One shots

The play

"To live is the rarest thing in the world.
Most people exist, that is all." - Oscar Wilde.

Femi felt the nights finally catching up on her. Her shoulders were tense and hurting, her eyes had a pulsing pain behind them every time she closed them, the sole of her feet were sore from being on them day and night, and her hands were in need of serious soothing if the cracked skin on her fingers were any indication. She wondered just for how long she'd be able to keep this up before crashing and burning. Even though she was desperate and time was money and money power meant she could have to hustle.

She closed the door to her he house as quietly as she could, toed her boots off before tiptoeing up the stairs, making sure to avoid the floorboards she knew creaked. Stopping at the door on the right she peeked her head in. Two beds, on opposite sides of the wall still held two mini sleeping humans. All she could see in the dark room was the top of two heads with pitch black hair, the soft breathing that moved their blankets. She couldn't help the smile that made its way to her face. They were safe and sound asleep still.

She closed the door leaving it an inch open before walking down the hallway to her room on the left. The master bedroom was the furthest away from the stairs with the window of the hallway right next to it. She had made it a sort of reading nook, with blankets and pillows on the low ledge. Fitting with the bookshelf she had built into the hallway and the mini library in the living room. Most of the books were tattered, holding on by their last seams but it was hers, theirs.

She sighed not bothering to close the door. She had enough time for a quick shower and change of clothes before the needed to tackle the kids and get them to school. She could ask her sister, but from the moment she found herself a single mother she had found a strength she didn't known she possessed, time and time again Sera and Oscar had tried to help but pride got the best of her. She was done being the mess only now she knew she was deeper in shit than she had ever been before.

She ran the shower trying to bar down her train of thoughts, the emotions as a shiver ran down her spine. She strapped her arms around herself thinking of how quickly her world had fallen off kilter. And just as her body warmed under the hot water she collapsed to the floor, sobs shaking her body, chest tightening as he struggled to get a hold on herself. She knew she didn't have the luxury of time but gave herself an extra five minutes, the only moment she could call a break from her life. She felt her skin starting to prune. A whisper of a shuffle from outside her open bedroom door and knew it was time to turn the water off.

Wrapping a towel around her body she walked out of the bathroom through the closet and out to her bedroom. And by the door stood a mini giant girl with big brown eyes that still were a little hazy from sleep. Her curls sticking up in all ways having escaped her night cap probably from her constant twisting and turning from the night. Her heart lightened at the sight. She couldn't help the sigh of contentment despite the situation. Eight years of their crazy and she lives for every moment.

"Good morning mama." The little voice spoke.

She walked to her eldest daughter by fifteen minutes dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Morning baby, why don't you go brush your teeth and then wake your sister up for me."

Those chocolate eyes looked up and nodded moving soundlessly down the hallway to the bathroom. Femi turned waking back to her closet. She had enough time to dress herself and then hustle the kids to school. With how hot the day was expecting to get she decided a floral skirt would be a great shout. A spaghetti strapped cropped vest and a light navy cotton shirt half buttoned up finished her look. She forewent a bra. She wrapped her coils up, the red ends sticking out the top so her neck won't get sweaty from the day ahead. The shorter fringe pieces escaped framing her face as she threw on a simple pair of beaded drop earrings and her grandmother's necklace.