Daniel woke to the sound of screaming children, fighting over whose turn it was to pick a tv show to watch. He opened his eyes and moved his hand across the bed. Clara was already awake, and had been for a while based on the temperature of the sheets. He turned his head towards the window, and gazed outside for a few moments. The warm morning glow of the sun shone through the glass pane. It was rare to wake up to the sounds of birds chirping any more, with most wild animals shunning the artificial nature spread throughout Alderbourne. Instead, the morning chorus was usually filled with the chirping sounds of delivery drones, drone-mowers, or the high-pitch oscillation of someone speaking to their CILLA.
The smell of breakfast permeated the home. After performing his morning ritual, Daniel made his way downstairs, pausing for a moment to listen for the children. The argument had been resolved, it seemed, as the only noise coming from the living room was some garbled nonsense kids program. He continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. He walked up behind his wife, wrapped his arms around her waist, and softly kissed the nape of her neck. "Mornin', beautiful. Thanks for letting me have a lie-in."
"You're welcome, handsome. I've not been up that long to be fair. The kids were already up. Thought I might as well get a head-start on the day."
"Furry muff."
"Daniel, I hate it when you say that. Just say 'fair enough' like normal people." Clara spun around and hit Daniel on his arm with a wet dish towel. They both laughed. The noise from the living room stopped for a moment, before Emily and Poppy bounded into the kitchen with limitless energy and enthusiasm.
"Morning Dad." Poppy said, "Morning, Daddy," said Emily. Poppy hugged Daniel, as Emily jumped up for a kiss. He gave them both a squeeze and then patted them on their heads.
"Think your breakfast is ready girls, let's all sit down." Daniel ushered the two children into the breakfast nook.
Within minutes, Poppy, the oldest, was already in a world of her own. Her nose was buried in her tablet, a faint frown of concentration on her face. 'Just like her mother', Daniel thought. She was at that age where the family breakfast table was merely a launchpad for a life lived elsewhere. Next to Poppy, Emily, all of eight years old and fizzing with questions, was already talking her dad's ears off, "but why would cats eat the rodents, if the rodents eat the leftover food? Isn't that like us eating the delivery driver?" Daniel laughed, having only heard about half the conversation and utterly lost as to where it came from.
Clara turned to face the family sat at the table and spoke to Daniel. "Any plans for today? If not, I do have a job I’d like you to do, please."
"Nah, nothing planned. What you got for me sweet-cheeks?"
"Ew, Dad, that's gross," Poppy pretended to vomit over her breakfast. Daniel laughed and turned back to Clara.
"If you need me to do anything then I can do, but if not, I've got some of my own stuff to get on with later."
"Well in that case, first thing you can do is go through the mail for me. I've been meaning to do it but..." Clara pointed at her two daughters and stuck her tongue out at them.
“Yeah no worries at all. Pass me those envelopes, Poppy, please?” No response. She slowly rose from her chair and then shuffled over to the kitchen counter. She grabbed the mail and made her way back to the table, where she handed the envelopes to her dad. Didn't look away from the tablet, not once.
Daniel opened the mail one at a time: junk, spam, reminders. The usual detritus. 'We can make synthetic grass and autonomous drones, but bad news and shite still gets delivered on paper'.
There was one envelope, marked as urgent. This one was different. Felt premium. It had the logo of the girls’ school on it. The postmark was weeks old. “Hey, babe, where's this been?”
“Found it this morning when I was tidying. Must've got shoved under something. I didn't even look who it was from, I just stuck it with the rest.”
Daniel opened the envelope and began reading it.
"URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL
Final notice of unpaid fees:
You are hereby notified that your account is in arrears. Fees must be received in full by the start of term. Your request for an extension..."
Daniel shuddered as he read through the notice. "Babe...The....Hey, girls. Can you do me a favour, can you take your toast and eat it in the living room?"
Emily looked up at Daniel quizzically, "You never let us eat in the living room. You say we always make a mess."
