Grown-up

Harry went inside the convenience store, rushing to find what her boss wants. She kept looking left and right as she walks quickly to every single aisle. She doesn't want to jeopardize her job just because she can't do a simple task for her boss.

When she saw the item, she immediately grabbed it and ran to the cashier. As she was about to arrive, she realized the queue was long; one of the cashier just closed his counter, so everyone had to switch to the only one left.

She was exhausted. She puffed as she waits in line. The guy and his wife in front of her looked back, and he made an uncomfortable face while his wife rolled her eyes. They turned their heads front together, looked at each other and the wife said, "typical." Harry felt embarrassed; she kept quiet and looked the other way.

She received a call from her boss. She answered and her boss yelled, "Damn it Harry! You can't do anything right! That's it! I'm cutting your salary!" The boss hanged up the call right away before she could say anything. She let out a loud sigh. 

She placed the item on the counter. The cashier picked it up, scanned the barcode and straight away put it inside a plastic bag. "That'll be twenty nine dollars ninety nine cents."

"What? It's that much?"

Harry opened her handbag to find her purse. She found a wrinkled paper with a note written on it. She flattens it so she could read it clearly. She forgot that it was a note to herself about her rent that was due 2 weeks ago.

"Come on lady! We got places to be! Hurry up!" One of the people shouted behind her.

She found her purse and checked if she had enough. She could barely purchase the item.

She stepped outside the store and started to think about how she's going to pay her rent while walking on her way back to the restaurant. She kept wondering if she should take another extra shift or have two different part time jobs.

She looked to her right as she was waiting to cross the street. She sees a group of kids playing in a playground; climbing, shouting, tagging each other, running around, not worrying about anything in the world. 

She remembered how that felt, not having a single thing to worry about in life when she was a kid herself. In the past, she used to jump from furniture to another and when she fell, somehow, it doesn't really hurt that much. When she's hungry, she could just go downstairs, open the refrigerator and eat what's left over. She even had time to do her hobbies or hang out with her friends. Happiness was all around. She never thought that growing up could be so difficult, having one or more problems after finishing another.

Now, she worries, just about everything; what she looks like, people judging, what's her dinner for tonight or if there is even a dinner, paying rent, bills, not having time to relax, do her hobby to entertain herself or for relationships. Her own emotions, which is currently uncontrollable due to the fact of what's happening. She hasn't even met her best friend for months because of her extra shifts she had to take to earn enough money to live properly.

The traffic lights glared her eyes as she reminisced how lucky and fun it was to be a kid, catching her attention; making her realize that she's all grown up, and it is time to cross the street and continue her life.