Mike grumbled awake to this alarm blaring in the morning. Rubbing his face he dragged his ass out of bed and slipped his boxers on, stumbling to the kitchen for breakfast and coffee.
"Jenniffer!" Mike yelled from the kitchen. "Where's the coffee?"
"We're out!" she yelled back as she came down the stairs, with a towel drying her hair.
"Well trade some stuff to get some while I'm at work." he whined.
"Trade what? Have you seen the garden out back?" She asked him incredulously. Mikes gaze snapped up at her and he started toward the backyard, concerned about his moneymaker.
"Shit." he said as he saw all the dying plants. "Is there anything usable left? Can you fix this?" he snipped at Jen, as if it were her fault. Hannah was always the plant person. Honestly, Mike never really realized how precious her ability was, only that it was one he could easily exploit. He assumed since he brought home the proteins and grains that the produce wasn't that important. The produce was just what Mike spent on his extracurriculars. Unfortunately Mike didn't realize how much his activities were really costing him.
"I can't fix this Mike. Nobody can. Why do you think this shit sold for so much? I've looked at her supplies and used them the way we were taught, and this is just how it is now." she said, frustrated with the situation. "I'm not fucking Hannah Mike." she snapped.
"I know. This is just truly inconvenient." he thought. His girlfriends would be less interested without all the extra grains and produce he could provide and trade. This was really inconvenient for him. How would he buy his booze and pills? How would he settle his bar tabs? How would he fuck Heather and Tiffany? He side eyed Jennifer and considered cutting his losses. Then he remembered his son and realized he needed a sitter. Well, it can't be helped.
Exhaling, he went back to the kitchen, downed a glass of water, ate leftovers from the night before that Jennifer heated for him, and left for work. Jennifer headed back to take a nap. She had been up late waiting for Mike to come home and needed rest. She completely had forgotten about her "new son". Caleb woke up after having an accident on his bed. "UT OH" he said as he got out of bed. He didn't mind, though. It was just really uncomfortable. Hearing his tummy grumble, Caleb cracked the door open to peer down the hallway. His Dad's door was closed. Feelling his tummy grumble, Caleb grabbed his Billy doll and snuck down the hall. Caleb crept up to his parents door and heard faint snoring. He slowly opened the door a couple inches and peered in, but where his Mommy should be was the Mad Lady, snoring like dad's lawnmower when it broke. Scared and sad, Caleb shut the door and went to see if he could scramble up some food in the kitchen. Grabbing a box of opened cereal, he went over to the couch and started to fill his stomach. He turned on the television and put his cartoons on, while getting most of the cereal on his mouth.
Jennifer woke up a few hours later to loud ass cartoons blaring in her ears. "UGH" she whined as she rolled out of bed. She was so fucking tired and now this damn kid was waking her up. She needed a drink. She stumbled down the steps to see the little boy passed out covered in cereal and crumbs. "Oh What the fuck. This is gonna take FOREVER TO cleeeeean.." she whined. Then she shrugged and left him like that so she could go get a drink from the kitchen. Grabbing the bottle of vodka she had a few shots to smoothe away her problems. She had been looking forward to being his wife since she was 14, but this is not the life she thought she would have. Hopefully today will be better. This morning was not a promising start. She had never studied gardening. Mike never put importance on learning it and would always criticize Hannah for her toils because of his mother's position in the industry. Although he'd been enjoying Hannah's produce for years, he had gotten used to the luxuries he had, and didn't realize living without them would be a change. This was not something he factored into his plans. After getting a little buzz going, Jennifer cooked herself some eggs and went to the living room to watch some television. And then she remembered the kid.
"HEY KID" she said, shoving his leg. "HEY!" she yelled at the little boy. His head groggily lifted from the pillow, with a few cereal bits stuck to his cheek and forehead. Knitting his brows together he looked up and saw the mad lady. His eyes went wide and he froze, staring at the woman.
"GO TO BED. Don't be sleeping on the sofa." she instructed him as she dropped her plate of eggs on the coffee table, while grumbling about all the cereal she had to brush off the couch. As she sat back and sipped on her orange juice, Caleb eyed the plate of eggs on the table and the juice in the womans mouth.
"GO ON, SCOOT" she yelled at the boy.
He fumbled off the couch, landing on his swollen arm, crying out, and rushed up the stairs, blubbering.
"Fucking kids." grumbled Jennifer. She had resigned to not having children long ago, and Mike's attempt at finding a Birtha had been a horrifying experience for her. She thought maybe he was a Dusty and not a Billie, until Hannah wound up pregnant. She had been saving up for the marriage test that the rich get so they would be sure. When Hannah had gotten pregnant so quickly, Jennifer had spent all her saved grains of booze for the following months. Jennifer scarfed down her breakfast while watching her shows, trying to find peace in her new life. Peace she found until around lunchtime.
