Moment of Serenity

Yesterday I went swimming for the first time this year. It was at my sister’s apartment complex with another sister, two nieces and two nephews (not all of the kids from the same siblings.)

At one point I decided to just float there for a moment and enjoy the sky above me. My nephews were roughhousing nearby and I, somewhat irritably (and with affected frustration) snapped that I was having ‘a moment of serenity’ and to pipe down.

I should not have said this within hearing of my second eldest sister.

With a grin, she marshaled her three children and they proceeded to have a splash battle with them on one side and me on the other. At the end of it, with me spluttering all over, she said:

“I know we’re not the crew from Firefly, but how was your moment on Serenity?”

It was perfect.

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A Perfect Chance

There wasn’t much to start this new life, but she did have something. She had a small amount of money in her new name and a place to live where she didn’t have to worry about rent. She even had a fake life set up with a background that explained some of what she had been through, but mostly, she just had a chance.

She glanced back at the corner of the little apartment that was now home and smiled at her little daughter, already asleep.

It had been a long day after a string of long days. She hadn’t found a babysitter for the weekends or even after school hours were over. The Daycare that her job provided only lasted during high school hours and maybe for a little bit after. It never lasted quite long enough for her to finish all of her work in the library, but it was enough for now.

Kelly was an energetic child, but she could also sit quietly and look through different picture books or draw. She had been very obedient since their move to this new place, but Hailey was slightly unsure just how long this would last. She needed to find a babysitter to watch Kelly soon or she’d never be able to find time for her own schooling.

While Hailey had the transcripts for her skills that would have been learned in a regular high school environment, she did not have much further education than that. She wanted more for her daughter, but she would never get there if she did not have the means to do so; getting a better job required a better education with required time she did not have. She loved her daughter, loved her more than she had ever thought possible for a child that she was actually going to get a chance to raise.

She had heard in whispers from some of the servants in her past life talk about the joys of children, children that you got to keep an raise and put some bit of your soul into. She had never dared dream that she would ever have a chance at such a life where that was possible and now that she did…

It was wonderful, every breathtaking, terrifying minute of it.

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Written for today’s Daily Post prompt. There was going to be more, but I can’t seem to get another bit out for this scene and I’ve learned in the past that trying to write when the scene is done always ends badly (and very choppy).

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/daily-prompt-perfect/