The blink of an eye

“If I had one wish, it would be to rewind time. I just don’t understand why life can take such a toll. She was just here, and now she’s gone forever.” I thought to myself as I waited for the shuttle to get me to work. It’s been two long months since my mom, my best friend, has died. Now, I’m forced to move either with my drunk of a dad, or my dummy of a sister. Honestly, I believe I can do it myself, but I’m just a broke girl trying to get my GED at the moment. So yeah, I don’t have many options.

Meet Sierra, an eighteen year old girl who lives in Houston, Texas, whose mom was recently killed in a single car crash after losing control on the highway and slamming head on into a concrete wall on a rainy evening coming home from work. When Sierra was sixteen she was diagnosed with severe depression. She always had difficulties with being social. At one point her anxiety was so bad that she decided to just stop attending school. Her mom allowed her to drop out, because she knew how hard it was for her daughter and seemed to be the only one to understand. This ultimately put a split in between her mother and father, because the arguments were always “What parent allows their child just to stop going to school?” Not to mention, he was already drinking his life away due to the fact he could never keep a job. Then there is her older sister Chasity, she has always been the social butterfly and had lots of friends. She didn’t go to college, but she did graduate high school. Well at least she has her own place, whereas her dad is bumming off some family member living in Baytown.

DING! The bell from the door of the coffee shop.“Ms. Loria I’m sorry the shuttle was moving slow this morning.” “All I ask is that you call and give a heads up.” “Yes ma’am, after this paycheck I’m going to Billy’s Bike Shop to get that motor scooter. So I plan on not having this problem again.” “That’s great but with our other location opening up I’m going need someone to open the shop this week. Which days can you be here?” “Well I have class tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. I can open on the other days for sure.” “Ok, my niece is coming down for the summer on the thirteenth. I’ll have her here as well.” DING! “Hi Welcome to Crème de la crème coffee shop! Oh, hey Lisa, the usual today?” “Yes, please can you add a shot of hazelnut? Meanwhile Sierra is wiping down tables and restocking before the morning rush begins. While cleaning she remembers that the upcoming Saturday she’s suppose to meet up with her sister to clean out their mom’s storage. DING! “Welcome to Crème de la crème coffee shop! DING! “Rush hour!” Ms. Loria yells “And where is Jessica? She cannot be doing this right now. Great, rush hour with only two employees.” As the customers start to roll in rapidly, so did the orders. Ms. Loria was taking orders left and right. Sierra made every beverage with ease, and had each pastry hot and ready. You couldn’t even tell that they were under pressure or short of staff by the way they were moving. As the traffic started to slow down, Ms. Loria received a phone call. “Hey I’m going to take this call really quickly, you can handle the front right?” “Sure.” I said with confidence, but to be honest I was hoping the next “DING” I heard was going to be Jessica. “Hi! Welcome to Crème de la crème! What can I get for you today?” “Yes can I get a blueberry muffin and a large mocha latte?” “Sure, no problem. That will be eight seventy-five.”

“I really hope I hit for that Mega Million so I can buy the whole block mocha lattes.” The two giggle. “Wishful thinking, right?” Sierra prepares the customer’s order. “Here you go. Thank you and enjoy.” As the customer is exiting the shop, in comes running late Jessica. “Oh wow. Really Jess? You left us with all of this chaos?” “I know. I know, but my mom got in late and I couldn’t just leave my little brother. Plus my phone is off. Where is Loria? Is she mad?” “She’s in the back on the phone. Just put your apron on and start cleaning.” Both girls started to clean. “So was it a bad chaos or a good chaos?” Jessica asked. “I mean no chaos is good, I don’t think. But we handled it. It’s over now. Just talk to her about your situation. By the way do you work Saturday?” “That evening.” “Can you switch shifts with me? I just told Loria that I can open, but I remembered that I’m meeting Chasity that morning at my mom’s storage. We have to clean it out before they take everything and put it up for auction. I can be here by one, but you have to open.” “Yes! I can do that. “Ok great. I’ll let her know.” DING! Both say, “Hi welcome to Crème de la crème!” Sierra steps away to the back while Jessica helps the customer. “Hey Ms. Loria?” “Oh sorry, I got caught up on the phone with my brother. Seems my niece will be in town today. Wait, how is up front?” “No worries, Jess is here, and that’s great. But I kind of wanted to ask if it was ok to switch shifts on Saturday morning with Jess? It slipped my mind, but me and my sister are meeting that morning to clean out my mom’s storage unit.” “Well since my niece will be here, if you want you can take the day off. I will have her training for the next couple of days. Just as long as Jessica is here.” “Yes ma’am she will be here.” “And I want to ask, how are you doing? You know with your mom?” “Oh I’m fine” I mumbled. “You know if you ever need anything or just want to talk, you can always come to me. I’m here.” “Thank you Ms. Loria. I really appreciate it.” I went back to the front with Jessica. The rest of the work day was pretty smooth. “I think I’m going to take the bus home tonight instead of the shuttle. I will get there faster.” “Just be careful. You know the bus is so much more different.” “I know. I’m about to get me a motor scooter really soon, so no more bus or shuttle.” The three clean up the shop and prepare for closing. “Alright ladies, see you tomorrow Jess and see you Friday Sierra.” “Bye Ms. Loria.” Both girls walk in separate directions. While sitting at the bus stop, Sierra finds herself whimpering. The bus approaches, she hurries and wipe her eyes and gets on the bus. She pops her headphones in her ears and listens to music the whole way home. She’s been staying in her mom’s apartment since she passed, but the landlord has had to recently cut off the water and told her she had two weeks to be gone. The apartment still has electricity, but who knows for how long. Sierra brings watered bottles from work, and uses them to bathe and brush her teeth. She knows this will not last long and she needs to make a decision on her living arrangements soon. As she prepares for bed, she submits her last homework assignment and lights out.

