Love is Blind

Ch. 1

FlashBack
November 13th, 2013

"Zaya, you in here?" D'ziah's voice sounded off from the other side of her door, causing her to lift up from her pillow slightly. She frowned, she had finally calmed her tiny nerves prior his entrance and he interrupted the sleep that she almost reached.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" She mustered up hearing the door creak as his feet paddled against the cold, hard flooding.

"I'm hungry."

"Tell mama, I'm tired Dee." She groaned, rubbing over her eyes. She watched as he sat at the edge of her bunk, slouching against the railing with his eyes scrunching from the sun threatening to peek through from the blinds.

"She ain't here. I was gone make some cereal, but it ain't none in there. Junie hungry too, can you try to find something?" He said referring to their youngest sister.

She still wasn't home? Without saying anything, she hesitantly stood up from the bunk and slipped on the house shoes she always kept near her bed. D'ziah trailed behind her as they walked down the hallway, toward the living room, which was connected to the kitchen.

They lived in a 2 bedroom duplex that was a little under 600 square feet. It was clean to say the least, especially for three kids under the age of twelve and a single mother who worked night shifts.

"Hmm, it's chicken nuggets in the freezer. Y'all want that?" She asked her two siblings causing them to shrug. Everything else was unrecognizable to the ten year old and they didn't have much to choose from.

Cereal but no milk, butter but no eggs, cheese but no bread, water but no noodles. The list continued as she looked throughout the fridge and cabinets.

"I don't know how to work the oven though.." Azaya mumbled to herself as she sat the Tyson bag on the counter.

"Search it up Ju." Dee told her nodding over to the tablet they shared that sat on the small dining table. A few seconds later, Junie passed the tablet over to Azaya allowing her to read the results.

Remove any items in the oven before preheating to correct temperature, 350 being the standard. Monitor your food cooking, be sure to set a timer for accurate results... more items

She quickly clicked on one of the videos listed, not understanding any of the information she just read.

"Dee how come you don't make it? You're eleven and she's only ten." Jue questioned softly watching her older sister furrow her eyebrows in frustration.

"She a girl Junie, y'all do stuff like this. I can barely make my own noodles." He said with a shrug.

"Me being a girl has nothing to do with it, you just don't want to learn how to do things yourself." She scoffed, pushing the tablet toward his scrawny chest. She turned to grab one of the pans from under the sink and rinsed it off making sure it was cleaned.

"Don't get mad at me, I was just saying Zaya." He held his hand up in defense as he leant tiredly against one of the counters.

"It's only thirteen left. Jue you can get six and you can get seven." She said ignoring what he had said.

"You don't want to eat?" Junie asked her as she preheated the oven like the man did in the video.

"I'm okay." She assured as she laid the nuggets out evenly on the pan. "Don't touch the oven though. I'll come get them when they're ready, kay?"

"Okay.. I won't sissy." She smiled, happy her sister made something for them.

"Thank you Zay." Dee thanked causing her to nod in response. His comment bothered her more than the both of them knew.