"I do. You do. But today you can, go on. You too Poppy." Poppy grabbed a piece of toast, bit into it, and walked out of the kitchen with her little sister.
"Clara, this letter. It says that if the girls school fees aren't received in full by the start of term, then the children will be removed from enrolment. Wha-What's going on? We've paid?"
Clara had finished making breakfast and was placing it on the breakfast bar. When she heard what the letter was for, she stood rigid, staring down at the table.
“Babe, what’s up?!” Daniel blurted out.
She wouldn't make eye contact. He raised his left hand, the letter grasped firmly between his trembling fingers. Clara took it and read, her eyes darting across the page. Her mouth began to open.
"I-I, didn't know this would happen."
"We owe them thousands? What are they talking about? It says that the upcoming term requires fees to be paid upfront due to late payment?! But I thought that's what the last payment was for, to pay for the upcoming term?! Clara! What on earth has gone on?!"
“I can explain. I know we had the money for the school fees but—”
“Clara, don’t lie to me,” Daniel demanded, his voice quivered with anger and upset. "What's happened to the money? I thought the school fees were up to date?"
"I've wanted to tell you for months, Daniel. But I know how hard you work. But you have no idea how difficult it is to support this family, having to balance every single financial decision on my own."
"Woah, don't land this on me! I work to pay for everything, and you handle the house and finances. That's never been an issue before. You know I'm terrible with money."
"Things are just getting so expensive, Daniel. What we have, it just doesn't always cover everything we want. I didn't waste the money, I promise. But, I got behind on the girls school fees. Typically I'd use your bonus from work and some of our savings to cover each term. But when you didn't get your bonus at Christmas..."
"Oh so it IS my fault!?"
"NO, DANIEL! That's not what I'm saying! I just assumed the money was coming in. You've been getting it for so long now that it's just part of the budget. I went overboard on presents. But prices of everything has gone through the roof too. The house, the food, the clothes. Everything costs money."
"So what the hell happened Clara?!" Daniel's voice rose as he got madder.
"We didn't have enough to pay for the first term of school. I got an extension. But you've been doing amazing with saving this year. Rather than tell you, I thought I'd just pay it off a bit at a time, slowly. So you wouldn't notice a huge withdrawal."
"Jesus Christ, Clara. This wasn't your fault. But lying to me is! You should have told me!"
"I wanted to! But I didn't want to put more pressure on you, Daniel. You come home miserable every night, complaining about staff, and contractors, and, well everything. I didn't want us to be your problem."
"What the hell Clara?! Problem?! You're my bleeding family! You guys always come first! You needed extra money you should have told me."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But, like I said, I've seen how much you've been saving, so I knew it wasn't going to be an issue. I didn't expect them to pull the rug on us like this, but we can afford it. I'm just sorry for not being honest and up front about it all." Clara pointed at the school letter.
"Clara. I-Jesus fuck."
"What?" Clara momentarily allowed herself to feel relief, until she saw Daniel's face.
"We don't have the money."
"What do you mean?! We do, I saw it the other day." Clara stood up and grabbed her phone from the breakfast bar. She opened the Zenith app. "I’m on our online banking right now. Daniel. Wh-Why is there a transfer of forty thousand pounds?"
Daniel's shoulders slumped as a tear began to run down his cheek. “...Leo."
"Leo? You gave Leo the money? Then get it back. I know I messed up but, our daughters come first. I'm gonna call him."
"No I can-"
"NO! I'll call him!" Clara dialled Leo.
Leo answered almost right away. “Hey, Cla—”
“Where's the money Daniel gave you?! We need it back, NOW!”
“Wha… wait, you… er… Is Broski there? Can I-"
"Answer the question, Leo!"
"I’ve… not got it.”
“Where is it? It was only sent to you Thursday.”