The next couple of days are a blur but yet routine school, home, home, and school is how it goes. She uses petty change to get food, and her headphones seem to be her best friends. Friday morning is here, and Sierra makes sure that she catches the earliest shuttle to insure that she is on time. Once arrived, she prepares for opening with her loud music playing in her ears. Open sign turned on, everything fully stocked and cleaned, Crème de la crème is ready for opening hours. Sierra actually had a smooth day, even during rush hour. Ms. Loria came in around three, but Sierra had already tackled the hard part of the day. “Hey you seem to have done pretty well today. The tips are all for you today.” “ Oh wow, thanks.” “You earned them. Maybe you can handle the shop a lot more now, since I’ll be across town. What do you think?” With the biggest grin, I say “Of course!” “Great you are free to go, and make sure you stop by the Quick Sack and play the lottery. It’s at seven hundred million.” “Nah, I’ll pass Ms. Loria. Lotto isn’t really my thing.” “Suit yourself. Be safe and have a good rest of the evening.” “Bye see you Sunday.” Sierra takes the bus home. When she gets there, it’s a fat orange sign that says “Eviction Notice” stating that she has to be gone in eleven days. She snatches the paper and proceeds inside the apartment. She sat on her bed full of emotion, and starts to cry and eventually cries herself to sleep.

The next morning, she gets up and heads out to meet her sister. By the time she arrived at the store unit, Chasity was already there. “Hey I wanted to wait until I started.” “Thanks, I had a hard night last night.” They begin to go through the belonging, finding old pictures, jewelry, clothes, and trophies from when their mom used to run track. “What’s this?” Sierra thought. It was a dusty old black leather book. She opened it and it seemed to be some sort of secret language written in numbers. “Mhhm I’m going to keep this.” Sierra put the book in her bag. They cried and laugh at their memories with their loving mother. “I miss her so much See.” “Me too.” The sisters hug. “Come on, I think we have everything.” The girls leave the unit and go turn in the key. “So are you going to move in with me or what?” “I’m not sure yet.” “Well let me know. What are you doing for the rest of the day?” “Going back home, I’m drained. Let’s hang tomorrow after I get off from work.” “Ok cool, just hit my line.” The sisters go their separate ways. Sierra decides to walk home, because she wanted to make a stop before going in. The Quick Sack, she enters the store and the man asks,” How can I help you?” “Yes I wanted to enter the Mega Millions.” “Yes ma’am, whats your numbers?” She pulls out the black book and starts to read off the numbers. “Um 10, 57, 33, 14, 68 and 45.” “ Alright good thing you got in tonight, they drawing is in a few hours. Good luck.” “Thanks.” On the rest of the walk home all she could think about was what she just did, and wondering if it was even worth it. She got home, and listened to music until she passed out.

Next morning, she popped up and rushed to the shop with the same morning routine. Shop ready for opening. DING! “Good morning, welcome to Crème de la crème, what can I get you this morning?” “Well it’s a great morning for someone. Did you hear that someone won the Mega million? Oh and I’ll take a large coffee with two crèmes.” “A winner? Well that will be four dollars even.” After Sierra handed the customer his coffee, she quickly locked the door behind him and ran to the back room. She googled the winning numbers and saw that they matched the numbers she played the night before. Sierra started jumping up and down, because at the moment she knew that her life has changed once again at the blink of an eye.