A Thing of Beauty - A Hozier Fanfiction

Chapter Four

28 April, 2020

Dublin, IE

Positive COVID-19 Cases: 19,877

Deaths: 1,159

Cassie threw several toys into a plastic bin as she crawled across the living room floor. Finn had left a path of destruction that would rival a hurricane's and there were toys all across the carpet. She glanced at her watch; she had fifteen minutes before she had to get on a call with Andrew. Not that he would care, that is. He was hardly ever on time himself, so he probably wouldn't even know she was late.

For some reason, she had agreed to do a video interview with him that he planned to release as an extension of his podcast series. It sounded like a good idea at the time - a chance for them to discuss inspiration, method, and answer fan questions - but now that she was in the weeds with real life, it seemed like another chore. If both of their management teams hadn't already expressed happiness and interest at the idea, she'd have probably just begged off.

The only saving grace was that she enjoyed talking to Andrew. It wasn't a chore or tiring. He was chock-full of interesting questions and always seemed to have something for the two of them to talk about in their usual calls. She actually found herself looking forward to them. Plus, she knew both of their fanbases needed this. With lockdowns continuing across the world, the situation was getting more and more dire by the day.

In America, people were fighting over simple things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Kids were home from school unsure what exactly they were supposed to be doing, high schoolers didn't know if they were actually going to graduate, college students didn't know if they would even have jobs to go to, and parents were all terrified about how to keep their children safe (and maintain their own sanity). Nobody had any answers and it was more and more maddening by the day.

"That's it. I'm binning half of this stuff in the morning," she grumbled as she lurched to her feet and lifted the plastic bin to the sofa. "Kid has too much damn shit."

That's what you get for trying to buy your son's love to alleviate the Mom Guilt, a voice in her head said.

Things had taken a nosedive in the last month or so. Finn had finally realized he wasn't going back to school anytime soon and stopped asking, but that also meant his behavior had gone in the toilet. Cassie was equally frustrated and angry that her normally-mild-mannered angelic toddler had morphed into a pint-sized brat. She knew it was because of all the changes he was experiencing and the lack of attention she could give him, but it didn't change how horrible she felt when he screamed at her or threw a toy against the brick wall.

Their outdoor activity had been limited to a single walk in the afternoon and all of the parks had been shut down. Finn had taken to riding his scooter alongside her, but that was all he got. She'd ordered a small play set and assembled it on the roof terrace, but he'd grown tired of it quickly. Most of his days were spent watching TV or movies and she felt like the worst mother in the world, letting him rot his brain away with screens.

But she had deadlines and meetings and phone calls and without someone else to help out, she didn't have a choice. And since she had to meet with people in the UK and America, time had ceased to mean anything. She relied so heavily on her phone alarm and calendar to tell her where and when she had to do something that if it died, she firmly believed she'd be dead along with it.

Her phone alarm went off, right on time, reminding her of the call. She trotted up the steps to her bathroom and ran a brush through her hair. She swiped a bit of mascara across her eyes and dabbed on some lip balm, hoping it was enough to hide the dark circles under her eyes.