Unbreak My Heart

Monday Blues

You know how your body reacts due to what was going on in your mind? Almost like it was in perfect sync with your thoughts and emotions even when you try your best to separate the two? Well yes your body takes orders, verbal and nonverbal from your brain.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew this wasn't going to be a good day for me even though I was planning on forgetting it entirely. Looking over my phone I realized that I woke up five minutes before my alarm clock, I wanted to call my mother and check up on her, then I remembered she was on night shift last night.

Getting out of bed I walked towards my windows to open the blinds, I wasn't about to mop around for that man. Not today! We had a cook out competition and I needed to be on top of my game, I couldn't afford to get distracted.

After taking a deep breath to clear my mind, I made my bed and tidied up my room before going to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth while looking at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes had eye bags and I looked like I had been run over by bus. My hair was all over the place, it looked like a bird nest, it could probably do with a trim.

Deciding to leave my wild hair, I jumped in the shower, scrubbed my body and washed my hair, washing my hair always relaxed me. I was hellbent on going through this day without much hiccup.

It's just another day Amara!

After rinsing myself I turned the shower off then got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. As I turned to look at reflection in the blurry mirror, I was hit by cramps and cramps meant one thing.

It's that time of the month. Just what I needed!

I opened cabinets in the bathroom trying to locate my tampons, but couldn't find any. Thinking I must have put them in my room I stopped looking for them and blew dried my hair then tidied up the bathroom before going to my bathroom. Living alone without parents meant cleaning up after yourself or coming back to the mess you left.

Cleaning up after myself was what I was accustomed to, mum couldn't always do it for me so I had been doing it for years. There were times she did it for me like the first year after dad left, she would come back from home exhausted and clean the house so we didn't leave it like a pigsty the next morning.

It was then I started doing the little things like cleaning my own room, putting my clothes in the washer. A few times I messed up my clothes because I didn't separate the whites from colours, but after a few mishaps and mama telling me how to get it right, I became a pro.

"Ara, someone is phoning you." Sophie's muffled voice said behind the door getting me out of my memory lane.

         ~~~~~~~~~~🌥️☁️~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later I was hunched over my work station writing down what to cook with the main ingredients we were given. We each had to cook a three course meal, we had 30 minutes to prepare and cook the appetizers, 50 minutes for the main course and 45 minutes for dessert.

I couldn't think of what to cook, the ingredients presented to us were messing with my head. The main ingredients on the work stations were salmon, goat cheese,  and figs. Looking around the kitchen, I noticed that my classmates were already preparing their appetizers while I was only starting to think of the my menu.

As I looked at the clock on the wall I saw that I only had 20 minutes left and deciding to go to the pantry, that would stimulate my brain. I picked up cucumber, horseradish cream, some herbs, lemon, crème fraîche, loaf of ciabatta, virgin olive oil punnet cress to prepare my appetizers.

Walking back to my work station, I started preparing the meal. I cut the loaf of bread into four slices then toasted, while the bread toasted I mixed horseradish cream with crème fraîche then added a pinch of salt and black pepper. I then cut a lemon in half to squeeze some juices into the mixture then mixed till I was satisfied with it.