I was paranoid again. Sex trafficking awareness was rising too. The bus didn't take too long to arrive but it was long enough. Once I got downtown I was waiting on the second bus when a big group of men in work clothes crowded me waiting on the same bus. It was so uncomfortable because it was an hour wait of them staring at me, making attempts and comments. They had no limit on how thirsty they were being. Arriving at the staffing agency was no different. It was about only 3 women there myself included out of almost 100 people. I waited and waited for my name to be called. 2 hours go by and almost every one was gone. Except about 10 of us. I sipped on coffee out of bordem and scrolled through my facebook timeline. I barely even like coffee. A guy who looked my age finally approached me. He been paying attention to me since he saw me. "What's up?" He said as he took a seat right next to me. I like attention so I put that sparkle in my eye and direct contact, that tone in my voice and my chillest coolest personality. "Hey" I replied. "What's yo name?" He asked me nervously. It was cute. "Lena. What's yours?" I asked and sized him. I wanted it to be very clear that I was judging his body language and appearance. "Tony" he said. "Oh okay" I said putting my attention back in my phone. "You wanna put my number in there" he asked in a smooth way. I laughed and smirked at him. "No thank you im not interested." I said straight forward. "Damnnn what's wrong with me?" He asked laughing. "Nothing. I'm not allowed to be uninterested?" I said smiling, flirting. "I mean it's a reason why you uninterested, im ugly or something?" He asked. "Oh now you got jokes. I think you really handsome. Im just not interested because im dealing with a lot and it would be inconsiderate of me to get someone involved with me when im trying to get myself together." I said getting serious. "I understand. Well can I be your friend until then? He asked. He was very persistent. "No thank you I already know how that goes." I said laughing. "Im foreal. I can be there for you when you need me to. No strings attached just your friend" he said. That really turned me off. I heard this alot. He doesn't even know me to want to be here for me so bad. He's a liar. I wish guys would just say they want to fuck you when they do. All of this is unnecessary. Luckily the manager made an announcement. "For those of you headed downtown, the van is ready. See ya tomorrow." I was lost. "Wait so we aren't being sent out to work?" I asked Tony. "Yeah we don't always get to go out. But if you come back you probably will tomorrow " he said grabbing his belongings. I didn't want to stand outside in the cold so I sucked it up and got in the van being the only female. It was a quick 10 minute ride. I went home and laid on my bed to figure out how I was going to pay Ms Cindy back in the next 4 days. The same thing happened over and over the entire week. Time flew by and my dad was on his way to pick up the girls. He never knew I came home because I didn't walk out of my room to say anything. My door was locked as well. As soon as I heard the girls come in the house I wanted to give them some love as usual but I thought I'd take the opportunity to see how my dad treated my kids when im not around. "I guess mommy not coming over today" he told them as they tried to open my door. Everything was going fine until I heard "Praise don't make me kick yo ass" I wanted to come out of the room right then and there but I thought to wait a little longer. "You peed on the fuckin floor! I should kick yo ass Praise why didn't you go to the toilet!?" He proceeded. "I sowwy granpa" I heard her say. "I don't want to hear that go get in the tub!" He yelled at her. I heard the girls in the bathroom talking to each other before he went in there. "You still got your damn clothes on I told you to get in the tub!" He yelled and ran their bath water. "I gotta clean all this shit up cause you don't wanna take your ass to the toilet. April don't do that shit so why did you!?" he left the bathroom temporarily and came back to say "no you don't get to play you bathe yourself and get out the tub." "Okay" she responded innocently. "You don't know how to bathe yourself!? Don't act slow Praise I'm so angry right now I should kill you." He gave her the opportunity to bathe herself again but the thing is, I haven't taught the girls to properly bathe their parts. That's my job. Usually when they get in the tub, they play, I bathe them, they play some more and then get out. Their only job was to play when It came to bath time. "You rubbing the rag but I don't see no fucking bubbles! You're fucking stupid, you don't know nothing. You act smart but you're not smart and if I ever catch you acting smart again im gone kick yo ass and tell you about yourself" he told her. He bathed her. "Get your ass out the tub" he finished. At this point my vision is blurred from the tears suffocating my eyes. The knot in my throat was extremely tight. My heart was so broken. He's broken my heart many times but never like this. I was beyond angry. I wanted to come to my baby's rescue so bad but I couldn't. I wanted to know if he physically abused him like he threatened to often. He's always pushing me to give them "a real whooping" when they act up. I remember him smacking her in the head around me before and I cussed him out for it so I wondered how he physically disciplined them when I wasn't around when I specifically pleaded for him not to do or say anything to them that I wouldn't. His anger calmed down a little but mine only grew. He stopped cursing at my baby and threatening her after a while and got them ready for bed. He turned on a movie and tucked them into bed while he laid on the floor passed out drunk. I texted and told all of my sisters in the moment because I couldn't keep it to myself. I literally felt like I was going to go crazy. I came out of the room acting like I just got home and the girls went crazy to see me. I didn't mean to make April feel left out but I hugged praise first. A little tighter and a little longer. "Hey mamas" I said getting love from them trying to hold back my tears and the sound of sadness in my voice. "Daddy!" I yelled at him angrily. He was already asleep. With 2 beer cans next to him. I put the girls to sleep in my bed and left him where he was at. I'll deal with him in the morning.