[ WP ] You have seven primary-school-aged children . Your wife is sick . You must get the kids ready and to school on time .

The alarm goes off at 4am in the morning. 
 
 He crawls out of bed, staggers to the washroom to brush his teeth and splash his face with cold water. Once he's located his spectacles, he's off to the kitchen to start preparing. 
 
 There's a lot of breakfast to prepare and lunch boxes too. There are a row of school uniforms he needs to iron and school bags he needs to check. Thankfully, he's kept a list of their homeworks due on the side of the fridge. It's very important to have some form of structure to manage complex situations. 
 
 It's very important to have some form of structure when everything's gone terribly wrong. 
 
 At 5am he's just about done with the clothes at least. He goes to the childrens' bedroom and wakes them up one by one. Maria wakes up first- she's been trying to set an alarm for herself'to help Papa make breakfast'. 
 
 It's a sweet thought. He keeps it close inside his heart on days when she is being difficult and accuses him of not caring enough and drowning himself in his work. She's on the verge of secondary school, almost a teenager. He ca n't imagine how it would be like then. 
 
 Next he wakes up Joseph. The boy likes to sleep in a bit but he usually takes the longest to prepare so he has to get up. 
 
 The twins come next, Antony and Anna. They've been quite quiet recently and he's begun to feel a little worried. They're in different classes this year apparently and it's been difficult for them to cope. He does n't understand how to help- growing up his brothers were never that close with him. 
 
 Finally there is little Olivia. She is the latest addition to their family and she is just starting primary school this year. It is very difficult for him to wake her up. She looks so peaceful and happy sleeping in the top bunk bed. Instead, he carries her carefully, allowing her to rest against him as he herds them all to the kitchen. 
 
 Joseph complains about his cooking. So does Maria. It's really too bad, he tells them, they'll just have to eat what he makes because it's a waste to throw away food. 
 
 He can cook, actually. He just has n't been in the right frame of mind to keep the fridge stocked frequently and has resorted to less perishable breakfast items than the standard eggs. He ca n't tell them that though. They would worry, and goodness do n't they have enough to worry about at school already? 
 
 It's a shame but he ca n't really help Joseph and Maria with their homework these days. 
 
 The children eventually eat their breakfast after some complaints and they stream out of the front door, Maria and Joseph leading the pack. He checks Olivia's uniform one last time. He always has to retie her hair into a neat ponytail. 
 
 It's 6am and he remembers he needs to get ready to go to work. 
 
 It's a rush getting his things together. At least he remembered to iron his shirt but he needs to find his glasses again- he always puts them down somewhere and forgets where. 
 
 He's ready in fifteen minutes- he'd packed as much as he could the day before. 
 
 He pauses at the front door with his briefcase in hand and walks slowly back towards a small room in the back of the house. Her room. 
 
 He stands outside her room for a long time. He can hear her breathing through the thin doorframe, raspy and wet. 
 
 He stands for a long moment outside her door, hand closed over the handle. 
 
 Something wet touches the side of his face but he turns away again like he usually does these days and he heads quickly to the front door, trying not to feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with some imagined accusatory gaze. 
 
 He's out the door. He's off to work. Hopefully nobody will notice... 
 
... that he's barely holding it together. 
 
 
... 
 
 AN: Sorry... I could n't make it up to 7. 
 

