Half of a Whole

A Bad Day

Accompanying Song: Numb, Linkin Park.

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NELOFER 

From the moment Nelofer woke up that day she knew it was gonna be a bad day. She didn't want to get up from the bed. Period crumps were killing her. 

Her sister Nayera got up and brought her a bowl of cereals. That's all they had every morning, just cereal. After three weeks, Nelofer felt like vomiting just at the sight of it.

"Noooo. I want roti and Sabzi" Nelofer whined.

"'I wAnT rOtI n SaBzI'" Nayera mocked her "Why didn't you get up early and make it then. I'm gonna throw you off the bed." Nayera pulled the covers off Nelofer.

"Urgh, you're on a power trip again, stop ordering me around. You're such a pain in the ass" Nelofer sat up.

"What was that? I bring you breakfast to bed and this is how you show gratitude? I'm four years older than you, but you always talk down to me you disrespectful cretin! I'm not giving you my car keys, you can walk to work."

"Oh please! I'm on my periods. I'm sorry ok" Nelofer grumbled with pleading eyes.

"That ain't work on me. I just finished my periods. I'm more full with crazy hormones. Get up, and walk to work" Nayera left the room.

Nelofer groaned, she couldn't argue with a medical student about periods because they knew that shit better. Nelofer angrily ate the cereal and then went to the bathroom. After she got ready she tried to steal the keys from her sister's bag, but failed.

"Fine!" Nelofer yelled as she left "Whatever crawled up your ass, hope it dies in there!"

What a great start to her day. A siblings fight and walking to work when there was a car, perfectly in shape, not being used by anyone. 

At work she kept taking paracetamol every four hours which made her feel groggy.

A regular customer came in with a little girl in his arms. He had a huge smile on his face. Nelofer could tell they were a father daughter duo from their resemblance. 

"Hi, what would you like to order today?" Nelofer smiled politely.

The man asked his daughter what she wanted, and she looked away shyly from Nelofer, and whispered in her father's ears that she wanted a piece of a brownie cake and a piece of the red-velvet cake and a glass of hot chocolate.

Nelofer thought that was way too much sugar for a little girl, but knew to keep her mouth shut. 

The dad probably felt the same because he awkwardly explained "She probably won't finish all of it. I just can't say no. I only get to see her once every month since she lives with her mom, gotta spoil her when I can."

"Ahh" Nelofer nodded and smiled politely "Well, she's very lucky to have a dad who spoils her."

Nelofer watched the little girl spend quality time with her dad. Seeing how happy and spoiled she was and how much she basked in her dad's full attention brought back a sudden pang of jealousy. Nelofer's memories of her own father in her childhood were nowhere near as sweet. Nelofer had never been spoiled in her life. Her parents believed in strict discipline where good behaviour wasn't rewarded, but bad behaviour was punished. She couldn't even count on her hand the number of times she got slapped by her dad. He was so strong that Nelofer always had a handprint on her cheek afterwards. It was sad that her most vivid memories of her father were the ones that made her feel the worst. There were many good memories too. Lots of family outings to the zoo, amusement parks, picnics and parties. However, Nelofer realised that she didn't have memories of just her and her dad spending quality time together. She felt so sad that she'd never had a close bond with her father.