A blast from the past

Manny! I opened the door to find Manny!

Is my address public! Did I just wake up one day and go into town and say, "Hey everybody if you wanna come over I live in Hal's apartment complex door 8 on the second floor!!"

ugh, I rudely glared at him to which he put his hands up in mock surrender. " listen you seem nice and all but I need you to answer me one thing before I move. How the HELL did you figure out where I live!!" I yelled fuming mad."I uh, I know someone who's computer smart so I asked him for your address. It's public record you know." he said. I thought it over but was still livid. I mean I get it's public record but why the hell would he go through the trouble to look up where I live!? "why did you come here?" I was so shocked it came off as rude but I could care less. "Um, well you see, as Tom mentioned yesterday, when he hired you, we are extremely short staffed. I, I uhh came to see if you were feeling well enough to come in for a late shift?" He explained hesitantly. "Ok, and even if I did feel up to it, I can't very well leave a six year old alone by himself!" I said exasperated. "Umm if your ok with it he could come with you?" he said warily. I thought it over, with great reluctance I agreed. I didn't really have a choice. I was short on money, they were short staffed, and if I kept blowing them off they'd fire me.

"Aiden, pack a night bag, you get to see me work!" I exclaim. He looks up from the computer confused. "Isn't it bed time?" he says slowly getting up from the computer. "Yes, but mummy got a special offer to go to work at night. So you get to come with me, and maybe my new boss will let you have something sweet."I say trying to get him to want to come. He nods his head and walks to his room. I go wait by the door with Manny. "You got a cute kid." he says breaking the tension. I nod my head. "So how old is he?" Manny strikes up an easy topic. "Aiden is 6, he'll turn 7 in April." I reply back. "Wow so he just turned 6, like last month right?" He asked "Yeah that's right, I still can't believe I've been a mother for so long...." I remember the day I found out like it was yesterday...

FLASHBACK... SEVEN YEARS AGO

I stared down at the test, waiting for the results. I knew I was young, to young to even be having sex, I was only 15. But I knew it was love, he would never leave me for this, he was a whole 2 years older than me, he had a car, a job, he was responsible. Or so I thought.

My hands started shaking as the nerves set in. I knew Brody wouldn't leave me because of a baby, although I wasn't positive. I heard a loud knock on the bathroom door and I heard his soft voice float through, "Does it say yet, are you pregnant?" I looked down at the test in my shaking hands, Positive. I'm sure it was a faulty one, I check the other three on the counter, all Positive. Oh dear God. I was pregnant! My parents are gonna kill me!! "It's uh, it's positive." I answer back my voice cracking.

Suddenly the door flew open. "Are you sure, how many did you take!? I'm sure that's not right!" He starts yelling. "I took 4, they all say yes, Listen I'm sure it'll all be ok, we can support the baby." I say determined. "Listen, babe, I love you but we're to young to be having kids. This is ridiculous, we shouldn't even be talking about keeping it. You should abort it. No you need to, or else I'll leave you. I can't support a child!" His tone went from caring to rage in seconds, "But, I can't abort him, he's my baby! He's a life that we grew together! You can't leave us!!" I yell frustrated. "Oh so now it's a HE, How are you so sure." he sneered. "It doesn't matter, if you want to keep it then fine that's your business, but it's not mine! Were done Audra, I can't be with you if you want it!!" he yelled. He stormed out of my house slamming the door as he went. I rushed to the front door and threw it open tears streaming down my face, "Brody, don't leave me, we can fix it, we can fix us!" I sob. He looks at me and scoffs before getting in his truck and pulling out the drive.

I sat sobbing on the front steps for the next hour, the door still wide open. I wasn't going to kill my baby! I will raise him! I will love him! That I am certain.

Later that day, my parents got home. I told them Brody left me but I avoided the pregnant part of why. Even later my older brother who was friends with Brody stormed in the house.