Roger woke that morning with a bit of a hangover and a plan. First, he would check on his grandson, then he would go check in with Officer Carter to see if they were closer to finding his daughter's body or arresting whoever left his baby's blood all over the bathroom walls. The blood on the bathroom floor where his child should have been constantly flashed through his memory, choking him. His wife had been lethargic all morning, barely even dressing herself. It was like being married to a zombie. He felt the same way she did but he couldn't let it show. He had to be her backbone. HIs sweet Beth. She didn't deserve this. None of them did. He only hoped this was all just a big mistake and they would find his daughter any day now. Roger grabbed his keys from the tray and loaded his wife into his car. Roger reached over a squeezed Beth's hand before starting the car towards their journey toward finding some answers and some peace.
Pulling up to Hannah's house days after her disappearance, you could already feel her absence. The flowers had wilted, the front door was smudged with fingerprints and the gate was left open. Roger held his wife's hand and walked toward the door, knowing he would have to confront the woman who was trying to replace his daughter in the most cruel way.
Jennifer startled awake at the loud knocking on the door. Straightening herself out, she walked to the front door and found an angry set of old people at her door. As her head cleared she realized it was the bitch's parents. Jennifer went straight to the point "Yeah, what's up? You know Mike's at work."
Rogers lips tightened in distaste. "Yes we have been trying to get a hold of him but he hasn't been answering his-"
"He probably doesn't want to talk to you. He's already talked to the cops. Get off his back." she snapped.
A pair of eyes peered out behind the banister to watch for his gramma and grampa. He heard them at the door from his room. He peered through the rungs of the banister hoping they were there to take him away. His arm hurt so badly. He was sniffling and whimpering while holding it. His grandparents noticed him a moment later and called out, "CALEB? HEY BUD WE JUST DROPPED BY TO SEE YOU." and Roger just pushed past the disgusting woman, dragging his wife over to his grandson.
"You can't just barge in here like this!" Jennifer yelled as she scrambled for her phone to call Mike. She wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. She wouldn't mind some time away from the kid. While she didn't mind the idea of being a parent, actually fulfilling the role was a lot of work for someone so ungrateful. She rang him three times while his grandparents squatted around the kid becoming more and more animated. He didn't pick up the phone so she wasn't sure what to do. She would just go with the flow. It wasn't really her kid anyways.
Roger and Beth were in full panic mode. Little Caleb's arm looked like it had been broken, and he wouldn't tell them how it happened.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Do you know how his arm got broken?" screeched Beth, scooping the boy up into his arms. "How could you not notice this child was in so much pain?"
"I'm still bonding with him. He didn't tell me he was hurt." She shrugged.
"I'm taking him to the hospital. You can tell his father or not." Beth snipped as she ran the kid out to her car. Roger sneered at the woman and followed his wife. As he strapped himself into his car he saw tears streaming down his wifes face as she held his grandson in the backseat.
"We are failing them Roger. Do something Roger. Do something. I can't lose them BOTH." his wife blubbered out. Caleb began crying along with his wife, and Roger picked up his phone to call Officer Carter.
Meanwhile, Mike was at work asleep at his desk again. Mike often napped instead of watching the lab monitors, and his boss didn't care as long as Mike could funnel him some cute dusties after work. With out coffee at home, and after a long night out, he slept soundly though the first half of his shift. He was continuing his nap into his second half when his boss showed up screaming in his ear.
"Oh my god, what the actual fuck Mike. You slept through the whole FUCKING ROBBERY. All the samples are gone. Years of work, Mike. FUCK."
Mike rubbed the sleep from his eyes, not realizing the situation. "Hey Bob. What's going on?" he said as he looked at the monitors seeing swarms of police funneling though the lab rooms. He instantly woke up.
"You're fucked man. I can't help you this time. You slept through a fucking break in man. Millions of dollars of research is gone. I can't justify this loss to my bosses."
"What are you trying to say, Bobbie?" he asked him, as his heart frantically beat through his chest.
"You can pick up your compensation at the service desk, man. I can't keep you anymore."
"Cmon man, it was one time. I won't do it again. I just ran out of coffee, and all this stuff with Hannah."
"Yeah I wasn't even bringing that up either. You're being investigated for MURDER and you're playing house with Jennifer the next day. I mean it looks really bad. If I didn't know you, you'd already be gone. But this-" he gestured to the invesrigation going on through the monitors. "I can't gloss this over, and no one else is available this time to take the fall for you. I'm so sorry man." said Bob as he ran his hand thorugh his hair in frustration. Bob appreciated Mike's company. He had done him a lot of favors, but this was Mike's ONE JOB, and he failed.
"So what, just go now?" Mike asked, voice cracking.
"Yeah, lab's closed now anyway. Probably for months. I'm gonna even have to tighten my belt. This was a huge loss for all of us." he explained.
"Fuck." MIke said as he grabbed his keys and walked around the building to the service desk. The attendant gave him a disgusted taste and practically threw his final grains at him. Walking out of the building, Mike noticed he had a few missed calls from Jennifer but he wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever was going on with her. Lately she just seemed like work.
Then like candy falling from the sky he got a message from Big ass Tiffany.
[Busy?]
[IMG of her naked]
[15 min?]
