heyitstrashley

[heyitstrashley]

[heyitstrashley]

Chapter 5 - House of the Rising Sun

Trashley gazed at the sweet blue-eyed little boy sleeping soundly in the crib beside her.  She wasn’t really seeing him though, rather she was thinking of how much time she had spent cooped up in the house since Helios was born.  Alonzo was still working long hours at the hospital which was a blessing and a curse.  Nearly a year of just being a mother non-stop was surely more exhausting than Alonzo’s 80hr work weeks.  Her work weeks were 24x7 so that was way more hours if you do the math.

Trashley wandered to the sitting room and checked the notifications on her phone...hmm some rando named Jack Hammer was asking her on a date. Then she spent some time updating her insta with pics from Helios’ recent birthday party.  It had been such a long year but overall she couldn’t complain.  Aside from being bored, she really had a lot of things for which she was thankful.  She decided to go for a swim, Helios couldn’t hurt himself in the crib so she was free to go.

A short while later, she was paddling around the pool, aware of some paparazzi photographing her from a short distance away.  Thankfully, Helios was asleep again.  He was such an angel when he slept.  The rest of the time he cried a lot though and Trashley didn’t really understand why.  It seemed all he wanted to do was eat and he definitely ate more than any baby she’d seen before.  She had thought about it a lot and decided that Helios wasn’t in charge.  This was her third child and she knew what was best.  Helios couldn’t just cry and make his own schedule!  He’s very smart for a such a little guy and he would learn crying wouldn’t get him his way.

Suddenly, Trashley felt a little guilty.  She shouldn’t have been thinking so hard about Helios because it was like he could hear her, even though he was alone in the quiet house sleeping while she was outside.  She could hear him crying now though, the baby monitor broadcasting his demanding cries with the urgency of an Impending Meteor warning.  Trashley reached for the little baby monitor intending to turn the volume down until she finished her swim but in her haste to snatch it up, she accidentally knocked it into the water beside her.  With a heavy sigh, she watched as it gently sank towards the bottom of the pool.  The good news is, Helios couldn’t be too hungry because he’d only been awake for a few mins.  She may as well go inside now though, she was going to have to order another baby monitor before she fed Helios again. 

Trashley fetched Helios and placed him on the kitchen floor with a toy while she thought about what to feed him.  Suddenly, the doorbell rang.  With a quick glance to make sure Helios couldn’t pull something down on top of himself, she rushed off to the front door.  A stern faced brunette stood on the step glaring at her and Trashley was a bit surprised at the audacity of this woman to come straight up to her front door and not even smile when Trashley dropped what she was doing to greet an unexpected visitor.  Before Trashley could think of the nicestiest way to put the woman in her place, the woman spoke.

“Trashley Dankworth, I am Erin Dogooder...with the Department of Sims and Family Services”, she stated firmly as she slid a business card into Trashley’s hand that was still holding the door.  Trashley stared at her blankly but Erin was speaking again and angling her body to slide into the foyer through the partially open door.  Trashley was suddenly cold all over and she felt like she was trying to move under water.  Numbly, she felt herself trying to step forward so she could follow Erin.  She realized Helios was crying, again, and Erin was following his cries to the kitchen.  Trashley’s brain began to process Erin’s initial greeting and the business card pressed between her fingers fluttered to the floor as she finally understood why the woman was here.  

She rushed into the kitchen to confront Erin and a brief but heated argument ensued.  Trashley was trying to explain to the woman that Helios only cried a lot because he was a willful child that tried to make his own rules but Erin was cutting her off sharply, exclaiming Helios was neglected and she was taking him away right now! Trashley felt a flush of heat surge through her and a half dozen flashbacks of herself turning up the volume of the tv, sinking down into the tub, watching the baby monitor sink into the depths...all to drown out the sound of Helios’ cries, rushed through her mind and she watched mutely as the woman whisked Helios from her house.  

It felt like a few moments passed but it had really been hours.  Alonzo was standing in front of her in the now dark kitchen saying her name but he sounded far away.  She quietly whispered to him that Helios was gone and Alonzo was in shock.  She listened as he ran through the house calling their son’s name.  He came back to the kitchen eventually, the business card in his hand.  He wordlessly hugged her close.  He knew they wouldn’t see Helios again any time soon.  The DSFS never gave children back to their parents.  Alonzo was gutted.  This was clearly a misunderstanding and Trashley, he realized, must be even more heartbroken.  She worked day and night giving Helios such a wonderful life.  He stroked her back and shushed her cries gently.  

Later when she was asleep, he went to the shower and under the rush of water wept for his boy.  Trashley had only been pretending to be asleep though and she crept into the bathroom.  Hearing Alonzo’s sorrowful weeping made her heart hurt even more because she missed Helios too!  She had big plans to be a wealthy widow but she had always thought she would have children to keep her company when the time came.  Silent tears streamed down her cheeks and she slipped quietly back to bed, hoping when she awoke in the morning she would have a new plan.

