Lanaya did not remember how or when she got to bed, but the noise of a door shutting woke her. She massaged her temples, wincing at the intense throbbing in her head. Her eyes were puffy and the dried tear streaks intersected with the pillow creases imprinted on her cheeks. She  reached for her phone whilst still lying down trying to keep as much of her body snuggled under the duvet as possible.  She held her phone a few inches above her face and squinted at the screen as her tired reluctant to open eyes adjusted to the brightness. She checked the time and almost dropped the phone on her nose. Suddenly, all the tiredness quickly left her as she flung off the covers and jumped out of bed alarmed at how late it was. She had 30 minutes to get two troublesome twins ready for nursery and herself to work. She winced again; a sharp pain shot through her palm. She glanced down at the sloppily wrapped hand from the injury she forgot she had. With no time to nurse her wounds, she quickly scrambled towards her closet to grab the closest outfit to hand, and headed to the bathroom. She unravelled the cloth from her hand surveying the damage then jumped in the shower. It was not a very deep cut so decided against adding another bandage and headed to the twins rooms after she was ready. 

The twins were not there which was unusual as they rarely got up by themselves being the deep sleepers that they were. She popped her head in a couple more rooms before heading downstairs and found them strapped in their booster seats at the table scoffing down bits of fruit and toast. The twins seemed fine but where was their father? Something at the corner of Lanaya’s eye caught her attention. She walked over to the counter.  “Will be away for a few days for work” were the words roughly scrawled on the back of an old envelope. Although grateful that she woke to the children dressed and fed, it was hard to maintain that feeling after being communicated with in such a crass manner. It also annoyed her that he left without letting her know thus leaving the children unattended for who knows how long? What if they choked? What if there was a fire? What if she did not wake up for a long time? Lanaya’s overly dramatic thoughts increased her annoyance and killed all ounces of gratitude she previously felt. 

Lanaya shook her head as if trying to dismiss the thoughts and attended to her sticky-faced twins. Wiping their crumb covered faces with a dampened tea cloth, she gave them simple instructions to play nicely as she packed their bags. Ignoring the tenderness in her palm, Lanaya quickly threw together a packed lunch for the twins, peeking her head around the corner of the kitchen to make sure the children were okay. Just her luck that she ended up with the cut to her dominant hand, but riding through sickness and discomfort for the sake of her kids was nothing new to Lanaya, but today it was particularly bothersome. 

Lanaya was not her usual self and did not feel as on top of things as she usually did. She has had a lot on her mind and there has been a lot of tension between herself and Delroy lately. She has been left emotionally drained and her mind was clouded. 

‘This is ridiculous’ she said to herself. ‘How can you tell me on the day you’re leaving that you won't be around for a few days. And with a scrap note too? What? You can’t stand to face me anymore? Gahh!”

 She slammed her hands on the kitchen counter forgetting for a moment about her injured hand until the pain gave her a sharp reminder. ‘Agh damn it.’ 

‘Mummy, mummy’.

‘WHAT?!’ Lanaya snapped still nursing her hand. 

A pounding headache, a throbbing hand, a tired body and an empty stomach coupled with the multitude of needs from her highly dependent mini humans was enough to have Lanaya reeling. Throw in some time pressures and an inconsiderate husband and you have a recipe for stress. 

She turned to face a little girl standing wide eyed and weepy with lips quivering and knees pressed together tightly whilst she wiggled and fidgeted.

Lanaya immediately regretted her outburst and cradled her daughter in her arms.

‘I’m so sorry baby.’

They both looked down as a dark patch spread through the little girl’s orange floral leggings. Lanaya's eyes rolled upwards as if looking for an answer from the heavens. She let out a long sigh as if to subdue the urge to release the curse words dancing at the tip of her tongue. 

‘Alright let's get you changed. Kylo, come with me too so I can keep an eye on you. I need to change your sister’. 

‘Mummy I need the toilet too’ Kylo said, clutching at his bottom as he did his own rendition of the wriggles . 

Lanaya frantically ushered both children into the bathroom hoping she would not need to change the both of them. She perched Kylo on the toilet while she stripped Kayla’s bottom half and wiped her down with a warm cloth. She wrapped her in a towel and told her to wait there while she assisted Kylo.

After several minutes and no further mishaps later, Lanaya was able to get both children strapped into the car and ready to head to nursery. She dallied with the idea of calling in sick at work, but thought working would provide a much needed distraction from her current plight; meddling in the affairs of others turns her attention from herself to her clients. Instead she would take advantage of the remote working option she barely uses. 

Lanaya successfully dropped off the twins and headed to a local coffee shop for some breakfast and to do a bit of work. She did not anticipate how busy the place would be as this was not something she would usually do in the morning. The smell of coffee was pungent whilst the humdrum of ceaseless chatter interspersed with thirsty patrons calling out their coffee orders filled the shop. The occasional beans being ground and milk being frothed added to the cacophony of sounds. 

Lanaya tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her turn in the queue. When she finally got near the front to be able to place her order, she moved aside slightly to let another customer pass by momentarily stepping out of line. The person behind seized this opportunity and stepped ahead of Lanaya and began to make an order. Lanaya politely mentioned that she was next but was ignored entirely, causing Lanaya to become extremely agitated. Under normal circumstances she would let this slide but today was not that day.