“Look, I’m really sorry, Clara, but I don’t h—”
“NOW, Leo! Do you know what that money was for?! For your nieces' schooling! If we don't pay by Monday, the kids will be expelled!”
“Woah, I had no idea Clara. Daniel said I could—”
“And now I'm saying NO! I don't care what it was for, you need to get it back Leo. What was it even for?! You drinking again, pissing it up the wall?!"
“Clara, no, I would never—”
“Not only could the kids lose their places, they'll commence debt recovery proceedings, Leo!? I need that money tonight, or by God, I won’t be responsible for my actions!”
Clara terminated the call. She placed the phone on the side and headed over to Daniel, who was still sitting at the kitchen table.
“Babe, I… he needed—”
“NO, Daniel! We need! Not him. WE!”
“He promised he would—”
“I DON'T CARE! This is our lives! Why would you—!” She punched him in the chest, her fist thumping into his diaphragm.
"This isn't all my fault,” Daniel exhaled. He explained, “I'd saved the money, I thought we were covered. I had no idea we already owed 'em nearly a full term in back payments! That's on you!" Daniel stood up and brushed past Clara, trying to exit the kitchen.
The sound of the slap was shockingly loud in the small space. A white handprint bloomed on Daniel's cheek before turning a blotchy, angry red. Clara stared at her own hand as if it belonged to a stranger. She had never, not once, laid a finger on him before. She had never been so angry.
“What are we going to DO!? We could literally lose everything!"
"I KNOW, CLARA!"
Emily entered the kitchen, a look of concern on her face.
"Get out, Emily. Now!" Daniel boomed at his young daughter. She instantly began to well-up and ran towards the stairs.
"F-fuck. I didn't mean to-" Daniel was struck. The moment Daniel shouted at Emily, Clara turned and threw her phone at Daniel. It hit him hard on the edge of his brow, drawing a slick of blood as it breached the skin.
A long silence stretched between them. Clara’s expression hardened. "Daniel," she said, her voice dangerously quiet. "If we don’t pay this bill by Monday, they will take our children out of that school. Then they'll commence debt recovery proceedings. I shouldn't have hidden this from you. But you shouldn't have hidden giving away forty thousand pounds because your brother asked nicely." Daniel and Clara stood staring at each other across the kitchen.
"I have never been so mad at you," she continued, her voice barely a whisper. "I want to punch your face in. Get that money back from Leo. I don't care what it takes. Don’t come home until you do."
Poppy was cradling her baby sister on the stairs, the two of them sobbing their hearts out. They had never seen their parents fight like this. Raised voices were not entirely uncommon, but neither parent had ever been violent to the other. They didn’t fully understand what was happening, but they knew Mum and Dad were in a lot of trouble.
Daniel grabbed his phone and car fob from the kitchen side and stormed out of the house. The blood from his brow had begun to trickle down his cheek. He wiped it with his shirt sleeve.
"What have I done?!" He was furious with himself. "I’m sorry Leo, you need to sort yourself out."
As Daniel entered the family car, the usual oscillating noise came from CILLA activating. She was listening, but the AI remained silent. From Daniel's pocket, his phone buzzed. A notification came across his car's HUD. A call from Leo. He accepted instantly.
“Broski, Clara has just—”
“I know! I need the money, Leo. You should at least still have most of it?”
Leo paused for a moment. The silence made Daniel even angrier. “Bruv, there’s something I need to tell you. The money. It was for mum. Well, for Dad. His insurance—”
“You lied to me?! You took forty grand off me for a lie?! Wait, what's wrong with Dad?”
"His insurance won't cover him anymore. He needed emergency surgery yesterday."
"What the fuck?! Why has no one told me this? What's with all the secrecy bullshit?!"
“Bro, I’m—”
"Fuckin' save it Leo. Are you home?"
"Yeah."
“I’m coming round now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Ok, soon as you get here we can call Mum and-”
"CILLA hang up!" Daniel smashed his steering wheel multiple times. The blood continued to run down his face and neck.