He went straight to me and dragged me out on the back patio. "You have 10 seconds to explain, now!" He said harshly. "Zander please it's not his fault, it's alot of responsibility he just doesn't have." I say trying to reason. "Bullshit, he got you pregnant!!! He put his filthy dick inside of you and left when his dumbass FoRgOt to use a condom!!! And your one to talk about responsibility!! You, a fifteen year old girl just said yes to having sex with a pig. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you right now!! I should be having this conversation with you when you're married and at least over the age of 25!! But instead I'm talking to a child, a naive girl who thought someone like him loved her!! A child who didn't understand that when a male says he loves her she doesn't get that he just loves her body!! A child who consented to sex with a man whore!!!!!" He ranted. As if I thought I was done crying. I pulled the hoodie tightly around me and wiped my teary eyes with the sleeves. I understand that I upset Zander, but I didn't understand why he was being so mean. "You're right Zander but that's the point of life, you live and you learn." I say trying to reassure him that it's just a lesson in life I had to learn. "Really Audrey, the whole you live and you learn speech, please!! This isn't a lesson you need to be learning at 15, in fact this isn't the lesson you should have learned in the first place!! You should have automatically known that having sex would end badly, especially for someone so young and naive!!" At this point I was bawling my eyes out, I could tell my brother was mad, no in fact he was more than mad not a single word in the English dictionary could describe the hatred, disgust, and love that he was feeling. Not only was he all of those emotions but he was to the point that he didn't call me by my nickname but by my full name, and that's when things took a turn for the worst, if you thought it was bad now just wait.

END FLASHBACK.....

Aiden's footsteps lure me from thoughts of my past. I look up at Manny to see a worried expression on his face. He lifts his hand to my face and wipes a stray tear off my cheek. "I'm sorry, it's just, it brought back memories of my pregnancy with him." I say sniffing. "It's ok, I'm here if you ever want to talk, may I ask what happened?" he said cautiously. I thought up something to say quickly, "I got pregnant when I was a teen, my parents weren't very happy when they found out so they tried to take him away from me but I wouldn't let them so they kicked me out of the house." I say a short bit of the truth. He nods his head in understanding. We all walk in silence until we reach the cafe.

As soon as I enter the shop I here a loud inhale of air and an even louder exhale. "mmm mummy it smells so good in here. You must get hungry working here?" he remarks. I chuckle at him, "Yes, it smells heavenly as always." I say.

I change into my work apron and get busy with work. There weren't many costumers so I started cleaning, sweeping, moping, and dusting. Aiden soon came along and we chatted about random stuff while I worked.

"Hey mummy, can I ask you a question?" Aiden asks. "Always baby, what's on your mind?" I inquire. "Well all the other kids at school say that Father's day is coming up. But I don't have a dad do I?" He asks, oh boy, I was hoping to avoid this question for another couple of years, but I guess that's what I get for raising him without ever talking or even mentioning his father. "Um, well every person has a mother and a father. Sometimes mummy's and daddy's stay together and raise their baby with each other. Other mummy's and daddy's decide to do it separately taking turns. In our case, Daddy decided a long time ago that he didn't want to be apart of your life, so he he left, and didn't turn back. You have a dad Aiden, he was really young and couldn't raise a kid, that's all." Here I was trying to make his dad sound better than he actually was. "Did dad not love me?" He asked. Oh god, this kids pulling at my heart strings. Dear lord how do I answer this. "It's not that he didn't love you, no one person on this planet could look at you and not love you. Your dad wasn't ready to Be a dad." I try to explain. "So, he left because he didn't want to be my dad?" Oh god how can I escape this, I wasn't ready for him to learn it all just yet. As if my silent prayers were answered a person walked in the store.

I greet the customer, "Sorry baby we'll have to talk about this later." I say. I walk over to the customer who has situated themselves at a table. "Hello Arron, " I say looking up at him. "What would you like? We have an evening special you absolutely have to try." I say as cheerfully as possible. "Yeah that sounds great, 3 of those please. Oh and 3 coffees please." I take note of that and smile before I walk to the kitchen with his order. Just then the door opened and two large males walked in and sat with Arron. The men immediately erupted into conversation.

After about 20 minutes all three coffees and evening special platters were done. I found that it was difficult to carry it all at once, but luckily I had a cute little helper to aid me in my work. Arron helped me carry two of the platters out while I held the remaining platter and 3 coffees. We walked carefully towards their table and set the food and drink down in front of them, "Ok here are 3 evening specials and 3 hot coffees. Is there anything else I can get for you?" I asked. "Yes, who's the cute kid?" One of the men asked, "I'm her son, I'm Aiden, what's your name?" He said enthusiastically, I can't blame him he's always loved meeting new people. The man chuckled, "My names Derek, and this here is Arron, and Connor." He said pointing to his buddies.