‘Excuse me, you just pushed in front of me. You don’t have any manners? Nobody taught you to not jump the queue?

Lanaya’s pent up frustration was about to be unleashed on this unsuspecting patron.

Wearing a plain navy pantsuit, coat draped over one arm and shoulder bag on the other, the person in question realised that they were being addressed and turned to look at Lanaya with a look of disdain. Lanaya however was completely unphased and had a face like thunder and was more than ready to lash this queue jumper with a verbal assault.

‘I am black not invisible. Don’t act like you didn't know I was in front of you. You saw, I had to let that lady pass but instead of waiting in your place, you thought you’d take advantage of the gap.’ 

Not allowing Lady Pantsuit enough time to even think of retort, Lanaya continued. ‘Go ahead then. Go push in front of me. Clearly you need the coffee more than I do. Must be the only perk in your life.’ 

Lady Pantsuit gasped. Her hand went to her neck as if clutching at imaginary pearls. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water unable to string a sentence together and just stared at Lanaya in disbelief. Side stepping Lady Pantsuit, Lanaya went ahead and placed her order much to the dismay of the original queue jumper and to the amusement of the serving barista and customers who witnessed the whole scene. Lanaya side-eyed the pantsuit lady giving her the dirtiest look she could muster. She then looked her up and down, tutted then swaggered to the collection counter to pick up her hot chocolate and cheese and tomato toastie.

Lanaya tried really hard to ignore the stares and whispers as she made her way to an empty corner seat. She felt quite warm, flushed from the embarrassing debacle she just caused. Not one to usually engage in confrontation, Lanaya was very surprised by her behaviour but knew she was beyond annoyed today. She felt a tinge of guilt that what she wanted to direct at Delroy, she ended up unleashing on that poor coffee loving queue jumper. Then again she could not sympathise too much as they did bring it upon having jumped the queue in the first place.

Lanaya got up to take off her overcoat and accidentally knocked over her hot drink. She managed to stop it from spilling over entirely but unfortunately her toastie was now soggy with hot chocolate.  

‘Just great’.

Mopping up the spillage with some napkins, Lanaya bemoaned her beloved toastie but could not be bothered to join the long queue again to place another order. Instead she finished off what was left of her hot chocolate and decided to start on work while the conviction hit her. She stooped down to rummage through her bag and realised she did not have her charger cable. 

‘Are you kidding me?’ She continued to open her laptop hoping there was enough battery on it to do at least a little bit of work, but it would not turn on as it was completely out of battery. SHe was so fixated on getting the twins ready in a hurry that she did not pack her own bag properly. 

Slamming the laptop shut, Lanaya angrily shoved it back in her bag, packed up the rest of her stuff and headed to her car.

Lanaya got to her car and opened the backseat to throw in her bag and coat. Her mobile slipped out her coat pocket and slid under the car. 

‘Come on.’

Now on her hands and knees, Lanaya reached under the car gingerly searching with her fingertips for her phone but could not reach it.

She heard a voice behind her. Realising she was in a rather vulnerable position she got up quickly to face the person addressing her. Standing before her was a young woman possibly in her early twenties. She was dressed in leggings and a tank top as if she was coming from or heading to the gym.

‘Are you alright, do you need a hand at all?’

Feeling relieved Lanaya explained that she dropped her phone but cannot reach it and is worried she’ll run over it if she moves the car. 

The young lady offered to retrieve it. 

She watches the lady use an umbrella she retrieved from her bag to slide the phone a little closer before picking it up, dusting it off and pocketing it before running away.

‘Hey! Hey!’ Lanaya screamed but it was too late the girl was gone. 

Lanaya had enough. She crouched down by her car and screamed into her lap for a few seconds trying to release the mixed up emotions bubbling inside her. She was angry, she was annoyed, she felt violated and was all so very tired of it all. She dragged herself up and slumped into the car not believing what just happened. Fortunately she still had a way to make contact by way of her work phone. She called in to the office to explain her situation and that she will be finishing early today. She also called her mum and texted her best friend to let them know what happened as they were the few numbers she could remember by heart. Funnily enough, even though she knew Delroys number from memory, he was not the first person she wanted to contact. He would probably berate her for being careless and that was not something she needed to hear right now when she already feels so downtrodden.

Lanaya decided to make her way home as there was not much she could do from her car. She still had a few hours before she needed to collect the twins, although she may take her mother up on the offer to keep them for a couple of days while she sorts herself out. 

A lot had happened in such a short amount of time and Lanaya was overwhelmed. Her hands were trembling slightly, thinking about how that situation with the mobile could have been much worse. Lanaya started to feel a little queasy as the shock started to set in. Her increasing anxiety intensified the headache she’s been ignoring since the morning, and having not eaten did not help either. Lanaya recognised she was not in a good state of mind and probably not the best condition to be driving in but she desperately wanted to get home.  Lanaya applied a little more pressure on the accelerator to speed up when all of a sudden screech! Lanaya slammed her foot on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel to one side to avoid hitting the hoodie-clad youth who suddenly appeared in front of her car. The car violently mounted the curb and came to a halt crumpled against the roadside barrier.