Dione Hayden
Paris, France: Bar Haven
10:00 A.M
It's too bad that the dishes won't wash themselves. I could already feel my hands getting wrinkled from being too soaked in the water.
"Only 30 to go, Dione!" I cheered for myself and smiled, "You can do this..." Looking over to the broken dishwasher on the other side of the kitchen, I sighed and continued to wash the shot glasses in a water basin with sponge and soap.
30...
29...
28...
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16...
My eyes gleamed with joy when I successfully placed half of the little glasses on the shelves without dropping a single one of them. I stared at the remaining half and sighed again.
"Dione!" the voice of my mère alarmed me. A woman with snow-white hair tied in a bun, wearing a salmon-colored long dress entered the kitchen before approaching me and kissing me on the forehead.
"When you're done, can you please come to the common area?" she asked me before smiling.
"Of course Momère!" I grinned widely and let her hug me tightly before exiting the space.
Calling her Momère is a play on words. My orphan siblings have trouble learning French so, we created a fusion take on Mommy and Mère.
15...
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1...
Turning off the faucet, I took a deep breath and composed myself while I take every single shot glass and carefully place them inside the shelves.
0...
"Frère Dione! Frère! Frère! Dione!"
A cute cheerful voice along with the continuous tugging on my apron made me turn around and face a beautiful 10-year-old girl with short ginger-colored hair.
"Let me guess... Another drawing?" I asked, playfully peeking behind her to pretend that I don't see the paper she was obviously hiding behind her.
"You know me, Frère Dione!" she smiled and showed me the paper. "How is it, this time?"
Before looking at her drawing, I wiped my hands on the front of my apron before taking the paper from her hands.
I smiled, "Let me see..."
It was a drawing of the Bar Haven with the Orphanage upstairs and our siblings were peeking out the windows while waving hello.
"Oh, look that's me!" I chuckled and pointed at the guy with no hair color at the first window.
For a 10-year-old home-schooled girl, her drawing style is semi-realistic, her shadings are excellent but don't really follow the right contrast and the rule of shadows.
"So...?" she waited for my response while bouncing lightly around me.
"Just like your other drawings," I smiled.
She stopped bouncing, her smile getting wider and wider as she waited for my other comment about her drawing.
"It's trash..."
I whispered before ripping her drawing in half in front of her. I soaked it in the water basin and rolled it right into a wet soggy ball. She put her hand out so, I put the soggy ball of paper on her palm.
"Amaze me next time, Miran..." I patted her head before removing my apron and hanging it on the nail sticking out the wall near the refrigerator.
Alright, I'm harsh and all that stuff, but I just want to teach my sister that no sugar-coated words can fix your mistakes.
"Present me with flawless work next time, alright?" with a soft tone, I said to her and lifted her chin to look me in the eyes.
She wasn't showing any emotions until I smiled. Instead of crying because of my comment, she laughed and threw her own drawing in the trash.
'It's better to have the sour taste of an orange, knowing it's going to give you vitamins.'
"Next time, I'll show you Frère Dione!" she exclaimed and hugged me; I hugged her back before letting her go back upstairs to her room.
'Instead of tasting sugary treats only to find out, it's going to give you Diabetes.'
"Dione!"
I watched her go back upstairs before I heard my Momère calling me from the common area of the bar haven. The moment I stepped inside the common room, the howls, the cheers, the whistles, and claps started.
"It's too early for a baby to wake up!"
1...
"Look this way, pretty boy!"
2...
Not trying to gather attention, I lowered my head and did not react to the guy's cat callings. The interior of the common room was a beautiful royal blue with glowing wine glasses were plastered upside down on the ceiling.
"Come on! Don't be shy..."
3...
"Where are you going?! Hey, Come back!"
4...
This place was the reason why my mother managed to keep our family and the orphanage alive so, I have no reason to hate it even if this where I learned the wrong way of having 'fun.'
As I entered the office in the common room, my mother was the first to greet me; she hugged me and apologized, "I'm sorry I had to take you through this every day."
The rectangular room was filled with silence after that. My heart pounded when I saw someone sleeping on the couch. The figure was wrapped in a blanket so, I couldn't see their faces, but I'm sure it's breathing.
It's alive...
I just closed my eyes and smiled, "It's alright Momère."
Removing her hands around me gently, I faced her and beamed her with a bright smile, "It's fun!"
"So why did you call me here again?" I asked before turning away. "Did Menthos peed on the counter again?"
"I really need to potty train that kid!" I suggested and followed her to her desk where she made me sit on the stool beside the table.
It was hard for me to ignore the snoring machine on the couch so, I tried to get my thought on other matters. My mother laughed and shook her head, "No dear."
Her index finger pointed to the couch and that's when I instantly knew why she called me here. She requested before smiling kindly, "Can you please handle this young man over there?"
"Another customer?" I questioned and stood up to walk towards the sleeping person on the couch.
"No... He's sleeping. Can you please escort him to your room and let him sleep there for a while until he wakes up?" requested my mother before removing the blanket from the sleeping figure.
I smirked when I saw the same nature colored mop of strands lying on his side without any top. He reeks of beer, smoke, and vomit that I had to hold my nose and use my mouth for breathing.
Nightmare...
"I'll take care of him," I muttered and let her help me heave up Nightmare on my back.
As I exited the door, a slender man was waiting there. His eyes widened with excitement when I came into his view. Rubbing his crotch, he winked at me and tried yanking me by my hair.
"Why? Hello there," he cooed while I suffocated from his and Nightmare's stenches.
The man licked his lips and the smell of his rotten teeth and his unhygienic breath almost made me puke. I forced myself to smile and excused myself, "Good morning, Sir. Can I excuse my—"
I flinched when he lifted my chin to stare at my face. I closed my eyes and shut my mouth tightly when I felt something wet on my face.
"Do you need something, Sir?"
When I pried my eyes open, my mother was behind me, she was holding a syringe and the syringe was inserted on the man's tongue. He must have tried to kiss me and my mother took the opportunity to prick the injection with a liquid bomb into his tongue.
"Hello, Sir! Come inside and let's talk about that payment from last week..." she smiled and signaled me to go straight upstairs to my room.
I looked around and made sure that no one was noticing the scene before I kicked the body of the man inside the room before hearing the click of the door behind me.
Before I walked away, I heard my mother's sweet voice calling my name; I turned my head to the side and saw her peeking from the door.
"Maybe you could make him pay for something..." she whispered, loud enough for me to hear.
"Yes, Mère..." I answered.
2nd floor it is then...