[IMG of her licking a cucumber]
Mike smiled and gunned it to her house. Mike found himself buried inside Tiffany venting his anger and frustrations when her father walked in. Her father, the fucking police chief. Tiffany had been unwed, and more importantly, underaged. Jennifer had been 14 when he started going after her but her adopted parents never found out. Mike just about yelled when he saw the mans shocked face burst through the door.
"DADDY!" Tiffany screamed, and tried to hide a smile. Oh shit. This had been a setup. Tiffany wanted to snag herself a husband so if she did happen to be a Birtha, she won't lose her kid. The importance of a double parent household was overrated. Her father raised her just fine. The trouble was, she didn't know he was already married, or that the police chief knew what trash had defiled his daughter.
Chief Andrews couldn't believe he let someone so repulsive access to his daughter. He spent his whole life sheltering teaching and protecting her just to have to lose herself to this kind of man. He had to get her tested as soon as possible so he knew what course of action to take against this man.
"DADDY STOP!"
And if this man got his daughter pregnant and his wife was still alive, they could take her child away. His grandchild. He had a few coworkers who had expressed interest in her but he thought she was too young.
"DADDY WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOP!" she yelled as she pulled at her father.
I guess it can't be helped. He would have to force a marriage contract on her. He thought he could raise her and teach her not to make these kinds of mistakes but he must have given her too much freedom. He took a deep breath and looked down at the man.
Mikes face was smashed in and the chief's fist was covered in blood. Grabbing cuffs from his waist he flipped Mike over and put him under arrest.
"DADDY STOP!" his stupid daughter sobbed in his face. "I LOVE HIM!" she yelled, stunning both the men listening. Her then sneered at her words, and mike grinned.
"PUT SOME FUCKING CLOTHES ON TIFFANY" her father snapped.
"NO DADDY DON'T!" Tiffany yelled, confused. Her father was supposed to start a marriage contract, not arrest the man. Her friend Chrissy landed her husband this way, and this guy was really hot.
"HE'S MARRIED TIFFANY" her father clipped out as he lead the man out the front door.
Mike was processed in the station he had called Jennifer to bail him out
"Holy shit Mike. We're only down to tomatoes and cucumbers. I can grab those. And the back-up grains, but then we're out." she explained.
"I got some back up with me, I just can't access them until I'm bailed out." he glossed over. The back up he had was his compensation from losing his job, which he wasn't about to confess to Jennifer. She was testy lately and he didn't want to have to call his mother. He wasn't even sure if she'd show up if he called.
"Alright, I'll be there in 10. Oh yeah, Caleb broke his arm somehow and his grandparents shoved their way in here and took him to the hospital to get fixed."
"What the fuck, Jen, you just let them take him?"
"Well he had a broken fucking arm Mike and they pushed their way in here. We aren't married yet so I have no rights." she complained.
Mike let out a long breath. "Can you just bring the bail? We can figure out the rest later. I love you Jenny."
"Love you too.. Be there in 15." she said alluding to their old meet in 15 to fuck texts. She thought that she was the only one he used this line on. He laughed out loud. "15" he replied and hung up, smiling. Then he sat down to talk to his lawyer about all the charges that were coming at him, from murder, rape and abuse. None of which Mike believed he was responsible for. Mike would admit that he liked to sleep around, but it wasn't really hurting anyone, was it? That's what they were discussing. The trouble is that all of his behaviors before and after her disappearance came together in a pretty little package that could send him to prison. People starve in prison. They live off the welfare from their families, and Mike's mom was ruthless, Hannah was gone, and until a full two weeks pass he can't marry Jennifer. What family would feed him if they put him away? Mike began debating on fleeing the community.
When Jennifer showed up to bail out mike with her cart full of food, the police couldn't keep their mouths shut. Considering the police chief was personally interested in this matter, Mike wasn't sure what the man would have in store for him. He hadn't come up with a solution for his predicament before Jennifer confronted him, with tears in her eyes, like she was breaking. He had seen her like this a million times before, but this time it seemed more extreme because she was angrily silent on the ride to go get Caleb.
"I need to grab a few things I left at my old place tonight and I promised my parents I'd stop by for dinner tonight." She said, while staring out the window.
"Yeah, sure. I'll swing by your old place before I grab Caleb. What time do you want me to pick you up?" he asked trying to get her to look at him.
"I'll just take my bike. I have to get it anyway. It's not a lot of stuff." She lied cooley. Fuck that. She was going to rage tonight. She hadn't slept with anyone but Mike her whole life, and here he was out there cheating with girls as old as she was when they met. Maybe she was just too old for him now after waiting all these years. A manic laugh bubble came out of her throat.
"What's so funny?" Mike asked smiling at her. He was just glad she wasn't yelling. Talking with her was like walking on eggshells.
"Nothing. I'll see you later Mike." She replied as she nodded over her shoulder at him and got out of the car heading toward her old apartment building. After Mike pulled off, Jennifer pulled out her phone and finally called the George, the who'd been pursuing her since grade school. He was about to have the night of his life. And so was she. She found out later that night that men came in different sizes and Mike was actually rather small, and embarrassingly untalented.