Work was wearying. I counted every minute till the end. My manager was not in a good mood so we all had problems. She was complaining about everything. I hate when she does that. She is louder than normal, she doesn’t smile, and she doesn’t speak with the costumers. She just sits in the office and observes on the cameras what we are doing.
I felt relief when I was done. I ran out without saying bye to her. I didn’t care. My day has just started and I wanted to use it. I made same plans, but first of all I had to go home to take a shower. I was happy that I didn’t let my manager to ruin my day. I entered in the house with a thought that I would take a nap. Jess was in front of the house smiling and waiting for me.

“I should take care of them? Are you sure? Ok, but be quick please.”- I didn’t want this, but what was I supposed to say? Jess was going through a very rough period and she wanted to get some fresh air. When you have five kids, fresh air can be a subject for discussion in your home. I’ve just finished my working day and it was true that I didn’t have things to do, but still I was not sure can I manage those two hours with the kids. I had same plans for the afternoon but Jess was a friend of mine and I had to help her. I love children, I liked hers too, but I didn’t have any and I didn’t know if I was able to be the boss when mum was out.

It was 9 o’clock and they were in bed already, but as soon as she closed the front door, I heard Josh whispering that mum was not home and they could have fun. I was quiet in the dining room; I hoped that the others were sleeping so the party would be delayed. But no, everybody jumped out of the beds and the radio was on. I entered in their room, they stopped for a second. The good thing was that they didn’t know me well so I could act like authority. “If you do as I say we can make party and your mum will not know, but if you don’t listen I’ll tell everything”. They agreed.

We started with scary stories. They all had one. But it was not funny so Josh proposed another game; jumping on the beds in a rhythm of some music. I was skeptic but I agreed. Suddenly the kids were everywhere, even in the backyard. They were screaming and running out of control. I ran after them, I begged, I even cried but no. They turned into small devils with a mission to destroy the house. Glass was everywhere, they broke the TV and I knew that was the top. Jess would kill me. I asked them to play same nice game, but no, they were dancing in the rhythm. Which rhythm, I wondered? The rhythm of destruction, I guessed. Suddenly Josh was coming towards me with a big chocolate cake from the fridge. He wanted to smash that thing at my face.

“Alex, stand up. I wanted to ask you something but you fell asleep.” – Jess woke me up. I was sweating but I felt relief; that was just a bad dream. I asked her what she wanted.
She said: “Can you please take care of the kids?"
I wanted to cry...