It's been almost a year since I've been reborn, I've come to accept that this is reality and with the new feelings in play in this life, I'm starting to enjoy it much more than my previous one. Over the span of a few months, I've experienced more love and affection than ever before, making me enjoy life for the first time.
I tried pushing back the date for my "crawling" but there's only so much I could do in a 5' by 4' crib, so at 6 months I started moving around leaving my sister in the dust. My mother Sarah caught wind of my feet so she started to let me out of my crib more often under the guise that I work out my muscles. My sister Layla, who didn't want to be left behind started to also crawl a week after I did, I guessed that I was the example showing that it was possible, speeding up the learning process. I had thought that it would have been much easier to start walking but I was being held back by a couple of factors; my body was weak which was obvious since I'm so young, but the other reason was that it would be odd that a child, not even a year old would start walking. So in conclusion I'll be stuck crawling for at least another 4 months at least, Great.
"Kiara"
"Kiara! Where are you?"
I looked from under the dining table watching my mom, as she opened and closed the doors around the house trying to look for me. She turned around with a flailing Layla and started walking towards the kitchen, where she sat a grumpy Layla in a high chair.
"Kiara Jane Cracker! You better come out now or else you're not getting anything to eat" she said while strapping Layla in.
I didn't want to go hungry so with a deep sigh I crawled out from under the table in full view. She turned towards the sound of my movement and walked to where I lay and with a glare she picked me up and placed me beside Layla. As she strapped me in I looked over at the counter seeing the food she'll be preparing for us, and from what I'm seeing it's not looking appetizing at all.
"My gosh, you sure love hiding in the oddest places Kiara," she said, chopping a bit more aggressively. "Try to be a bit more like Layla and stay in the nursery room, it'll make me feel much calmer if you do"
She finished mixing in whatever she was chopping in a bowl that contained a green-looking fudge, she then spoon splatted the sucker in two bowls like a lunch lady. She then placed the bowl in front of us both, a smell wafted towards me full of spinach and broccoli making me look away towards Layla. She had an expression on her face that read 'you made me wake up from my nap for this' while looking at the food in disgust. I guess mom understood our reactions so she pulled up a chair and sat down in front of us, she picked up a spoon full of slime and brought it towards Layla's mouth. She drew backward shaking her head side to side to avoid it from getting into her mouth, but mothers have some secret ways. She got up and took a banana from the bowl on top of the counter, she peeled it and began slicing it into small pieces making sure we saw what she was doing. She then took one slice and again sat down holding up the slice in front of Layla's nose, Layla opened her mouth expecting the slice but a spoon full of goo came in its stead. An expression full of betrayal was shown making mom chuckle for a bit, while she was distracted I attempted to reach out and snatch the slice from her hands. She noticed my attempt and retracted the slice from my reach, I sighed wanting to get this over with so I opened my mouth in submission.
After we were done eating she picked us up and walked towards the couch in the living room, she then placed us down gently on the couch before turning on the tv, she flipped through some channels leaving them on only for a few seconds until losing interest and changing it. She kept going at it until landing on a sports show that showcased the highlights of the football season. Under normal circumstances I would try to get off the couch and crawl off to explore when I was bored but if anything that has to do with sports comes my way it completely grabs my full attention.
Surprisingly enough she kept the channel on, making me lose track of time as I gazed at the tv and absorbed every piece of information the commentators were talking about. I was brought back to reality when I felt someone slowly lean into me, I looked over and noticed my sister Layla starting to fall asleep as she laid her head on my shoulder. I couldn't support both of our weights so I fell over, our mother noticed our movement so she got up while picking us up and started walking in the direction of the nursery. I guess I didn't notice how tired I was because as I was laid down on the crib next to Layla I quickly lost consciousness.
.
—(scene change)---
.
Sarah looked at her two daughters while rubbing both of their heads in turn, she giggles a bit when Kiara rubs her head against her hand while smiling. She left quietly to let them sleep and headed towards the entrance of the apartment to leave for some errands. She made sure the door was locked and nervously looked around the apartment hallway reminding herself that she would only be gone for about 15 minutes. She walked quickly towards the elevators and waited to be let out, when the doors opened on the ground floor she was met with a couple of attendants.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Cracker I was the one appointed to assist you for the day," she said while bowing "I had the chauffeur ready the car beforehand if you can please follow me"
Sarah followed the attendant and again took the elevator to another floor, where she found a car already waiting for her with the chauffeur opening the door upon seeing her. Sarah got in with one of the attendants, as she buckled up and un-ruffled her clothing the attendant told the chauffeur to drive towards the nearest supermarket. The car immediately sped forward through an underground parking garage until opening up into the busy street of Times Square New York, It took only a few minutes until they reached their destination. Sarah got off and with the attendant, in tow she entered the supermarket, the attendant got a shopping cart and with her help they began to gather everything that was needed for her kids and husband. They were about to head to the next item on her list when Sarah heard a familiar voice calling her name, with a deep sigh she turned to her attendant
"Here is the list of everything we still need to get, please gather the rest of the items while I have a nice chat with a friend of mine," Sarah said with sarcasm while motioning towards a slightly overweight woman headed towards their direction.
