TrizahNjoroge8 thank you my dear. I see you

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It was two days later and Alexis had woken up earlier than usual to dress up in order to hide her bruises. The only time her mom slept in was when she was off or on holidays. The other days she was up by five in the morning and when waking her up she would rip off her blankets and throw them to the floor. Apparently the Barrets were heavy sleepers. Not that she would know since she just pretended to be asleep every time her mother came in to wake her up.

Alexis always thought it was wise to keep whatever similarities she had to her father to herself. Being a light sleeper was one of them. At least that's what she thought because if she didn't get it from her mom then it was obvious she got it from her dad. And from the things she heard her mom say to Uncle Vincent, she deduced her dad was a bad man who hurt her mother. So there was no need to cause her more pain than she had already endured.

"Honey are you up?" Hayley asked barging in to her daughter's room. To say that she was surprised was an understatement. Alexis was already up and dressed. "Wow you're up early. Why?"

"What do you mean mom. I have exams in a few weeks and Mr Kelly keeps giving us pop quizzes any chance he gets. It's so annoying." Mr Kelly was her maths teacher and if there was one thing Alexis had in common with her mother was their hate for numbers. And mentioning that was always guaranteed to distract her mom from everything.

"Do you think I should transfer you? We can always change schools if you don't like your current one."

"Mom it doesn't matter which school I go to. Maths is always the same."

"You're right. I really hate school." Hayley sighed hoping to convey to her daughter that she understood her problems.

" I feel you mom. I feel you." She said shaking her head. Mission accomplished.

"Alright I'll go make breakfast and you can come down whenever you're done. Okay sweetie?"

"Yes mommy."

It was midday and lunch was just beginning. It was the one time Hayley loved because mostly it was just suits and their employees that showed up to eat. Dinner was a pain because of the high school kids and families that brought in toddlers. It's not that she disliked kids. She was a mother herself but God help her some of the children were a real piece of work. And while some parents were remorseful others just didn't care. After all it was her job to keep the restaurant clean and serve them at the same time. She really got lucky with Alexis and Just thinking about her put a smile on her face.

"Hey day dreamer. You have a call." Jess one of her colleagues told her.

"Who is it? If it's my credit company tell them I died last week." Hayley said.

"Ha ha very funny. It's some guy named Vince."

"Oh. Thanks Jess." Hayley murmured wondering why Vincent would call her at the restaurant and not her mobile phone. "Hey what's up? Why are you calling here?"

"I'm. fine Hayley. Thanks for asking." Vince retorted.

"Sorry. It's just that you never call me here at the restaurant. It's weird." She said laughing "how are you?"

"I'm fine. I called the restaurant because your phone is off and that's a little bothersome. Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine. I forgot to charge it and it's lunch hour so you know how busy it gets." Hayley replied after removing her phone from her uniform and seeing indeed that her phone was off.

"Okay. Just checking in on my two favorite girls. I hope Alex is fine and has gotten rid of her bad habit of despising pizza." Vince said chuckling

"Yeah that's never going to to happen. That is the one thing that will not change anytime soon. Maybe give her a few years and when she's out drinking she would learn to appreciate pizza."

"Wow most teenagers would appreciate having you as a mom. Not many parents welcome the idea of their teenagers drinking. But thank God she has me to be the bad cop. Pun intended." He said.

"Wow that's your best line ever considering how lame your jokes are." Hayley laughed. Vince trying to be the bad cop with Alexis was like impossible. The man adored her daughter possibly as much as she did. So much so that she found out he had been taking her to a shooting range and teaching her how to defend herself. Whatever happened to karate or jiu jitsu? Or even a simple class of self defence? Hayley could understand where Vince came from.

And she was expected to be on board with what Vince was doing. So while she appreciated that, her daughter was too young to be exposed to such weapons of destruction. Not that they had listened to her. After talking to him for a few more minutes Hayley hung up and went back to work, this time remembering to put her phone in the charger. It was an hour later when Lorenzo the bartender, yelled at her to silence her phone before he threw it in one of the drinks he was preparing just to shut it up.

"Hello?" She asked after glaring at the guy who from his expression didn't give two shits.

"Hello Hayley. It's principal Daniels. It's about your daughter. She fainted and we had to take her to the hospital because her nose bleed wouldn't stop." The woman from the other end said. "Hello are you still there?" Principal Daniels asked after the line went silent for a few minutes.