[heyitstrashley]

Chapter Four: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

You may remember that Trashley and Alonzo are expecting their first child together! It’s Trashley’s third child and she’s looking forward to having a fresh start at being a mom.  Chardonnay and Vino are still no contact with her; they seem to blame her for moving out and leaving them with Dennis.  When they are older though, they will be thankful that she left them to live with Dennis.  He’s a pretty decent dad to them, even if he’s not their father!  They don’t really know Clarke, their bio dad, but neither does Trashley so that’s okay.  Besides, its Dennis’ fault she had to leave, he did divorce her while she was asleep.  Sometimes she watches Chardonnay and Vino going to and from school while they pretend not to see her.  She thinks about how much they have grown and congratulates herself for making really good choices for them.  

In the meantime, she constantly reassures Alonzo that her pregnancy is going smoothly. She urges Alonzo to work all the hours he possibly can at the hospital. Trashley still has her eye on the prize.  One day he will be a doctor and they will be so rich!  Of course, they will be together until his early death does them part.  Then she’ll be a wealthy widow!  

Trashley still occasionally picks up ghost hunting jobs.  Thankfully, that’s a gig with flexible hours.  While Alonzo is saving lives in the ER on the reg, Trashley has discovered that she really likes going to house parties! She meets lots of people and makes friends everywhere she goes.  It’s a great way to befriend other men around town.  Alonzo won’t live forever, or probably even for the next ten years and Trashley doesn’t plan on grieving forever.  It will be nice to have a lot of friends to comfort her after his demise.  

On this particular night, Trashley is super excited.  After the wedding, she’d found a really lovely bridal gown that was all lace from her thighs to the floor. It’s obvs a wedding dress but Trashley has to have it.  She’s had it dyed gold and altered to fit her baby belly and she’s going to have the best night at a party she heard about across town!

After about an hour of mingling with other guests, dancing, watching tv and then dancing some more Trashley suddenly goes into labor.  She can’t believe this and her first thought is that her water breaking better not ruin her gown. She hastily gathers up her things and is trying to think of how to keep her dress in mint condition as she hurries to the hospital.  It’s a good thing Alonzo is already there working in the ER.  Trashley was really too preoccupied to let him know his child was on the way.  Her labor and delivery are pretty quick and Alonzo is working level one trauma so he misses the birth.  The nurses congratulate Trashley on the arrival of her new son and she asks one to let Alonzo know what room they are in so he can meet the baby.

Trashley is presented with the paperwork for son and she waves it away, telling them to give it to Alonzo.  Then she suddenly snatches the bundle of papers from the nurse, she does want to be the one to name the baby.  She thinks about how important names are and decides she doesn’t want to keep naming her children after wines.  This is a fresh start at motherhood so she needs a new theme!  Trashley stares blankly out the window for a moment, pen poised above the paper.  She sees the pink light of the approaching dawn and thinks about the sun.  That’s it! She carefully prints the name “Helios”, lest some dumb clerk have trouble spelling it on their own.  Helios is going to be a very important baby.  The son of a doctor, eventually.  She decides naming all future children after Gods/Goddesses will be her new theme.  

Soon after, she and Helios are cleared to go home.  Trashley hurries out of the hospital, pushing Helios in a stroller.  As she gazes down through the little clear plastic window of the stroller shade, she realizes this stroller is a hand-me-down from Chardonnay and Vino.  Ugh, hardly a fresh start.  She’s going to have to order all new baby things as soon as she gets home so she picks up the pace, already mentally making a list of all the new stuff she’s going to buy.  

“Trashley! Wait up!! Trashley!!” Alonzo sees Trashley at the opposite end of the hospital corridor, speed walking to the exit.  He’s momentarily frozen in place, she’s so beautiful.  You would never think she had just given birth.  She looked so radiant and his heart skipped a beat.  He realizes she’s wearing a long golden gown and wonders where it came from.  He’s never seen it before and it’s surely not something she wears ghost hunting.  No matter though, she’s pushing a stroller and getting even further away.  He walks faster, calling after her.  A nurse had congratulated him on having a son and handed him a stack of papers that needed to be completed but he’d only scanned them to see if his son had a name and then forgotten them on the ER nurses station desk.  Helios!!  He has a son!! Alonzo can’t wait to hold him, smell him, and see if he looks like his beautiful mother.  

Alonzo realizes he must be pretty tired.  He’s having a hard time catching up to Trashley and baby Helios! He breaks into a jog, rounding the corner into the parking lot.  He draws in a breath to call Trashley again but her name dies on his lips as he sees their car pulling out of the parking lot.  How slow had he been moving?  As he hails a cab and heads home, he tells himself that it’s just exhaustion because surely Trashley wouldn’t intentionally leave him stranded at the hospital, before he even met their son...right?