Bills

"Arghh '' I exclaimed on seeing the empty milk container. It's been a month since I went grocery shopping and now the house is practically empty.

Everything has been going wrong since I woke up, it's like the universe suddenly remembered me today. First, the hot water pump broke, making me take a cold shower before rushing to the hospital. The hospital said that there was a new development. I honestly thought mum was starting to regain consciousness but no, they called because there was a new hospital policy and they had to increase the price of leaving my mum on life support. It was a battle I could not win, luckily for me one year's bill has been covered so instead of depositing more money, I asked for an extension before the year runs out.

I got back home past noon, remembering I had not eaten anything, I did not have the strength to cook and there were no leftovers to warm, ordering food wasn't an option either, and no milk to eat cereal.

Taking the bag of cereal to the living room, I turned on the television and luckily for me SpongeBob was on, maybe the universe isn't against me after all. In no time I was fully concentrating on the show while eating the cereal like a snack. I'd have to get actual food to eat at least an hour before work starts, so I don't feel heavy while dancing.

Ding dong!!! The doorbell went off waking me up.

"Shit" I cursed as I opened my eyes, cereal was scattered everywhere on the couch I was sitting on and on the floor. I walked to my front door and pulled it open.

"Hi Mr Becker," I said as I opened the front door with a forced smile on my face.

Ignoring my greeting or the smile, he handed me a letter and left

"Too grumpy for your age" I mumbled before shutting my door.

Mr Becker never bears good news so I knew whatever the letter contained, I would not like it. He is my landlord, and I am just a tenant but he needs to start acting like one that isn't always in a fight with the world.

A loud sigh left my lips as I digested the content of the letter. He was increasing the tenancy fee by twenty per cent effective next month. This is the second time this year, and no one has had the mind to sue his ass for this. I guess we all rather pay the rent with the little we make than waste the cash on a lawsuit.

I hadn't digested the news properly before my alarm went off, it was 5 pm already meaning I had to prepare and get to work in time. Great! I've not had a proper meal today, my tenancy fee has been increased, mum's life support fee has also increased and I have work to do.

I took my shower again because I felt dirty after clearing up the spilt cereal grain, again making a mental note to get the hot water pump fixed. Even if that's the only thing I did with the money, I can't keep taking cold water showers constantly, I'd freeze to death one day.

I threw on a sweatpant and its matching top, grabbed my phone and wallet from my drawer, hung my duffel bag containing everything I needed for work before leaving the house and locked the front door as I stepped out.

My stomach was not having it today, there is no way I would make it to work alive if I didn't eat something so I hailed a cab that stopped me at a nearby eatery. I would have asked the cab man to wait for me to grab something, before taking me to ST DREXEL, but I did not have an extra 10 dollars to add to my bill. When I was done getting the packaged hamburger and orange juice, I waited for another cab to pass by so I could hop in.

Luckily for me, I arrived at ST DREXEL five minutes to seven. I'm beginning to hate all the luck the universe had in store for me today because for each luck there was something in store I would not like.

As if on cue Emmanuel walked into the dressing room wearing an 'I don't have time for Bullshit today' face.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side today" Beatrice whispered but it was loud enough for me to hear, making me giggle quietly.

He said a few words to Eleanor in hushed whispers, then he called out a work order for the night before leaving the room.

The good thing is, I won't be performing first or second, so I had time to eat my snack and do my make-up. The bad thing is my shift starts at 2 am. If I had known I'd have stayed back home till 11 pm before coming to work. I hate the days when I had to close from work around 4 am and I hate when my shift was towards that time. I need at least nine hours of sleep to mentally prepare myself for the next day's work, but with work ending by 4 am that was far from possible.

"Woww calm down Willow so you don't eat the wrap," Beatrice said jokingly and I laughed if only she knew I have not had anything to eat today.

In no time I was done with the hamburger and I washed it down with orange juice, then I started to do my makeup.

After hours of surfing Instagram and daydreaming about how I could become one of those Instagram moments and live a good life, it was time for my shift.

"Finally," I said as I got up from my dressing table, zipped up the jacket I was wearing, put on my mask then stepped out onto the stage.

I have just an hour to forget about everyone and everything, forget about the piled-up bills and just dance.