My son gleamed with happiness. "I saw you hanging out with mummy at school, are you guys friends?" Aiden asked. "Yes, we're friends." "No just acquaintances." we say simultaneously. He gives me an odd look along with an evil smile, "What your mom ment to say is that we are friends, and hopefully soon, more than friends." Arron stated. "In your dreams" I scoffed. "Only every night." was his witty reply. His friends burst out laughing, their faces turned tomato red from their out burst.

I excuse myself and drag Aiden along with me to the back. "Ok, listen, I don't like that man he's creepy and acts like a stalker! I don't want you talking to him again. Okay?" I say hurriedly. "But mummy hes nice to me, I like him and his friends." Aiden says cutely. He gives me the cutest look trying to sway my opinion of him. "Listen Aiden, I love that you meet new people and make friends but these guys are not your friends. Maybe tomorrow we can go to the park after school and you can make some new friends. For now why don't you stay back here and make your animal list, okay?" I say trying to divert his attention to something else. It seemed to work as he smiled widely and ran over to his bag and pulled out some paper and a pen.

I left him to work and I got back to mine. I went out from the back room and up to Arron's table. "How is everyone this evening? Is everything to your liking?" I say putting on a fake smile. "Everything is great." Arron said rather harshly. Derek kicked him under the table and gave him a look. "What the hell man? What'd you do that for?" Arron said aggravated. Derek nodded his head towards me and mouthed something to Arron. Meanwhile I stood there confused, "Well, umm, if everythings good then I guess I'll leave, I got to get back to cleaning." I say trying to excuse myself from the awkwardness. "Umm I need more cream! Uhh, please?" Conner Exclaimed before I had a chance to walk away. "Sure thing, anything else?" He shook his head no.

I walked to the back and got a few of those little cream packs and brought it over. "Here's your cream, I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening." I say with a board tone. "Thanks." Conner said back.

About 45 minutes passed and I was, at this point begging them to leave. I was sat at a table not far from them just watching, also partly glaring. I dropped multiple hints, some subtle and some that were very blatent. No matter what they still sat there at that table wasting my time. Aiden came over to me from the back room and sat on my lap. He got comfortable and leaned his head on my chest. "Mummy I'm tired, can we go home now? I wanna go to sleep." He whispered with a yawn. I was fed up now. I was a little irritated before, but now, there cutting into my baby's sleep. He has school tomorrow and needs to be well energized. "We can't leave yet baby, we gotta wait till those guys leave. You can sleep in the back room of you'd like." I whispered back gently. I barely had a chance to finish my sentence before I heard his breaths even out. He's asleep now. Hopefully now they'll get the hint and leave. But it would seem I wasn't so lucky.

Aiden stirred a little but settled down once he'd repositioned him self so that he was using my breasts as a pillow. He grabbed onto my shirt and clutched it like a baby would. Though to be fair he's still very little. He only just turned 6.

I looked up at them but they hadn't seemed to notice the now sleeping child in my lap. I let out a quiet breath of air and accepted the fact that these men are gonna stay untill we close which is at 11:00. I glance over at the clock, 10:37, ugh still another 23 minutes to go.

Finally it got to 11 and having a 40 pound kid on your lap for more than ten minutes is enough to make your legs go numb. But finally I could kick them out. I gently pick up Aiden and place him into the chair. I walk quicky over to those time stealing ass hats and as politely as I could I say, "I'm sorry to ruin the fun but it's now eleven and we have to close up for the night." I say politely. Arron sighed and got up. "We don't have the check yet." he says, I mentally face palm myself and speed to the back to write up their bill. I tap my fingers impatiently on the printer as it slowly prints out the receipt. As soon as it's done I rip it from the machine and bring it out to them and take their card. I charge them the total and return them the card. They slowly trudge out of the building and as soon as the door closes I clock out. I stop by toms office, "I'm gonna head out for the night, have a good night." I say. He picks his head up from his computer, "You too, stay safe." he replies.

I go over and see Aiden still fast asleep. Poor kid. I gently pick him off the chair and walk home with him in my arms. As I walk the cool night air wraps around us. It was slightly foggy and it provided an erie atmosphere. Luckily the streets were well lit in this area. A few cars speed by as I turn down the street our apartment is on. After a few more minutes of walking we're home. I shift him around so I can open the door. Once it's open I bring him straight to his room pushing the door fully open with my foot. I set him on his bed and take his shoes and socks off. I tuck him in and kiss his forehead. "Good night Aiden, love you little man." I whisper. I go back and close and lock the front door. I don't even change out of my clothes I just shut off all the lights and flip on my bed and go to sleep...