Anastasia

“Ugh” Anastasia groaned as she woke up. By the time she was fully awake, she saw her three years old twins, Jane and Judith, sitting innocently on the her staring at her, they did something. “What did you two do?” She asked. The twins looked at each other, then at her and yelled nothing simultaneously. They definitely did something, she rushed out of her room and saw the living room was a huge mess. Toys were scattered everywhere, their little chairs were in places, the television was playing cartoons, and most importantly, the electric kettle was on, which was really dangerous. “Girls? You want to tell me what’s going on?” Anastasia yelled, her anger boiling. The twins jumped down from the bed and ran to their mother. “It was her!” They yelled and pointed at each other. Anastasia resisted the urge to facepalm, but she was still angry. She was confused how the twins got access to the electric kettle which was always in her room. ‘Guess I have to hide the kettle better now, they are getting smart.’ She thought. With the strongest and most firm voice she could muster, she dished out their punishment. “I know you both did it, timeout for you two! And no going to the park today!”  The twins were silent when she said ‘timeout’, they are very stubborn and they get timeouts a lot, but they began to protest when she said ‘no going to the park today’. They love going to the park, their mother rarely lets them out, the park is the only time they get to play with kids their age. “Okay fine, I will let you go to the park today if this mess doesn’t happen tomorrow. If it does, no park for a month!” She was getting tired of cleaning up the mess they make every time they wake up, they are like a little roll of energy ball she cannot catch up to. She will like her living room to be neat once in a while. At least the nanny helps a little bit. Anastasia started her day with making breakfast, it was a Saturday, so she didn’t have to go to work, then she cleaned the mess the twins created, and did the other house chores she needed to, and by noon, they were out of the house on their way to the park. The park is ten minutes drive from their house, and about thirty minutes walk, but she rather go by car because she knew if she walked with the twins for that long, they would drive her crazy and go missing. Soon they got to the park, and the twins ran out of the car to play with their friends, while Anastasia went to read a novel not too far from the twins to keep an eye on them, but she couldn’t focus on the book, she was thinking about a man, their father, John. She was twenty two years old when she got married to him, that was over five years ago, their marriage was sweet and perfect, and they barely fought, or that was what she thought. He had an affair with another woman way before they were married, and it never stopped. Almost two years into their marriage, and five months after the birth of the twins, she found out about the affair, and she confronted him hoping that it was a mistake or not true. John confessed, and not only was it true, he was also in love with his mistress, and asides from that, she was pregnant. That broke her and every hope to save her marriage, and they filed for a divorce, she had to let him go. After their divorce, she begged him to stay out of her and the kids lives for three years. She knew it was selfish of her to ask, but she really needed to get over him to be able to co-parent with him. John yielded to her plea, it was the least he could do after basically breaking her. Now, the three years had passed, the twins have been scheduled to meet their father the next week, and although it is very easy to lie that she has gotten over her ex husband, she knew that she hasn’t, and she dreads meeting him the next week. “Mummy.” A voice broke her train of thought. She looked down and saw it was Judith, the quieter and more compassionate of the two. “What is it darling?” She asked. “That wittle (little) boy there wook (looks) so sad. Gimme (Give me) sweet so I can gi him (give him).” Anastasia smiled and gave her daughter some sweets. “Just be careful darling.” Judith nodded and ran over to the little boy. Anastasia looked at her daughter running to meet the boy, the boy looked a little over five years old. Anastasia had no idea what her daughter said to the boy, but soon after, they started playing together, and soon Jane joined them. She let them be, but still observed them. Her daughter made a new friend by giving him sweet, she was proud of her little girl. Hours rolled by, and soon it was 4pm in the evening, it was time to go home. Her daughters were still playing with the little boy, they had been playing for three hours now, and she knows separating the kids will be a pain in the ass. “Jane, Judith, it’s time to go home.” She announced. “No!” Jane yelled. “I want to pway (play) more mummy.” Judith whined. “Listen to your mummy. I can give you my number to call so we can talk.” The little boy said. Three things stunned Anastasia from his statement. He sounded really mature for a five year old, his voice was explicitly clear, and he had a phone. The boy then proceeded to whip out a jotter and a pen, tore a sheet of paper from the jotter, and wrote down a series of numbers on that jotter, and gave it to Judith and left. Judith kept the phone number in her pocket and looked at her mother. “Mummy, I’m weady (ready) to go home now.” She said, and the twins ran to her car. Anastasia recovered from her shock and went to her car, children are indeed getting smarter now.