Chapter 185

• REGINA
• She arrived at her small house in the west area of the big city, exhausted and hurt, without any energy left. All she wanted was to curl up on the entrance couch, wrapped in her favorite blanket, and pretend it was a shield that would protect her from her damn reality. Without undressing or following her usual bedtime routine, she just wanted to cry and rid herself of the bitter taste of defeat that enveloped her like a tight skin.
• "You should be used to it by now, girl," she told herself, "nothing has been going well for years, why should tonight be any different?". She wanted to scream out her frustration, but all she could do was cry, muffling the sound by biting into the cushion, so that her desperation wouldn't reach the upper bedroom where her aunt and sister Tina were resting. She had to let them sleep, her aunt slept little and always in pain, she couldn't let her anger, sadness, and despair affect them in the way that job opportunity had plunged her into.