"Understood, I'll meet you at the entrance with the car and purchases"
After the attendant left she turned toward the toad-like woman with a smile "ah, good afternoon Mrs. Grouch I didn't know you were here". Mrs. Grouch gave her a sour look then glanced around her expecting someone to be there, when she didn't see anybody she looked back at Sarah and said "I don't believe I can see your husband, do please call him here so I may talk to him"
"Elliot is at work right now, if you have any business with him you would have to make an appointment at his office"
Mrs. Grouch taken aback by Sarah's tone gave her a venomous stare "there must be some sort of misunderstanding, I have no business with your husband but my husband does" As she said that she took out an envelope with a seal on it "give this to your husband, we may not be on friendly terms but our husbands are" with that said she turned around with a huff and left.
Sarah watched her until she was out of sight before looking down at the envelope, as what Mrs. Grouch said it was addressed to her husband so she dared not to open it. Sarah's and Mrs. Grouch's husbands were best friends since their middle school years, even if she disliked Mrs.Grouch she dared not put her husband's friendship into their dispute for It was an unspoken line that they both agreed not to cross.
Sarah walked towards the entrance of the supermarket and got into the car that was waiting for her, "how long since we left?" Sarah said looking at the attendant. The attendant looked at her watch before saying "it's been almost 30 minutes since we left the apartment building, we'll be back in 10 minutes due to traffic". Great, I was hoping to be back home before the girls noticed anything, I hope they're at least still asleep and safe.
When they reached the entrance of the apartment building she quickly told the attendant to be in charge of transporting all the groceries to their apartment before rushing out of the car towards the elevators. Going up in the elevators was taking a lifetime and she was beginning to feel stressed, once the doors opened she quickly walked to her apartment door. She reached for the door handle before remembering that she locked it but to her surprise the door opened, she froze in shock as she clearly remembered locking it before she left. In distress, she immediately ran towards the nursery room while kicking herself mentally about her stupid decision to leave the home unattended, but as she barged inside the room she was met with a sight that made her want to cry.
The crib was empty.
She heard footsteps in the kitchen, so with renewed strength and hope, she went straight to the kitchen. There she saw a man with his back towards her, her legs shook as she recognized that back, relief overtook her.
"Elliot you stupid moron!" she cried, falling to her knees.
Jumping in shock Elliot turned around with both his sleeping daughters "I-I-I'm really sorry Sarah but they're just so adorable when they're asleep, I just couldn't hold back from carrying–" he stopped speaking after noticing that she was on the ground. In confusion he walked toward her and crouched down "whats wrong?" asked Elliot softly. Sarah grabbed Elliots tie and drew him close before whispering in a deathly tone "Cant you lock the door after coming in! I thought someone broke inside you bastard!"
Elliots eyes fluttered as understanding swept through them "oh yea, I forgot to lock the door…"
"Oh, now you remember, huh, maybe you can keep remembering on the couch tonight" Sarah said, pointing at the couch. "But that's not even the most upsetting part" she said dusting herself off while getting up "apparently Kiara inherited your love for sports"
"What makes you say that?" he said, looking at Kiara
"She has a habit of always crawling off when she's bored or something, but when I was flipping through some channels her eyes were glued to the tv on the sport commentary channel" she sighed
She then took Layla and Kiara from Elliot and went back to the nursery where she placed them back in the crib, while walking out of the room she saw her purse on the floor and remembered the envelope inside of it. "Hey Elliot I forgot to give this too you" she said, handing him the envelope
"Whose it from?"
"I got it from Mrs. Grouch, she said it's from her husband" she frowned "care to tell me what it's about?"
Elliot opened it and read the contents, his brows raised and a smile spread across his face, he looked up at Sarah and started laughing. "What? What happened?" she asked the dancing Elliot. "Well Sarah dear" he said as he gave her a hug "I just got confirmation from Mark (Mr. Grouch) that we can begin construction on my biggest project yet" he turned towards Sarah expecting congratulations but was met with another confused gaze. "Oh come on, you don't remember? Its to build that one school I always drone on about"
"Oh really, the sports academy?"
"Yes! Are you proud of me"
"I congratulate you by having you sleep on the couch" she said smiling.