“I’ve come home.”
“What for? To just up and leave again without a word?”
“No, I’m here to stay this time.”
Her eyes search my face for any sign that I’m not being honest, then her shoulders drop, and she wraps her arms around me, clutching me like I’m a lifeline. My own arms go around her, hugging her tight.
“Don’t ever leave me again, you prick. If you do I’ll cut your balls off, got it?” she warns, and I fight the urge to laugh.
When she finally releases me, she turns to our mom and dad, “Thanks for taking care of her.” She drops a kiss onto the top of her daughter’s head. “Be good, sweetie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be good as gold mommy. Me and Grandma and Grandpa are gonna have the bestest sleepover ever! Love you mommy!”
“Love you more.”
Tori glances over her shoulder at me and gives me a small smile before leaving the room, followed by the sound of the front door closing behind her.
My mom nods before turning her attention to Lissy. “Elysia, you remember your Uncle Dwight, don’t you?”
Lissy climbs off my dad’s lap and comes to stand by my mom, her head tipped to the side on curiosity as she looks me over.
“Hey there, shortie,” I say with a smile.
“I’m not short,” she replies, fighting back a grin.
A soft laugh escapes me. “Do you remember me? From when we talked over mommy’s computer?”
“Uh-huh.” She nods.
“Well, it’s really nice to meet you in person. The last time I saw you, you were half the size you are now, all covered in snot and drool.”
“Ew snot!”
I open my arms to her. “Do I get a hug?”
After a moment she nods and slowly makes her way over to me, where she snuggles herself into my chest. I pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her tiny body and look up to see my mom smiling softly at us.
“So what’s this about coming top of your class?”
“Oh! I wrote a story and my teacher Miss Jacobs said it was the bestest story she’d ever read! I wanna be a real good story writer when I’m grown up!”
“You’ll be a great writer one day, Shortie, I just know it.”
Chapter 7
Quinn
The past two weeks have come and gone faster than the speed of light. As soon as classes end, I head straight to the restaurant, and from there I head to the club and dance until three or even four o’clock in the morning. I'm averaging four hours sleep a night, and I can feel the cogs that keep me moving slowly winding down.
My energy levels are dropping and it’s a battle to even put one foot in front of the other without collapsing. I’m wiped out and I feel drained all the time. What little time I do get off work, I spend it working on my assignments. Why do they feel the need to set so many assignments so early into the semester?
I don’t even have time to sit down and eat a proper meal anymore, just snacking on the go whenever I get a spare five minutes. I’m running on instant noodles, protein bars and energy drinks.
Sitting in my classes is the only chance I ever get to actually sit down, but it’s not like I can relax, I have to focus, but I can’t. With each class that passes it’s getting harder and harder to concentrate. It’s a constant battle to just keep my eyes open. My eyelids are heavy, and my brain and my body are screaming out for sleep.
My body aches from lack of energy, my head pounds a heavy rhythm in my head from lack of sleep. All I want to do is crash down on my bed and hibernate for a week, or two.
After I got back from work this morning it occurred to me that Dwight’s assignment that is due in today and it completely slipped my mind, so instead of heading straight to bed, I stayed up for an extra couple of hours to try and get it done, that was until I woke up this morning on my sofa, my laptop perched on my lap, drained of battery with less than forty five minutes to get to class.
