She would persevere

chapter 5

No mercy, no mercy
Take honey from the hornet's nest
I'm a bullet in the barrel
I'm a gold in the treasure chest

"So you have enough food to last you until Tuesday, even though we are back Sunday night, so under no circumstance are you going to get take-away. Understood, young lady?" Maman said with a stern voice. I've gotten used to calling her maman, which is French for mom. Her eyes just light up when I say it and for once it feels good. To call someone mom. Someone who is not her. She is not my mother, she is my maman. Huge difference in my mind.

Maman has earned the right to be called that. With how much she has taken care of me, how much she has looked out for me over the past years. From day one until now, she has yet to let me down. I don't think she ever will, I hope.

"If anything, just anything happens... You're locked out, you don't know how to work the stove, you miss me. You call me got it!"

"Oui Maman." I replied with a smile.

"Just go and have fun. You haven't seen your family in years. Relax, unwind. Pamper yourself." I told maman whilst hugging her. Another thing. Hugging a woman. After what my mother did to me all those years, I was afraid of contact with women. Maman was the exception. She had proven herself.

"We'll see you sunday! Don't have too much fun without me, kay!" Aubrey chirped.

Laughing again, I hugged both of them and waved bye.

Closing the front door, I immediately went into the kitchen to see what kind of food maman had left me. There were things like beef stew, quiche, chocolate mousse and creme brulee. All French of course.

I loved maman's cooking. That woman can cook with a passion that's out of this world. I started with the still warm beef stew that immediately warmed up my body and made my heart melt. This was made with love!

After washing up I started Binging Katla. This Icelandic show was amazing. I swear Europeans know how to make good tv. And even though I couldn't understand Icelandic, I was used to watching whilst reading subtitles.

I tried it once. Watching a European show that was dubbed in english. I lasted exactly four seconds before I internally cringed too much and had to set it back to native language.

La Casa de Papel in english was just a big fat no.

By the time I had binged half the season it was already past midnight. I texted Aburey and maman a goodnight and went to sleep.

The next day I kept busy. After breakfast I went to the gym, cleaned up my apartment and went to the hairdresser. I desperately needed a haircut. Coming back to the house, I played online for a few hours before starting dinner again. This time it was quiche and some chocolate as dessert.

I was debating to watch the rest of Katla again, but decided to binge the second season of Lupin.

It was close to midnight when I decided to go to bed. After texting maman and Aubrey good night, I turned off the lights and layed down. Sleep came very soon.

Sleep flew away as fast as it came when the creaking noise in the apartment became more apparent.

My eyes flew open, immediately searching for the baseball bat maman had gotten me. It was in case someone broke in. Like now.

It was probably a mouse or something that broke in, but my gut feeling made me wide awake, alert.

Mind check. I'm in bed. My bedroom door was still closed. The noises were coming from the living room. My side window was luckily open. The emergency fire escape was behind it. It would be an easy exit for me. After doing drills so many times. For my own peaceful state of mind. I tried it till it was perfect.