The phone started buzzing in the morning silence. A hand reached out lazily and switched the alarm off. Silence crept in the room again. Ten minutes later, the alarm started ringing again. The hand shut it down again and went back to its place. Ten minutes after, the alarm started again, and an annoyed grumble was heard from the bed.
"Damn it! I'm up, I'm up!", a woman's annoyed voice wad abruptly heard in the room.
Raina crept up from the sheets with a disgruntled look, and she made her way to the kitchen to start making her coffee. Then she went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She then went back to pour herself some coffee and drank it slowly to wake herself up, while reading the news on her phone. About 15 minutes later, she looked at the time and panic hit her.
"Aaahhh! Baby, wake up now, we're going to be late!", she said in a panicked voice, entering her son's room. She quickly selected some clothes for him and pulled him out of the bed, guiding him to the bathroom. Her son had his eyes half opened and let himself be guided without a word.
"Come on, baby! Open your eyes, brush your teeth and wash your face! Hurry, it's late!" She quickly went to the kitchen to prepare milk with cereals for her son, then went back to his room to pack his bag and put in it some sandwiches and a yogurt for lunch. She then went back to her son and hurried him to the kitchen to have his breakfast while she took a speedy shower and got dressed.
"Ah, I always end up like this!", she blamed herself again, while putting on her jacket and going to her son's room to help him dress. Both mother and son hurried to put their shoes on and then went quickly outside where the neighbors' son was waiting for them.
She had an agreement with her neighbors because she had to work, and she had no time to pick up her son from school. Her neighbors started their work hours earlier than the start of school hours, so it was hard for them to take their son to school. So they agreed to a win-win situation for both parties, that is she, as she had time before work, would take both kids to school, while the neighbors would bring both kids back home from school as her work ended much later.
She had to find a lot of niches to take care of her son. She never would have thought when she got pregnant that she would be in this situation. She only dreamt about a normal and happy family. Damn that ex-husband of hers!
Raina didn't have an easy life. And when she thought things started to get better, another problem raised. She got married to her husband when she was 25, they were already together for 2 years by then. A year later, her son was born, and she wad happy, albeit tired, of course. Things started going south six months after she gave birth. Her husband started to get less work and he began to disappear from home without any explanation. Their economies started to diminish without any discussion between the couple, and when she tried getting answers from him, he started avoiding her altogether.
One day, she discovered that some of her jewels disappeared. That same day, her husband came home saying he had a car accident and their car got destroyed and he needed some money to pay the damages he's done. Her mother was at their home at that time, and, trying to help the couple, she gave him the money. That was the last time they've seen him.
After he left, Raina tried to make sense of what had happened. Her ex-mother-in-law told her that her son started gambling at some point and she only found out when he left his wife and son and went to his mother to ask for money. He told his parents that he lost a lot of money and some gang was looking for him to get their money back. And after his mother payed the money to the gang, her ex-husband still disappeared without any explanation.
Three months after his disappearence, she received a call from him, telling her he will never come back. The call was short, and she wasn't able to get any more information. In the end, three months later, after not getting any news from him, she filed for divorce. She realized she was left with a son to raise on her own and a lot of debt because the appartement they were staying in was paid with a bank loan. The law was such that she couldn't erase his parental rights and she was annoyed that the law didn't take such situations into account.
And the worst was that the alimony he had to pay was insignificant, the court didn't care if she had the means to provide for her son, but it took into account if he had revenues or not. As she couldn't prove the revenues he had, the alimony was set at a minimum.
Finally, another six months later, after going through multiple court sessions, she became a divorcee. She was forced to start working as her debts and the daily necessities she and her son needed were pricey. Her son was a year and a half old, but she had to leave him in her mother's arms and go to work.
Her mother was sick and she couldn't work. Her father was long dead, she lost him when she was still a teenager. Luckily, she had her older brother who helped her a little, but he had a family of his own and it wasn't easy for him either.
So there she was, an overworked single mother that had to find her way in life, while all along taking care of her son and her sick mother. At least her mother stayed home and she could stay with her son when Raina worked late. Unfortunately, the time Raina spent with her son was less than it should be, and her son, because of his grandmother's spoiling, started to become cheeky and brazen. Especially since school started and he had homework to do, he was stubborn and he refused to do anything.
But she had a lot more other issues on her plate, and, at some point, she lost the ability to prioritize them. So she decided to leave her son issues aside for a while and focus on her job in order to get another promotion and finally clear most of her debts.
She used to get into fights with her mother often for spoiling him too much, but she didn't have the energy to do that anymore. She worked around ten hours a day and, when she got home, she barely exchanged a few words with her son and mother. She usually made sure her son had his bag prepared for the next day and ironed clothes to wear and then put her son to sleep, only for her to follow suit shortly and nearly faint on her bed.
Her son was now already seven years old, and she never would have guessed she would be a single mom at 33. Her mother always bickered about how she needs a man in her life, but where would she meet a man? On the weekends, when she didn't work overtime, she tried to get her house cleaned, do the laundry, iron their clothes, do some shopping and take her son somewhere for some fun time together. She bearly felt it was weekend before it was Monday again. She didn't even have time to sleep more on the weekends. How could she meet a man? And why would she? She had enough on her plate already, she didn't need another headache.
After all her experiences with men, she decided that she doesn't need one in her life. She had enough of their egotistical ways of living, their jealousy and possessiveness, their lies and betrayals. So she didn't want a relationship anymore.
She was not the pretty kind of woman. She was more of the sexy type. Her hair was a dark red color, her eyes were dark green with a hint of brown. Her lips were quite full, and she had curves in the right places, but a small waist. Her skin wasn't white, but a cream color, as she inherited her father's side of the family. Luckily, her body was the slim type, and she recovered quickly after her pregnancy. She could pass as 25 any day without any makeup on. But she attracted a lot of sleezy men because of the sexiness she exuded. That was one of the reasons why she didn't want any more relationships in her life.
She was also proud of herself for being able to stand on her own and didn't want to be at the mercy of anyone. Even her boss made a pass at her, but she elegantly dismissed him. But it did take away her chance at a promotion. Luckily, there were others who saw how hardworking she was and were afraid of losing her, so she got a promotion in another departement and got rid of the harrasing boss. But all this brought her back to her present predicament.
The moment she got in the car with the two boys, she realized she forgot her cellphone on the table. Cursing inside, she left the boys in the car and quickly went back to take it. She nearly tripped on the stairs, bit she leaned on the wall before losing her balance. She thought she heard a soft chuckle behind her, but, as she turned, there was no on there. She was lucky to live on the first floor, so she didn't waste too much time before going back to the car.
Her son, Eddie, gave her a snort when she came back. "Mom, whatch out, or you might lose even your head if it wasn't attached to your shoulders", he conmented.
"Shut up, you brat! Whatch your mouth, you still need me to feed you, don't you?", she replied irritated.
She startes the car and speeded to the school. After she parked the car, she helped the two boys get down and, holding their hands, hurried to the school gates. When she passed by a man standing near a light pole, she thought she felt his gaze on her, but she dismissed the thought as she was in a hurry. She kissed her son on his cheeks a the school gates and reminded him to be good and listen to his teachers.
"And do your homework when you get home, don't let me catch you skip it again!", she shouted after her son, watching him entering the building.
She hurried to her car and prepared mentally for the traffic jams she wad sure to encounter on her way to work. She cursed out loud thinking of the meeting she needed to attend first thing in the morning, hoping she won't be late.