"Which hospital?" Was all Hayley managed. She didn't want to panic but that feeling was back. The one she had that first time, no second time that Jeff had hit her until she was unconscious. And she didn't like it because it meant nothing was fine so her rising panic was justified.

"St. Mary's hospital. It was the closest." without saying a word, Hayley hung up and removed her apron. Throwing it on the table she reached for her car keys that were next to where her phone had been charging a few minutes ago only for Lorenzo to snatch them.

"Not now Enzo. Give them back." She said in a flat tone that convinced him he had done the right thing.

"I'll drive. Just tell me where to." Lorenzo told her.

"St. Mary's hospital. Please hurry" Hayley was barely holding on to her sanity. Why would Alexis nose bleed and faint twice in a week? That feeling of dread was getting stronger and stronger and she feared she would loose it any minute.

The drive to the hospital was long. At least that's how she saw it. There wasn't much traffic because it was after lunch hour but still the little traffic made her want to scream and tell everyone to get out of her way. So many possibilities were running through her mind and the top one was that her baby was in a strange place surrounded by strangers and probably scared shitless. Beside her Lorenzo stepped on the gas knowing that whatever his friend was going through, she was seconds away from combustion. And it would be better if it didn't happen in a car or anywhere else that wasn't at least three hundred acres wide.

Hayley jumped out of the car even before Lorenzo parked it. Running to reception she asked the nurse there about her little girl and thankfully the young woman must have seen her desperation because she told her to go to fourth floor room 215. She took the stairs because the lift was taking too long and in the back of her mind it dawned on her that karma really was a bitch. Making her exercise when her daughter was in the hospital was just harsh. But she knew life wasn't fair. Just because you are a nice person it doesn't mean the world will be nice to you. Mostly it's usually the opposite.

         Running down the hall her eyes frantically searched for room 215 and she skidded to a halt when she heard a familiar laugh coming from the room just ahead. Hayley froze for a few seconds and willed herself to breathe. Her baby was fine and laughing which meant she was fine so it wouldn't do her any good to see her mother all frazzled and pale. Pinching her cheeks to give them some color, she took one last breath and walked to the door that was wide open. Alexis was lying on the bed still in the outfit she wore to school and there were some blood spots on her sweater.

          Before she could freak out over it Alexis saw her and yelled for her to go closer. "Mom that was quick. Did you run here?"

        "What.... I... I" Hayley stammered still not really believing that she was fine.

         "Relax. I'm messing with you. Now take a breath and walk over slowly. I'm. fine" her mom was worried sick and it was better to distract her before the doctors figured out what was wrong with her.

           "Yes you're fine." Hayley replied finally walking in. She hugged Alexis all the while chanting in her mind that 'she was fine'.

            "Mom... Mommy I can't breathe."

         "Sorry honey. I was just worried."

         "Yeah no kidding. But next time let's work on giving softer hugs. Now this is my friend Nick." Alexis pointed to the giant sitting on the other side of the bed who surprisingly had been quiet during the entire exchange. Hayley hadn't seen the man when she came in but looking at him now she wondered how she could miss him. He was a huge and the suit he was wearing looked like it was seconds away from ripping.

           "Hi there." she said.

          "Hello. You must be Hayley then. Alexis has told me so much about you."

           "Yeah well..... " before Hayley could continue, a woman in a white lab coat walked in.

            "You look so much better Alexis. I see my friend is still here." The Dr. Said

            "Uh huh. He's really funny too."

           "Are you calling me a clown Alexandra?" Nick asked seeming amused by this little girl that despite being sick was happy and carefree.

          "Your words. Not mine Mr."

            "Can I talk to you in my office?" The Dr. asked Hayley.

            "Uh yes. Okay. Alexis will you be fine alone?"

           "Yeah. And Nick's here so I'll be just fine. Don't worry."  Alexis told her mother.

           "She'll be fine. Don't worry I trust Nick." the woman told Hayley while ushering her out of the to her office. "Please take a seat. I want to talk to you."

            "Is everything alright?" Hayley asked that feeling coming back.

            "We did some tests and the results just came back. It's not good." Dr. Elena Williams said.

        After her next words Hayley spaced out. Apparently life wasn't done dishing out her punishments.

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